Moctezuma II (1466-29 June 1520), also known as Montezuma, was the Emperor of the Aztec Empire from 1502 to 1520, succeeding Ahuitzotl and preceding Cuitlahuac. He was the leader of the empire at the time of the arrival of the Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes and his army, and Cortes would take his daughter Tecuichpoch as his mistress. Moctezuma was stoned to death by his own people when he ordered his armies to withdraw from Tenochtitlan during the Spanish assault.
Biography[]
Moctezuma II was the son of Ahuitzotl, and he succeeded his father as Emperor of the Aztec Empire in 1502, with Tenochtitlan serving as the seat of his rule. Moctezuma waged several wars against the Tlaxcalans, the rebellious former vassals of the Aztecs, and, in 1519, he hurriedly sent emissaries with gifts to greet Hernan Cortes' Spanish army once they arrived at San Juan de Ulua, as he feared that they would seize power from him. He greeted the Spanish warmly once they entered Tenochtitlan, but Cortes had Moctezuma taken hostage as a guarantee of protection from native resistance. In 1520, the Aztecs' continued practice of human sacrifice led to the Massacre in the Great Temple at the hands of the Spanish, provoking an uprising against Spanish rule. Cortes and his main army, which had left Tenochtitlan in the care of Pedro de Alvarado as Cortes dealt with rival Spaniards, returned to the capital, where they attempted to use Moctezuma as a peacemaker. Moctezuma appealed to his citizens to avoid bloodshed, but the mob, disgusted by his collaboration with the Spaniards, stoned him to death.