Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Tlaxpanquizqui

TLAXPANQUIZQUI (tlas-pan-keeth′-kee), Mexican soldier. He lived in the latter half of the 15th and the first half of the 16th century. During the struggle between Cacamatzin and Ixtlilxochitl for the kingdom of Texcoco, which began in 1516, he commanded the troops of his native state, Huexotzingo, now in support of one claimant, now of another. He had been convicted of adultery with the wives of two other chiefs of high rank. This was an almost unknown crime in the annals of the Aztecs, and was punishable with death. But as the culprit was very powerful, the husbands appealed to Montezuma, who promised to take the matter in hand. This occurred at the time when the republic of Huexotzingo, which was then in alliance with Montezuma and Cacamatzin, was invaded by the Tlaxcaltecs, who favored Ixtlilxochitl. The Tlaxcaltecs were commanded by Tlalhuicole, their greatest hero. Tlaxpanquizqui profited by the occasion to efface the stain of his crime by a glorious feat of arms. He succeeded in drawing Tlalhuicole into an ambuscade and made him prisoner. The Tlaxcaltecs fled in a panic, and the victory of the Huexotzingos was complete. Their leader led his captive to Mexico and presented him to Montezuma, who not only pardoned the conqueror, but loaded him with favors. See "Histoire des nations civilisées du Mexique et de l'Amérique Centrale durant les siècles antérieurs à Christophe Colomb," by the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg (4 vols., Paris, 1859), and "Monarquía Indiana," byJuan de Torquemada (Seville, 1615).