18 Facts About Isabel Moctezuma

Isabel Moctezuma was the consort of Atlixcatzin, a tlacateccatl, and of the Aztec emperors Cuitlahuac, and Cuauhtemoc and as such the last Aztec empress.

Dona Isabel Moctezuma was married to one tlacateccatl, two Aztec emperors and three Spaniards, and widowed five times.

Isabel Moctezuma had a daughter out of wedlock whom she refused to recognize, Leonor Cortes Moctezuma, with conquistador Hernan Cortes.

Dona Isabel Moctezuma's mother was Princess Teotlalco and her birth name was Tecuichtzin, translated as "lord's daughter" in Nahuatl.

Isabel Moctezuma was only about eleven or twelve years old at the time of her third marriage.

Isabel Moctezuma was instructed in Christianity, converted to Catholicism, probably in 1526, and baptized as Isabel, the name by which she would thereafter be known.

Isabel Moctezuma herself was a prominent slave owner, as was traditional in her lineage, but she freed all her slaves by the end of her life.

Isabel Moctezuma had close contact with the new laws through her husband.

Isabel Moctezuma was reported to be initially displeased with the attempts of the Spanish to impose limits in the ownership and treatment of slaves.

Isabel Moctezuma even had limited power to adapt the rules in the land of her encomienda.

Isabel Moctezuma used this privilege and owned a large number of native slaves throughout her life.

Isabel Moctezuma quickly married her to another associate, Pedro Gallego de Andrade, and the child, christened Leonor Cortes Moctezuma was born a few months later.

Isabel Moctezuma's estate was large, consisting not only of the encomienda, but personal possessions she had acquired during her marriages with the Spaniards.

Isabel Moctezuma's will is one of the few existing indicators of her personality.

Isabel Moctezuma directed that her Indian slaves be set free, one-fifth of the estate be given to the Catholic Church, and that all her outstanding debts, including wages owed to servants, be paid.

Isabel Moctezuma had acquired jewelry and other luxury items and requested that many of these be given to her daughters, and that other property be sold and one-third of the proceeds go to her daughters.

Isabel Moctezuma is the ancestress of Rosario Nadal, the wife of Kyril, Prince of Preslav, Carlos Fitz-James Stuart, 19th Duke of Alba, Marie-Liesse Claude Anne Rolande de Rohan-Chabot, the wife of Prince Eudes Thibaut Joseph Marie of Orleans and Ignacio de Medina y Fernandez de Cordoba, 19th Duke of Segorbe, husband of Princess Maria da Gloria, Duchess of Segorbe, the former wife of Alexander, Crown Prince of Yugoslavia.

Isabel Moctezuma seems to have made the transition from Aztec princess to Spanish dona successfully.