Name _____________________________ Class _________________ Date __________________
Primary Source
The Americas
Laws, Ordinances, and Statutes
Decreed by King Montezuma I
ABOUT THE SOURCE Two centuries after migrating to central Mexico in the
1100s, the Aztec people dramatically expanded their population and their power.
In 1440, Montezuma I became king of the growing Aztec Empire. He proved to
be an effective military leader and a strong ruler during his twenty-eight years on
the throne. Below is a legal code that Montezuma issued for the empire soon
after he gained power.
As you read note the laws that deal with class differences. The following
terms may be new to you: diadem, gilded, mantles, maguey. You may
want to use a dictionary to look them up.
1. The king must never appear in public except when the occasion is
extremely important.
2. Only the king may wear a golden diadem in the city, though in war all
the great lords and brave captains may wear such. It is considered that
those who go to war represent the royal person.
3. Only the king and the Prime Minister Tlacaelel may wear sandals
within the palace. No great chieftain may enter the palace shod, under
pain of death. The great noblemen are the only ones to be allowed to
wear sandals in the city and no one else, with the exception of men
who have performed some great deed in war. But these sandals must be
cheap and common; the gilded, painted ones are to be used only by
noblemen.
4. Only the king is to wear the fine mantles of cotton embroidered with
designs and threads of different colors and featherwork. He is to decide
which type of cloak may be used by the royal person to distinguish him
from the rest.
5. The great lords, who are twelve, may wear certain mantles, and the
minor lords wear others. . .
6. The common people will not be allowed to wear cotton clothing, under
pain of death, but only garments of maguey fiber. . .
7. No one but the great noblemen and chieftains is to build a house with a
second story, under pain of death. No one is to put peaked or round
gables upon his house. This privilege has been granted by the gods
only to the great.
Original content Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. Additions and changes to the original content are the responsibility of the instructor.
Full Survey Chapter 7
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The Americas
Name _____________________________ Class _________________ Date __________________
Primary Source
The Americas
8. Only the great lords are to wear lip-plugs, ear-plugs and nose-plugs of
gold and precious stones, except strong men, brave captains and
soldiers, but their ornaments must be of bone, wood or other inferior
materials. . .
9. In the royal palace there are to be diverse rooms where different classes
of people are to be received, and under pain of death no one is to enter
that of the great lords. Each one is to go to that of his peers. . .
10. All the wards will possess schools or monasteries for young men where
they will learn religion and good manners. . .
11. There is to be a rigorous law regarding adulterers; they are to be stoned
and thrown in the rivers or to the buzzards.
12. Thieves will be sold for the price of their theft, unless the theft be
grave, having been committed many times; such thieves will be
punished by death.
Source: From Chapter XXVI “Which Treats of the Laws, Ordinances, and Statutes Decreed by
King Montezuma I in the City of Mexico” from The Aztecs: The History of the Indies of New
Spain by Fray Diego Durán, translated by Doris Heyden and Fernando Horcasitas, introduction
by Ignacio Bernal. Copyright © 1964 by The Orion Press, Inc. Reproduced by permission of
the publisher.
WHAT DID YOU LEARN?
1. Explain Which Aztecs were allowed to wear sandals in the city?
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2. Draw Conclusions What do these laws reveal about the social rank of warriors in
Aztec society?
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3. Identify Points of View Why do you think that Montezuma issued these laws?
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Original content Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. Additions and changes to the original content are the responsibility of the instructor.
Full Survey Chapter 7
13
The Americas