Last Will and Testament of Isabel Moctezuma, 1550

Isabel Moctezuma, or Tecuichpochtzin (aka Tecuichpo) in Nahuatl, was the legitimate daughter of Emperor Moctezuma. She made her last will and testament in Mexico City on 11 July 1550, but used the Nahuatl name for the city, Tenochtitlan. Because she was very ill, the document is rather brief but explained how she wished to convey her assets to her heirs after her death. She named her six legitimate children as: Juan de Andrada from her marriage with Pedro Gallego; and Pedro, Gonzalo, Juan, Catalina and Isabel from her marriage with Juan Cano. She did not mention her illegitimate daughter Leonor Cortés, daughter of Fernando Cortés.

The panel shows Isabel Moctezuma pointing to her father, with her brother Pedro seated behind.

Codex Cozcatzin, fol. 1v, circa 1572

Bibliothèque Nationale de France

She left her most valuable encomienda of Tacuba to her eldest male heir, Juan de Andrada. However, subsequent litigation with the Cano family split its income equally six ways between the heirs. Juan de Andrada moved to Spain, leaving behind his wife María de Castañeda (aka Iñiguez), daughter of the conquistador Juan Ruiz de Alanís and Leonor de Castañeda. The executors of Isabel’s will were licenciado Juan (Gutiérrez) Altamirano, who had been the mayordomo (administrator) of Fernando Cortés’ properties, conquistador Andrés de Tapia (Altamirano), and Alonso de Bazán (captain general of the Spanish armada). They went before the audiencia real to execute her will on 10 December 1550, which means Isabel passed away on or just before that date. Assuming she was buried according to her wishes, she was interred in the church of San Agustín (currently located in the historic center of Mexico City at República de El Salvador, 76). While excavating the site between 2018 and 2020, researchers from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) found skeletal remains of at least ten individuals associated with the Mexica royalty, which could include those of princess Tecuichpo.[i]

The will is difficult to find, and I have yet to locate a translation of it in English. I translated it from the Spanish transcription published by the Archivo General de la Nación (de México) in its Boletín, Vol. 4, Num. 5, 1995 (the will starts on p. 197 in the section entitled “Litigio sobre la propiedad de tierras de los pueblos de Azcapotzalco y Tacuba por parte de los descendientes de Isabel Moctezuma”). A handwritten copy of the original will was made sometime between 1824 and 1825 and is available online at: Archivo General de la Nación, Tierras, Volumen 3615, fol. 28v (starts on Image 57/153). Ricardo Ortega y Pérez Gallardo also published a Spanish transcription in 1910 in his Historia Genealógica de las Familias más Antiguas de México, vol. III (Familia Sandoval, p. 39). According to the author Donald Chipman, another copy of Isabel’s will is available in Archivo General de Indias, Justicia, Legajo 181, fol. 203v–210v. However, images of that manuscript are not available online. In the transcription below I show alternate spellings of some words in parentheses from the Ortega y Pérez Gallardo transcription.

For a full account of the descendants of Moctezuma, see Donald Chipman’s Moctezuma’s Children: Aztec Royalty Under Spanish Rule 1520-1700 (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2005).

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[i] “Remains of Moctezuma's family in the Templo de San Agustin, in the Historic Center.” ContentEngine Noticias Financieras [English], 5 Sept. 2023.  link.gale.com/apps/doc/A764033653/IFME. Accessed 26 Feb. 2026.

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Last Will and Testament of Isabel Moctezuma

11 July 1550

Mexico City

In the name of the Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, three persons and one true God who lives and reigns forever without end, and in honor and glory and praise of Our Lady the Virgin Mary, whom I hold as my lady and advocate, therefore let all who shall see this power of attorney know how I, doña Isabel Moctezuma, lawful wife that I am of Juan Cano my lord and husband, resident of this great City of Tenochtitlan, México of this New Spain, being ill in body with the sickness and malady which God our Lord has been pleased to give me, and being in my good sense, judgment, and natural understanding, with license and authority and express consent which I request of Juan Cano my lord and husband, who is present here, if in law it be fitting and necessary, so that I myself may make and execute this power of attorney as herein shall be contained;

And I, the aforementioned Juan Cano, who am present, do grant and acknowledge that I give and concede the license and authority to you, doña Isabel my wife, as by you it is requested of me, and I promise and bind myself to hold it firm and not to revoke, reclaim, or contradict it, in court or outside of court, under express obligation which for that purpose I make of my estate; and I request the present notary to give testimony of this license and authority. And I, the present notary, do attest that Juan Cano gave and granted to doña Isabel his wife license to make and execute this instrument in my presence and in that of the witnesses written above.

And I, doña Isabel, do thus accept and receive the same, and I declare that because I am greatly afflicted by the illness which I suffer, and by reason of its severity I cannot in a very detailed way make and order my testament and last will at length; and because I have communicated what is my will concerning what is to be done and disposed for my soul and from my estate with the señores licenciado Juan Altamirano and Andrés de Tapia and Alonso de Bazán, residents of this city, who are present, I grant and acknowledge that I give and bestow all my full, free, and sufficient power, such as I have and as in law may more fully and validly avail, upon you, the señores licenciado Juan Altamirano, and Andrés de Tapia, and Alonso de Bazán, all three of you jointly, so that you may make and order my testament and last will in such manner and form as you shall wish and deem proper; and once by you my testament shall be made and executed, I from this present time do grant and approve it and desire that it be valid, fulfilled, and carried out, as if I myself had made and executed it. For which purpose I grant you as full and sufficient power as I have and as in law in such case is required and more it can and should avail, with its incidents and dependencies, annexations and connections, and with free and general administration.

And I desire and it is my will that when it shall please God our Lord and He shall be served to take me from this present life, that my body be buried in the church and monastery of señor San Agustín of this city, in such part and place as shall seem proper to Juan Cano my lord.

And in order to fulfill and execute my testament, bequests, clauses, and legacies which the señores licenciado Juan Altamirano and Andrés de Tapia and Alonso de Bazán shall thus make and ordain for me and in my name and by virtue of this my power of attorney, I leave, appoint, and designate them as my executors and testamentary administrators; and to all three of them jointly, and to each one of them severally, I give my full power so that they may enter upon and sell such of my estate as shall be necessary, and fulfill and pay the bequests and legacies and pious causes which shall be contained in the testament that they shall thus make and ordain in my name.

Likewise, I desire and command and it is my will that all the slaves, indios and indias natives of this land, whom Juan Cano my husband and I hold as our own, insofar as concerns the share that pertains to me, shall be free from all service and servitude and captivity, and as free persons may dispose of themselves according to their will; for I do not hold them as slaves, and in the event that they should be so, I desire and command that they be free.

Likewise, I desire and command and it is my will that the señores licenciado Juan Altamirano and Andrés de Tapia and Alonso de Bazán, in the testament which they shall thus make and ordain for me and in my name and by virtue of this power of attorney, dispose of my estate in masses and funeral rites, pious bequests and alms and for the relief of my soul and conscience, in such manner and form and in such other things as they shall wish and deem proper, for I have communicated and discussed the same with them; and that they may expend and dispose of the fifth part of all my estate, as well in the aforesaid matters as in making any bequest or bequests to whatever person or persons they shall wish and deem proper, for with them, as is said, I have communicated my will in this matter.

Likewise, I desire and command that whatever shall appear that I owe, whether debts or wages of my servants and other things which shall appear necessary for the relief of my soul and conscience, the señores licenciado Juan Altamirano and Andrés de Tapia and Alonso de Bazán, in my testament which they shall thus make for me, shall order to be paid and shall satisfy and discharge the same.

Likewise, I declare that I confess that at the time when I married Juan Cano my lord and husband, I possessed no movable goods nor real property nor any monies, except the indios and pueblos; and that señor Juan Cano at that time had certain cattle and monies, I know not in what amount.

Likewise, I declare and grant that I revoke, annul, and render void, and hold for none and of no value or effect, any and all other testaments, codicils, clauses, bequests, and legacies which until now I may have made or granted, whether open or closed, in any manner whatsoever, and any clauses contained therein or apart from them, whether in writing or by word of mouth, as if I were here to express their clauses de verbo ad verbum; and I grant full power to the señores licenciado Juan Altamirano, and Andrés de Tapia, and Alonso de Bazán so that they may revoke and do revoke the testaments, codicils, clauses, and legacies which may appear to have been made and granted by me before this my power of attorney, for I desire and it is my will that they shall not be valid and shall in themselves be null. And I desire and command that the testament which the señores licenciado Juan Altamirano, and Andrés de Tapia, and Alonso de Bazán shall by virtue of this my power of attorney make and ordain, and the clauses therein contained, shall stand as my testament and last will, and that it be fulfilled and observed according as they shall ordain and command and as therein shall be contained.

Likewise, I declare that, as Juan Cano my lord and husband and I have certain household goods of linen and bedclothes and beds, of this land and of Castilla, and tapestries and carpets and cushions and embossed leather panels and pillows and hand-cloths and works of embroidery, and garments for my person, all of which I desire and command shall remain for doña Isabel and doña Catalina, my daughters and the legitimate daughters of Juan Cano my husband; and I desire that they not be sold at public auction as my goods by reason of my end and death, nor be divisible property, but rather belong to doña Isabel and doña Catalina my daughters. And if it should seem proper to Juan Cano my lord to sell the goods at public auction or outside of it, as he may wish, he may sell them; and whether selling them or refraining from selling them, they shall be considered in the third part of my estate, or by way of improvement I convey them to doña Isabel and doña Catalina my daughters.

Likewise, I desire and command and it is my will that the pueblo of Tacuba shall remain, and I leave and bequeath it to Juan de Andrada my legitimate son and the legitimate son of Pedro Gallego my lawful husband, because it is mine; and just as I have and possess it, I desire and it is my will that Juan de Andrada my legitimate son shall have and possess it, and after him his heirs and successors forever and ever. Likewise, I declare that it is understood that I leave the pueblo of Tacuba and its subject settlements to Juan de Andrada my son, except for the pueblos of Cuyoacaque (Ocuyacaque), and Capuluaque, and Cuapanoaya (Coapanoaya), and Tepebaxuca (Tepexoyuca); for these four pueblos, together with what is subject to them, I leave and bequeath, and it is my will that Gonzalo Cano my legitimate son, and the legitimate son of Juan Cano my husband, shall have and inherit them. Gonzalo Cano my son shall have and inherit them for himself and for his heirs and successors forever and ever, with this condition: that if either of Juan de Andrada and Gonzalo Cano my legitimate sons should depart this present life without leaving legitimate children born in lawful matrimony, then in such case, should Juan de Andrada my son so die, Pedro Cano my legitimate son and the son of Juan Cano shall have and inherit; and if Gonzalo Cano should die as aforesaid without legitimate children born in lawful matrimony, then Juan Cano my son and the legitimate son of Juan Cano shall have and inherit the pueblos which I thus bequeath to him, and shall hold them for himself, as is said, for himself and for his heirs and successors forever and ever. And I supplicate His Majesty that he be pleased to confirm and approve, and to hold as valid, that which I thus leave and command in these two clauses and bequests to my sons, in remuneration of all that is owed to me for being the legitimate daughter and heiress of Moctezuma my father, who was lord of this New Spain; and this was given to me in recompense for what was owed to my father.

When this my power of attorney shall have been fulfilled, and the bequests and clauses contained therein, and the testament which by virtue of it, as is said, the señores el licenciado Juan Altamirano, and Andrés de Tapia, and Alonso de Bazán shall make and ordain, in the remainder of all my goods I leave and name and institute as my lawful and universal heirs Pedro Cano, and Gonzalo, and Juan Cano, and doña Isabel and doña Catalina, my legitimate children and the children of Juan Cano my lord and husband, and Juan de Andrada my legitimate son and the son of Pedro Gallego my lawful husband; and they shall have and inherit the same, deducting the improvement in respect of the third part which I bequeath to doña Isabel and doña Catalina my daughters, and the remainder shall be divided among them in equal parts.

Likewise, I declare that, as I have supplicated His Majesty to grant me as a favor the lands which remained and were left and which belonged to Moctezuma my father, I desire and command and it is my will that, if His Majesty shall be pleased to grant me the favor of those lands, doña Isabel and doña Catalina my daughters, and daughters of Juan Cano, shall have and inherit them, without any of my sons placing impediment or obstruction against them; for I give and bequeath the same to them by way of the improvement of the third part of my estate, and in that manner and form which in law I may and ought best to do in their favor.

In testimony whereof, I executed the present instrument in the manner and form aforesaid before the present notary and the witnesses written above, by whom and before whom it was read to me de verbo ad verbum; which was made and executed in the city of México, the audiencia real of His Majesty residing therein, within the houses of my dwelling, on the 11th day of the month of July in the year of the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ, 1550.

Witnesses who were present at what has been said, especially called and requested for that purpose, were the father friar Juan Crúzate, prior of the monastery of San Agustín, and friar Gregorio de Salazar, and friar Luis de Escobaleda (Escobaleza), and friar Luis de Carranza, professed conventual friars in the monastery of San Agustín, and Hernando Mateo Carrillo, and Juan Altamirano, residents and inhabitants of this city. And because I do not know how to write, at my request the padre prior signed it, and the other witnesses who knew how to sign.

= Fray Juan Crúzate.

= Fray Gregorio de Salazar.

= Fray Luis de Escobaleda (Escobaleza).

= Fray Luis de Carranza.

= Hernán Mateo Carrillo.

= Juan Altamirano.