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Primary sourcePainting16th century

Spaniards disposing of the bodies of Moctezuma and Itzquauhtzin

Bernardino de Sahagún · 16th century

A Florentine Codex illustration showing Spaniards handling the dead bodies of Moctezuma and the ruler Itzquauhtzin after the conquest.

This image depicts Moctezuma's dead body being disposed of by Spaniards, recording the end of his rule.

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Colored illustration from a 16th-century manuscript. Above, a bearded Spaniard in a hat and ruff stands at right, holding the legs of a body in a patterned mantle; a second figure at left supports the upper body. Below, a body in a patterned mantle lies on swirling water lines, with arms outstretched.
Florentine Codex illustration, 16th century, compiled under Bernardino de Sahagún.

About this source

What it is

This is a painted scene from the Florentine Codex, a 16th-century illustrated manuscript compiled under the Franciscan friar Bernardino de Sahagún. It shows Spaniards disposing of the bodies of Moctezuma and Itzquauhtzin, a fellow ruler, after their deaths.

Why it matters

The Florentine Codex combined Nahua memory and pictorial traditions with Spanish oversight, so it offers a rare, if filtered, Indigenous perspective on the conquest. This image captures the brutal end of Moctezuma's rule and reign, showing how Spanish soldiers treated the bodies of Aztec leaders.

Look closer

  • Who is shown handling the bodies, and what does that suggest about who held power at this moment?
  • Why might Nahua artists working under Spanish supervision have chosen to depict this scene?
  • What is left out of this image that you might want to know about the deaths themselves?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Montezuma II on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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A painted page from a colonial Mexican manuscript with a blue-green border column of glyphs on the left. Rows of hilltop place-sign glyphs with Nahuatl labels and small pictorial symbols such as a seated figure, a bird, a shield with arrows, and plants, arranged on pale paper with a footer of writing at the bottom.Document

Secondary source

Codex Mendoza, Folio 15v

Unknown author · 16th century

Black-and-white lithograph titled 'Prision de Motezuma' showing Spanish armored soldiers with helmets and halberds on the left facing a group of Aztec-style figures in feathered headdresses on the right, including a central man in a feathered crown and cloak. A large draped canopy and stone columns frame the scene; a shield lies in the lower right. Printed credits read 'J. Serra lit.', 'Lit. Vidal, Olmo 29' and 'Riera, Editor Barcelona'.Painting

Secondary source

Prisión del emperador Moctezuma

Rafael del Castillo de la Cuesta · 1880

Open bound manuscript on a green cloth, showing two pages of handwritten text in columns with small painted illustrations of fish, a shell, a crab, and shrimp. Page headed 'Libro undecimo'.Book

Secondary source

Florentine Codex

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Painting showing Hernán Cortés seizing Moctezuma, a later imagined depiction of the event.Painting

Secondary source

Hernán Cortés takes Moctezuma prisoner

Louis Auguste Turgis · 1895

Woodcut title page of a 1522 Spanish printed letter. A seated, crowned figure holds a scepter in an arched room with checkered floor, flanked by a city scene and a landscape. Below is black-letter Spanish text beginning 'Carta de relación enviada a su S. majestad del emperador nuestro señor por el capitán general de la nueva España, llamado Fernando Cortés', with a handwritten signature at the bottom.Letter

Primary source

Second Letter to Charles V

Hernán Cortés · 1520 (printed 1522)

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