Xicotencatl I
Xicoténcatl the Elder ( † 1522 Spanish baptismal name Don Lorenzo de Vargas ) was at the time of the Spanish conquest of Mexico, a cacique of the Tlaxcalans.
After their arrival in Mexico in 1519, the Spaniards headed inland toward the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan. They crossed the territory controlled by the Tlaxcalans and were attacked by these under the command of Xicoténcatl and his son of the same name on September 4. The Spaniards offered immediately at peace because they sought an alliance with the Tlaxcalans against the Aztecs. But the Tlaxcalans attacked in the following days continued to stubbornly. They brought the Spaniards in severe distress.
Finally, after the Spaniards had several times renewed its offer of peace, Xicoténcatl listened to their ambassadors in Tlaxcala and accepted the offer in agreement with the other caciques Tlaxcala. He even ordered the Spaniards with everything they needed to provide care. His son, however, absolutely refused to give up the fight against the Spaniards and retired with a bevy warrior, but he was soon also forced to make peace with them. Last completed the Tlaxcaltecs at the instigation of Father an alliance with the aim to break the supremacy of the Aztecs. As a sign of loyalty, he married his daughter, who was given the baptismal name Donna Luisa, with the Spanish Captain Pedro de Alvarado, whom she later bore a son.
In the aftermath Xicoténcatl let the Spaniards support repeatedly by warrior from Tlaxcala. After the Spaniards had moved on to Tenochtitlán and after the Noche Triste had to flee from there in July 1520, he offered them again against the resistance of his son shelter and allowed them as a refresher of their forces. Since Xicoténcatl the Younger still made strong resistance and the Spaniards fought openly, Hernán Cortés had him executed during re campaign against the Aztecs, where, according to Bernal Díaz del Castillo, the Father himself Cortés is said to have advised.
After the fall of Tenochtitlán to Xicoténcatl let the elder baptized and adopted the Spanish name of Don Lorenzo de Vargas. 1522, one year after the conquest of the Aztec empire, he died.