List of tlatoque of Tenochtitlan

From 1427 to 1521, the tlatoque of Tenochtitlan were alongside those of the cities Tetzcoco and Tlacopan the leaders of the powerful Triple Alliance, commonly known as the Aztec Empire.

[2] The evolution into full autocracy was finished by 1502, when Moctezuma II was elected as huehuetlatoani of Tenochtitlan without the traditional input from Tetzcoco and Tlacopan.

[23] Hernán Cortés and the Spaniards initially preferred such less legitimate rulers, possibly as a way of ensuring that the colonial authorities would be able to maintain control.

[25] Codices made after the time of the cuauhtlatoque differ in how they are treated; some emphasize their illegitimacy as a rupture in the dynastic sequence whereas others do not comment on their lack of relation to previous rulers and instead depict them in the exact same way, as if they were genuine tlatoque.

This change was partly a result of experiences with Spanish election principles making the denizens of Tenochtitlan view hereditary descent as less important for legitimacy.