The Noble House in Colonial Puebla, Mexico: Descent, Inheritance, and the Nahua Tradition

Abstract

Claude Lévi‐Strauss's concept of the 'house" has proven to be a viable alternative to traditional lineage theory in the study of many societies, and this paper applies the house concept to a Mesoamencan case. The teccalli, or noble house, was an important aspect of Nahua (Aztec) sociopolitical organization in prchispanic and early colonial central Mexico, particularly in the Puebla‐Tlaxcala Valley. It is often characterized as a lineage with rights in land and commoner labor, yet the nature of descent, succession, and inheritance are little understood. Late colonial wills and lawsuits from the (formerly) Nahua community of Santiago Tecali in the Puebla‐Tlaxcala Valley provide valuable insights into these matters that can also help us to understand earlier periods. It is argued that the Nahua noble house can be better understood as a house than as a lineage, [house, kinship, inheritance, Nahuas, Mesoamerica]