Claiming Ancestry and Lordship: Heraldic Language and Indigenous Identity in Post-Conquest Mexico.

The article examines how indigenous peoples living within Mexico following its conquest by Spain were encouraged to secure political achievement by aiding the Spanish monarchs. This form of political advancement could be secured through acts such as warfare, as evidenced by a letter sent from Don Antonio Cortés Totoquihuaztli, the governor of the city-state Tlacopan, to the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V in 1552. The author examines how the conquest of Mexico influenced not only the identity of indigenous populations, but also the language that they used to reference themselves.