Tepanecatl

The Tepanecatl were the royal house of the Tepanecs, whose capital Azcapotzalco became the dominant power of the Valley of Mexico. Acolnahuacatl, ruling from 1283 to 1343, moved the seat to Azcapotzalco and allowed the Mexica to found Tenochtitlan on Tepanec land in return for tribute and military service.

His son Tezozomoc, born around 1320 and ruling from the 1360s to 1426, made the Tepanec Empire the valley's hegemon. He held Tenochtitlan as a tributary and seized Texcoco after killing its king Ixtlilxochitl I in 1419.

His death in 1426 opened a succession war between his sons Tayatzin and Maxtla. Two years later the Mexica of Itzcoatl and the exiled Texcocan prince Nezahualcoyotl, joined by Tlacopan, stormed Azcapotzalco and ended Tepanec supremacy in the campaign that created the Triple Alliance.