This chapter focuses on the first descendant of Mexica pre-conquest nobility seated as gobernador in Mexico City. Born before the conquest and raised within the context of noble practices in Tenochtitlan, Diego de Alvarado Huanitzin (r. 1537/38-1541) was a likely witness of the workings of pre-conquest governing practices because of his noble lineage – he was the grandson of Axayacatl and son-in-law/nephew of Moctezuma II. The melding of his pre-conquest upbringing, and his position as a post-conquest governor come to set the basis for the continuity of an indigenous tradition of rulership within the new spatial context that came to be Mexico City. Mundy poses the question of how the indigenous rulers descended from traditional elites envisioned the new city, and how did it translate into the “lived-spaces” of Tenochtitlan. In order to answer these questions, Mundy examines the nature of Huanitzin’s governorship of Mexico City as descendant of pre-conquest Mexica rulers, as well as the significance of orthodox iconography embellished in traditional featherwork. In addition, she addresses the construction of government buildings such as the tecpan near the Franciscan convent, and its significance as symbol of the prevalence of Mexica rulership. Mundy illustrates her analysis by examining documentary evidence such as the Humboldt Fragment II that shows Huanitzin wearing the xiuhhuitzolli –  a symbol of his legitimacy as a ruler, as well as the Codex Aubin and the Beinecke map which register his ascendance to the governor office. Central to her argument is the featherwork on the image of The Mass of Saint Gregory, which according to Mundy is testament to the relevance of Huanitzin as governor of Mexico-Tenochtitlan, an entity separate from the Spanish-controlled New Spain, and of the city itself as the feathers work as a reminder of the spatial extent of the former Mexica empire. Mundy delves into a compelling analysis of the archival materials in order to answer how the rulers (in this case Huantzin) reformulated the significance of Mexico-Tenochtitlan after the conquest through the practice of governance materialized in the craft of featherwork and the building of the tecpan. The chapter, thus, is an effective example of how the city of Mexico-Tenochtitlan was able to survive and function, albeit within the realm of the symbolic – nonetheless through concrete practices – through the meaning of the feathers and the tecpan as markers of indigenous noble legitimacy. She provides new venues to rethink and question the conquest and colonization process during the 16^th century.
 
“Such a public image [the banner on the tecpan] certainly underscored the historical legitimacy of the building’s current resident, and the autochthonous nopal cactus recalled the deity Huitzilopochtli’s command to found the city, and thus trafficked in the kind of public imagery that pre-Hispanic Mexica rulers had developed. It also connected the ruler’s authrotiry to this spot in the city, and after 1563 its façade seemed to offer a subtle riposte to the other royal palce within the city, one occupied by the viceroy” (113).