Competing Wives and Favored Sons: Topa Inca and Complications of Imperial Inca Succesion

Since the Inca did not practice primogeniture, imperial succession was often fraught and steeped in intrigue. Perhaps no succession was as complicated as that which occurred after Topa Inca's death. This situation not only pitted one son against another, but it also pitted wife against wife and siblings against siblings. This two-year protracted conflict resulted in the punishment of one royal lineage group, the banishment of one heir apparent, and the execution of one of Topa Inca's wives.  In this paper I will examine how this conflict reflected complex notions of kinship, loyalty, marriage, and inheritance.  Evidence, drawn from early colonial written and material sources, reveals not only the complicated factors that led to this violent and embittered succession, but also the ways in which architecture and performance were used to manipulate alliances and memories.