The supposition that Quetzalcoatl was a member of the Toltec royal family and reigned as a king at Tollan, together with the evident confounding in the traditions as recorded by the Spanish writers of two distinct persons named Quetzalcoatl,[IV-35] remove most of the difficulties connected with this famous personage, the second of the name. It seems to me most probable that the traditions relating to Quetzalcoatl's foreign origin or his long absence in distant parts of the country, his arrival at Pánuco, and his final disappearance in the south--although these are all accepted by Brasseur--should be referred to the Quetzalcoatl of primitive times. The young prince, unable for some unrevealed reason, to obtain after his arrival at years of discretion the crown of his murdered father, retired to some city in or near Anáhuac, probably Tulancingo, where he first comes into notice, to bide his time. Here he settled on his future policy including some religious reforms, communicated with powerful friends throughout Anáhuac, and perfected his plans for recovering his lost throne. Some crosses and other relics seen by the Spaniards in the mountains of Meztitlan, were attributed by native tradition to Ceacatl's residence in Tulancingo.[IV-36] Such was the force of his claim as son of Totepeuh, and such the influence of the religious dogmas zealously promulgated by him and his disciples, that at last on the death of Ihuitimal, perhaps his brother, he was raised to the throne of Tollan, as has been said, in 873, under the title of Topiltzin Ceacatl Quetzalcoatl.
There is nothing in the Spanish version of the Quetzalcoatl traditions by which to fix the epoch in which he flourished. It is merely implied that Huemac, his chief enemy, was temporal ruler at the same time that he exercised the functions of high-priest, and succeeded him in power. Huemac is identified by Brasseur, not without some reason, with Nacaxoc, the fifth king of the Spanish writers, whose reign is represented by them as having been most peaceful and uneventful. He is also known as Tezcatlipoca, and was closely related to Yohuallatonac,[IV-37] the king of Culhuacan. In the _Codex Chimalpopoca_ he is called both Huemac and Matlacxochitl.