Ilok'tab Dynasty

XIIth Dynasty of the Divine Kingdom Ilok'tab
Parent house	None
Country	Mutul
Founded	AD 1000
Founder	[[]]
Current head	Jasaw Chan K'awiil V
Titles	K'uhul Ajaw of the Mutul

Origins and history

The Ilok'tab Dynasty, is an Ajaxi royal house and one of the three clans that founded and ruled over the Q'umarkaj Kingdom, with the Numa and the Tamub. As such, they were an important Nimja, "Great House", of the K'iche and its members had numerous roles, in the military or the administration of the kingdom.

In 1010, the last K'uhul Ajaw of the Cho'ok Dynasty died, leaving behind him no eligible heir. Three of his Yajaw, each married to one of the Divine King's daugthers, claimed the throne for themselves and started a bloody civil war that divided the Mutul. With only a small stop during the rule of Jakab I, the first and only K'uhul Ajaw of the Ninth Dynasty, there was no central authority in the Divine Kingdom.

The original claimants died off, but their conflict was passed on to their children. In 1078, wanting to break the tie between him and his cousins, Waho' Kan Mamil, one of the pretenders, started tractations with the Q'umarkaj Kingdom, which lead to an alliance and a marriage between the Ajpop and Waho' youngest sister in 1079. This brought the might of the Q'umarkaj Kingdom into the war and by 1081, it was fully involved and started to conquer land for its allies.

After numerous victorious campaigns the K'iche King, the Ajpop, was convinced by his generals, partisans, and his wife, to betray Waho' Kan Mamil and to claim for himself the title of K'uhul Ajaw, which he fully secured in 1090.

At the time, the Ilok'tab controled most of the Ajpop armies and officers, and even married some of their children to the Numa Dynasty. Their full support of the latter was one of the reasons why the Ajpop was able to secure his control over the Mutul and even to move his capital away from Q'umarkaj and into the Divine Kingdom, to reinforce his claim as legitimate inheritor of the K'uhul Ajawtitle.

However, in 1121, Ajkan I, the very young – 7 years old – Divine King, died of illness without a nominated heir. The Ilok'tab, because of their wealth, power and links to the Nima, were serious pretenders to the title of K'uhul Ajaw. But the Nimjalob Ch'ob, an assembly of all the Nimja of the Mutul created by the Numa Dynasty, decided to recognize K'okaib I, Patriarch of the Tamub Dynasty as Divine King. The Ilok'tab and their partisans, however, were still numerous and even if they never outright opposed the Tamub hold on the throne, they sheer power and wealth and their link with the growing merchants and traders communities and the army, never allowed K'okaib I and his heirs to enjoy the same level of power as their predecessors.

The final rise to power by the Ilok'tab was when the Nimjalob Ch'ob deposed Konache II in 1205 because of his mental illness and young age, and elected Jasaw Chan K'awill III, Patriarch of the Ilok'tab Nimja, as K'uhul Ajaw. He then quickly married the mother of the deposed king, and secured the Divine King's powers into his hands and passed it to his children. To this day, the Ilok'tab, as the XIIth Dynasty of the Mutul, still control the divine throne.