Jasaw Chan K'awiil IV
| B'alam Chan Chakh | |
|---|---|
| K'uhul Ajaw | |
 Bust of JCK4, 1989, by the Belisarian artist Romain van den Bogaert | |
| Tenure | 16 March 1951 – 12 September 1991 |
| Predecessor | B'alam Chan Chakh |
| Successor | Jasaw Chan K'awiil V |
| Born | 11 October 1918 Hoxin Private Clinic, Takalik |
| Died | 12 September 1991 (aged 72) Chak Yaxnah Hokan, K'alak Muul |
| Burial | |
| Wife | |
| Issue | |
| House | Ilok'tab Dynasty |
| Father | B'alam Chan Chakh |
| Mother | Sakchi S'ika |
Jasaw Chan K'awiil IV (Born 11 November 1918, died 12 September 1991), also known as JCK4, was the Divine Lord of the Mutul from the death of his father in 1918 to his own passing in 1991. His rule was marked by a number of internal crisis, purges, and even palace coups, through which he was able to maintain the proeminence of his family although at the cost of the Divine Lord' absolute powers over society although he had set the stage for his son to re-acquire those powers later.
Early Life
He was born the 11th of November 1918 five minutes after his twin sister Balamkeh. As the Mutul' succession is dictated by a principle of male-preference cognatic primogeniture, he would be declared B'ah Ch'ok Ajaw, or Crown Prince, although his sister would remain a pillar of the Ilok'tab and of their court unto herself.
As an heir, he followed a similar formation to that of his father and once he reached adulthood he joined the Akb'al K'in, the Mutul' external intelligence agency, just as his father had been an agent of the Mutul' internal secret services before his coronation. His service would be cut short however when he was assigned by his father to the position of police chief (Ajaw Tupil) for the Yajawil of Joy Chan In 1940. A decade later he would be promoted to Viceroy of Chaknal, the capital' province. With him he brought back to K'alak Muul some of the agents he had personally recruited during his tenure as Ajaw Tupil. These agents became informaly known within the court as the O'de Guard or the Prince's Macheteers (అజో యఛకలతెకె ; Ajaw ych'akaltek).
During his service as Ajaw Tupil he also married Ekakb'al, daughter of the then-Viceroy of Joy Chan and part of the province' dominant family the House of K'oh. They had their first child in 1944 : J'el Hunab, and her sister Matzatzik K'uk in 1947. Finally, Ekakb'al would give birth to a third daughter while in K'alak Muul : Sakakb'al.
Divine Reign
Political instability
After his father abrupt death in 1951, Jasaw Chan K'awiil was crowned K'uhul Ajaw and inherited an ongoing conflict between the Orientalists government and the Throne. Recently crowned, Jasaw Chan K'awiil was forced to take his distance from politics as the Orientalists continued their struggle to maintain their control over the State. In 1953, the Divine Lady Ekakb'al died in a car accident, an event that profoundly shocked the Divine Kingdom at the time. The K'uhul Ajaw then stopped appearing altogether and it became feared that he would leave the place to the Orientalists definitively. But in 1955 the Orientalist Yax K'awiil ("Prime Minister") Yu Kun Maax was arrested on charge of sedition and treason by the Divine Throne's services and his government was officially dissolved by the K'uhul Ajaw. The very night, illegal manifestations in the Mutul' largest metropolis were not stopped by the police and turned into riots targeting known or imagined Orientalists. This mark the beginning of a period of social violence and political purges against the Orientalists known as the Sunrise.
The Sunrise would not be the last violent political event under Jasaw Chan K'awiil IV' rule. After a tense cohabitation, the Occidentalists would push the Traditionalists away from power during the 60s, before being themselves politicaly killed by the end of the same decade, replaced by the Jecheists who would dominate the rest of JCK4' rule.
Palatial war of succession
Jasaw Chan K'awiil IV returned to Joy Chan in 1960 where he married his second wife, Ix Unahen Mo, from a local Chanized O'de lineage. Four years later, the couple gave birth to the K'uhul Ajaw first son, Jasaw Chan K'awiil V, who became the new crown prince replacing his half-sister J'el Hunab. As they grew up, the Ilok'tab court became mirred in conflict between the oldest and already adult J'el Hunab and the young but closely protected Jasaw Chan K'awiil, each with their respective partisans.
The 7th of July 1973, a botched assassination attempt on the young prince led to the death of one of the JCK4' Macheteers. The assassin and his patron were sacrificed to Chak and the affair was classified. Nonetheless, violent riots and street fights in Yu and Joy Chan between O'de gangs (nicknamed People of the Machete) and the police led to dozen of death. A few months later, unknown individuals managed to infiltrate the house of the K'uhul Ajaw ex-father-in-law and murdered him and his wife. Despite the scandal, which led to more riots, the murderers would never be identified or arrested. The situation would only be stabilized later that year when police forces from K'alak Muul were sent to restore order. By the time of JCK4 death 17 years later, J'ol Hunab faction was all but extinct and his son was able to rise to the throne uncontested.