coordinated assault was launched by missionaries and conquistadors on Indigenous priests and adherents on January 1, 1525, which resulted in the destruction of the main temples in Tenōchtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlaxcala, including the Temple of Huītzilōpōchtli, which housed the archives of Texcoco. This wave of violence initiated by the Spanish missionaries emanated outward throughout what would soon become New Spain. A letter written by Christianized Indigenous nobles to the Spanish crown in 1560 records that "people of many altepetl were forced and tortured [or] were hanged or burned because they did not want to relinquish idolatry, and unwillingly received the gospel and faith." It further stated that "it was the friars' 'good deed,' they added, to 'teach us to despise, destroy, and burn the stones and wood that we worshiped as gods." As described by historian Ryan Dominic Crewe, "Friars proudly reported the destruction using biblical scales: twenty thousand idols smashed by a single friar in a day, thousands of local deities delivered to the flames, or five hundred major temples dismantled in just five years. Examples Azcapotzalco Cempoala Chalco Cholula Coixtlahuaca Cuauhnahuac Huexotzingo Tenōchtitlan Texcoco Tlatelolco Tlaxcala Toluca Yanhuitlán References Further reading Aztec society Valley of Mexico nah:Āltepētl