1524 conquistador Pedro de Alvarado arrived in Guatemala with 135 horsemen, 120 footsoldiers and 400 Aztec, Tlaxcaltecs and Cholultec allies. They were quickly promised military assistance by the Kaqchikels. The Kʼiche knew all about the movements of the Spanish forces through their network of spies. When the army arrived at the Kʼicheʼ town of Xelajú Noj (Quetzaltenango) the Kʼicheʼ steward of the town sent word to Qʼumarkaj. The Kʼicheʼ chose Tecún Umán, a lord from Totonicapán, as their commander against the Spanish, and he was ritually prepared for the battle. He and his 8,400 warriors met the Spanish/Aztec/Kaqchikel army outside of Pinal south of Quetzalteango and were defeated. After several more defeats the Kʼicheʼ offered the Spanish vassalage and invited them to Qʼumarkaj. By way of deceit Alvarado then seized the lords of Qʼumarkaj and burned them alive. He instated two lower Kʼiche leaders as his puppet rulers and continued to subdue the other Kʼicheʼ communities in the area. Qʼumarkaj was razed and levelled to hinder the Kʼicheʼ in reestablishing themselves at the well-fortified site, and the community relocated to the nearby town of Santa Cruz del Quiché. Social organization In the Late Postclassic, the greater Qʼumarkaj area is estimated to have had a population of around 15,000. The inhabitants of Qʼumarkaj were divided socially between the nobility and their vassals. The nobles were known as the ajaw, while the vassals were known as the al kʼajol. The nobility were the patrilineal descendants of the founding warlords who appear to have entered as conquerors from the Gulf coast around AD 1200 and who eventually lost their original language and adopted that of their subjects. The nobles were regarded as sacred and bore royal imagery. Their vassals served as foot-soldiers and were subject to the laws laid out by the nobility, although they could receive military titles as a result of their battlefield prowess. The social divisions were deep seated and were equivalent to strictly observed castes. The merchants were a privileged class, although they had to make tributary payments to the nobility. In addition to these classes, the population included rural labourers and artisans. Slaves were also held and included both sentenced criminals and prisoners of war. There were twenty-four important lineages, or , in Qʼumarkaj, closely linked to the palaces in which the nobility attended to their duties; means "big house" in Kʼicheʼ, after the palace complexes that the