Early in covid times I was asked to pitch a public piece on the epidemic that shook the Inca empire in the 1520s, likely killing the ruler Huayna Capac. I tried, noting that the more imperial and personalistic the rule, the more likely a disease works its way to the top. 1/

The sapa inka claimed to be the ancestor of all and, while surrounded by his retinue, had some sort of descent relationship with everyone they ruled. In the case of Tawantinsuyu, that was a lot of people. 2/

So HC getting sick in the mid-1520s with the same illness that laid low his court - possibly an advance wave of smallpox from Spain - is a pretty clear outcome of that kind of empire. Spain’s conquistadors believed that things would have gone differently if HC alive in 1532. 3/

The top editor passed on the piece, which was right - it was too early, it’s present relationship forced. I was grateful, actually. I’m not a medical historian and y’all’s trained takes were so good. 4/

But I am a historian who thinks a lot about death, and with five months distance I’d pitch it differently. The conquistadors were wrong. Not necessarily that HC wouldn’t have pushed them back, had he been alive. But that he was even dead. 5/

Imperialistic and personalistic rule tricks us into thinking that a mode of government hangs upon the specific body or condition of the ruler, when in fact it’s everyone who keeps that ruler ‘bundled’. In the case of the Incas, that ‘bundling’ was literal. 6/

After HC stopped breathing, he was mummified, bundles into a preserved ancestor who was arguably even more powerful than when he was alive. His retainers interpreted his wishes, extending his rule. And for 27 years after the Spanish invasion, he kept going on the run. 7/

Which is to say - the body of the emperor matters and doesn’t. Fixating on its specific state in Amy moment distracts from all the people bundling then, keeping them going, interpreting their wishes without their having to say a literal word. 8/

An epidemic or pandemic comes for all - and can bring down governments facing additional pressures. But some systems turn even mortality to their favor. What kills the rest of us only underlines their rule. 9/9