Illustrations -- Preface -- Notes -- Ancient Mexico: -- Harmony and order -- Palace of the white sedges -- I see misfortune come -- Not with love but with fear -- Spain Of The Golden Age: -- Golden years begin -- Pope must have been drunk -- Better lands have never been discovered -- What I saw was so splendid -- Great Lord born in brocade -- Sweating, hunger and hard work -- To Know The Secrets Of The Land: -- Gentlemanly pirate -- Advantage of having horse and cannon -- As much as where Solomon took the gold for the temple -- Dragon's head for a "Florentine" glass -- They received him with trumpets -- If I continue, shall I win? -- To leave none of us alive -- This cruelty restored order -- Another new world of great cities and towers -- Cortes And Montezuma: -- Image of Quetzalcoat -- Bees and spider make works of art -- Something must be done for the Lord -- Cortes' Plans Undone: -- King, our lord, is more King than other Kings -- Voice very deep and hoarse as if it came from a vault -- To cut off Don Hernando's ears -- Blood of the chieftains ran like water -- As a song you were born, Montezuma -- Fortune spins her wheel -- Spanish Recovery: -- Sweetness of death by the obsidian knife -- It was convenient to impose the said punishment -- My principal intention and motive in making this war -- They were all lords -- Battle For Tenochtitlan: -- Remember the bold hearts -- Great harvest of captives -- Such mad dogs -- Aftermath: -- General exodus -- Songs and voices scarcely ceased -- Clause in Adam's will which excludes France -- Absolute monarch -- Epilogue -- Glossary -- Appendices: -- Population of old Mexico -- Summary of Montezuma's tribute -- Mexican calendars -- Spanish money c-1520 -- Cortes' ladies -- Genealogies: -- Emperors of Mexico -- Spanish and imperial royal families -- Cortes and his relations -- Transformation of the Mexican royal family -- Cortes' arrival in the nobility -- Unpublished Documents: -- Cortes' father Martin Cortes in Medellin -- Cortes' grandfather Diego Alfon Altamirano -- Cortes' journey to America 1506 -- Letter from Cortes' in Mexico, 6 July 1519 -- Montezuma's concession of power, 1520 -- New evidence about the death of Catalina -- Cortes, art and loyalty -- Diego Velazquez's punishments -- Chapter notes -- Sources -- Index.