Hernán Cortés was the first and greatest of the Conquistadors of New Spain. His confrontation with Montezuma and the empire of the Aztecs in Mexico in 1519 was the moment when for the very first time, in all their power and might, the Old World and the New stood face to face.

Cortés's achievement was extraordinary-no less than the defeat of an entire civilisation with only 400 soldiers at his command. But his victory would have been impossible but for one incredible fact-Montezuma believed that Cortes was his God, the Feathered Serpent Quetzalcoatl.

John Julius Norwich recounts the extraordinary interplay of mythology and mounted warfare, of human sacrifice and brilliant strategy which led ultimately to the creation of Mexico.