Before Cortés seized him, Moctezuma II centralized power within the aristocracy and barred people outside the circle from advancing into the inner circle.

“I mean, I think Moctezuma II.”

“From the moment when Cortez seized him, because previously the records of Montezuma reflect that he was a peddlers autocrat. He centralized all power in the aristocracy. Previously, it used to be possible to work up from outside the circle to the inner circle. But he forbade that.”