David Abulafia is Professor of Mediterranean History at the University of Cambridge, and a Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, and has been Chairman of the Cambridge History Faculty. His previous books include Frederick II and The Discovery of Mankind. He is a Fellow of the British Academy and member of the Academia Europaea, and in 2003 was made Commendatore dell’Ordine della Stella della Solidarietà Italiana in recognition of his work on Italian and Mediterranean history. In 2013 he was awarded a British Academy Medal for this book, which also received the Mountbatten Maritime Award.