I owe a particular debt of gratitude to Reggie Norton, without whose inspiration and moral and material support this book would quite simply not have seen the light of day. Anglia Polytechnic University Inter-Schools’ Research Committee gave me leave of absence and helped to finance various research trips as well as giving me a reduced timetable to complete writing. I am also grateful to Michael Walsh for persuading me to write it, and for reading drafts of chapters. Stewart Stehlin, Peter Kent and Noel Currer Briggs also helped by reading drafts and making comments, and Noel has once again made the index. Theo Schulte and Alexander Baer gave me much help with knotty questions relating to the First World War and Germany’s role in it. Piers Brendon and John Cornwell gave pearls of wisdom about writing biographies. For any errors of fact, and for all opinions and interpretations, the responsibility is of course mine alone. Joe Cremona kindly put me in touch with the Della Chiesa family in Rome, and I am deeply grateful to members of that family for their hospitality and for all the help they gave me, especially access to their family archive. I also wish to thank the staff of the Secret Vatican Archives, especially Mgr Charles Burns (now retired), Fr Chappin SJ of the Archive of the Congregation for Public Affairs of the Church Archives, the Archiepiscopal Archives in Bologna, the library of the Istituto Luigi Sturzo, the Biblioteca Nazionale and the library of the Istituto di Storia Moderna e Contemporanea in Rome. I am greatly in the debt of James Walston for taking most of the photographs, and to him and Nora Walston for their friendship, help and hospitality in Rome over many years. I must also pay tribute to Brian Williams, who did excellent research work on my behalf during the last stages of writing the book. I wish to thank Ruth McCurry and Diana Smallshaw for guiding me through the stages of production. Last, but by no means least, I must acknowledge the moral support of Pompey.
Sutton-in-the Isle,
June 1998