Count Niccolò Capponi is a part of Florence's living history. His family has been in the city since the thirteenth century and he is a historian. After earning a PhD in military history from the University of Padova, he returned to Florence where he currently teaches political science and the history of Florence to Americans studying abroad. He is, most recently, author of Victory of the West: The Story of the Battle of Lepanto, as well as I legionari rossi: Le brigate internazionali nella guerra civile spagnola 1936-1939, a history of the international brigades during the Spanish Civil War.

Graham Turner is a leading historical artist, specializing in the medieval period. He has illustrated numerous titles for Osprey, covering a wide variety of subjects from the dress of the 10th-century armies of the Caliphates, through the action of bloody medieval battles, to the daily life of the British Redcoat of the late 18th century. The son of the illustrator Michael Turner, Graham lives and works in Buckinghamshire, UK.