Dr Alexander Lee is fellow at the Centre for the Study of the Renaissance at the University of Warwick. After top degrees at Cambridge, he undertook doctoral research at Edinburgh University. He has held posts previously at Oxford, Université de Luxembourg and Bergamo. He is the author of a number of books, most recently Machiavelli: His Life and Times (Picador 2020) and The Imperial Idea in Fourteenth Century Italy (OUP 2018). He is a top scholar in his field. Stephen Bowd is Professor of Early Modern History at the University of Edinburgh and has published extensively on the history of Venice and on the Renaissance. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, and is committed to widening access to historical studies. He has presented his work to a wide range of non-academic audiences by means of live talks, newspaper interviews (eg.

Corriere della Sera ) and podcasts.