Dr David Nicolle was born in 1944 and worked for the BBC, including the overseas broadcasting Service before returning to university, obtaining his PhD in Edinburgh. He subsequently taught at Yarmouk University in Jordan, since which he has contributed a substantial number of Osprey titles. He is a specialist in medieval arms and armour and has written several hardback books as well as numerous articles for specialist journals. He has also presented papers at many international conferences. Victor Korolkov was born in 1958, at Khabarovsk in Russian Siberia. He studied in the Faculty of Painting at the K.A. Savitskiy Art College in Penza. From 1985 to 1990 he continued his studies in the Kharkhov Art-Industrial Institute. He is now one of the best-known Russian illustrators, particularly for his work on the Pagan Rus, and in 1999 he became a member of the International Art Foundation.
