John H. Elliott has lectured at the University of Cambridge, was Professor of history at King's College, London and at Princeton and Regius Professor of Modern History at Oxford University. His previous publications include The Revolt of the Catalans (1963), Imperial Spain 1469-1716 (1963), The Old World the New 1492-1650 (1970), Richelieu and Olivares (1984) and Spain and Its World 1500-1700 (1989). Most recently he has edited, with Laurence Brockliss, The World of the Favourite (1999), and he is currently engaged on a comparative study of British and Spanish colonization in the Americas.