DAVID H. HIGGINS, M.A. (Cambridge), was Head of the Department of Italian Studies at the University of Bristol until retirement in 1995. His main professional field was the cultural and political history of Italy from Late Antiquity, through medieval to the Renaissance, together with comparative philology and linguistics. This was accompanied by an interdisciplinary professional interest in comparative early medieval British and Italian archaeology and history. His major publications include the critical apparatus of Dante's Divine Comedy in the World Classics series, Oxford University Press (1981, 2nd edition 1993, reprinted 2008), and many articles and reviews in journals such as Dante Studies, The Modern Language Review, The Journal of Ecclesiastical History and archaeological serials including the Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society, The Council for British Archaeology - South West, Bristol and Avon Archaeology and short works for the Bristol branch of the Historical Association.