Ahmad b. Yahuya al-Baladhuri (d. 892) was a leading historian of his day. Persian by birth, he spent much of his life in Baghdad living at the court of various caliphs and he was tutor to the son of one of them. His two extant works are Kitab Futuh al-Buldan (Book of the Conquests of Lands) and Ansab al-Ashraf (Lineage of the Nobles). Hugh Kennedy is Professor of Arabic at SOAS, University of London, UK, and a leading scholar of the Arab conquests and Abbasid caliphate. His most recent book is Caliphate (2016). His other books include The Great Arab Conquests (2007) and The Court of the Caliphs (2004).