David Abulafia

David Samuel Harvard Abulafia (12 December 1949 – 24 January 2026) was an English historian with a particular interest in Italy, Spain and the rest of the Mediterranean during the Middle Ages and Renaissance. He spent most of his career at the University of Cambridge, rising to become a professor at the age of 50. He retired in 2017 as Professor Emeritus of Mediterranean History. He was a Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. He was Chairman of the History Faculty at Cambridge University, 2003–2005, and was elected a member of the governing Council of Cambridge University in 2008. He was visiting Beacon Professor at the new University of Gibraltar, where he also served on the Academic Board. He was a visiting professor at the College of Europe (Natolin branch, Poland). Abulafia was a Fellow of the British Academy and a member of the Academia Europaea. In 2013 he was awarded one of three inaugural British Academy Medals for his work on Mediterranean history. In 2020, he was awarded the Wolfson History Prize for The Boundless Sea: A Human History of the Oceans. His death was announced on 25 January 2026.