'David Samuel Harvard Abulafia' (born
12 December 1949,
Twickenham,
England) has been Professor of Mediterranean History at the
University of Cambridge since 2000 and a fellow of
Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge since 1974.
Abulafia comes from a very old
Sephardic family that left
Spain for
Galilee around 1492 and lived for many generations in
Tiberias. His wife Anna Sapir Abulafia is a noted historian of
Jewish-
Christian relations. He was educated at
St. Paul's School and
King's College, Cambridge.
He has published several books on
Mediterranean history and edited volume 5 of the ''New Cambridge Medieval History'' as well as a book on ''The Mediterranean in History'' which has appeared in six languages. He has given lectures in many countries including
Italy,
Spain,
Portugal,
France,
Germany, the
USA,
Japan,
Israel and
Egypt. His most influential book is ''Frederick II: a medieval emperor'', first published in England in 1988 and reprinted many times in several Italian editions. He has been appointed ''Commendatore dell'Ordine della Stella della Solidarietà Italiana'' by the President of Italy in recognition of his writing on Italian history, especially Sicilian history, and he has also written about Spain, particularly the
Balearic islands. He has shown an interest in the economic history of the Mediterranean, and in the meeting of the three
Abrahamic faiths in the Mediterranean.
References
★
Who's Who 2006
★ Debrett's People of Today 2006