Historian David Abulafia, a passionate and leading expert on the medieval Mediterranean, has died.

BarcelonaWhen the book was first published in Catalan a few months ago The struggle for control of the Mediterranean. The great Catalan expansion from 1200 to 1500 (Sails and Winds), the British historian David Abulafia explained that he was writing a great deal. He wanted to publish a new book and delve deeper into the history of the Kingdom of Majorca. He was passionate about the history of the medieval Mediterranean. In a interview on the ARAHe recalled that his interest had begun in primary school. "I was captivated by the Crusades, but my teacher refused to discuss them. At Cambridge, I was able to delve deeper and realized that what attracted me was the Mediterranean. I spent a long time in Italy. Historiography didn't pay much attention to the south and Sicily, but I wanted to study from south to south, inevitably leading me to the Catalan world, through the Catalan-Aragonese conquest of Sicily and Sardinia," explained the historian, who died suddenly yesterday, Sunday, at his home in Oxford at the age of 76. Professor Emeritus of Mediterranean History at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of the British Academy and the Royal Historical Society, Abulafía dedicated his career to exploring the complex political, economic, and cultural interaction between Christians, Jews, and Muslims in the medieval Mediterranean. He never lost his curiosity or his eagerness to understand the history of this region and that period. He delved deeply into the history of the Catalan-Aragonese Crown, was a great admirer of the work of Ramon Llull, and had a thorough knowledge of the four great chronicles (the collection of texts formed by the Book of the deeds of James I the Conqueror, he Book of the king in Pere by Bernat Desclot, the Chronicle of Ramon Muntaner and the Chronicle of Peter the Ceremonious"The development of a vernacular culture represented in those four great chronicles is remarkable; they are like the Bible of Catalan history. Ferran Soldevila produced a beautiful edition, with a leather binding, very fine paper, and two columns, just like a Bible. It's not the edition most used today, but it was especially prevalent during the Franco regime." Abulafía.

Born in Twickenham on December 12, 1949, Abulafía came from a Sephardic Jewish family. He is the author of essays translated into Spanish such as The discovery of humanity, The Great Sea: A Human History of the Mediterranean and A sea without limits. A human story of the oceans. The historian knew how to combine historical rigor with popularization. "He had a great capacity for synthesis because he knew the sources very well and had delved deeply into history. He wrote books of more than a thousand pages, but he conveys a great deal of information, centuries of history, and they are very accessible reads," says his Catalan translator and editor, Oriol Ràfols. "He was very aware of his Sephardic roots," he adds.

A great admirer of Ramon Llull

In fact, in The struggle for control of the Mediterranean. The great Catalan expansion from 1200 to 1500Abulafia also discusses the coexistence of Jews, Muslims, and Christians. One of the challenges was reconciling a Christian monarchy with the need to rule over large numbers of Muslims and Jews. In certain times and places, drastic solutions were chosen, such as the expulsion of Muslims and Jews or selling them into slavery. There were also more tolerant approaches, such as allowing them to practice their religion with restrictions. "There was a certain culture in the Iberian Peninsula at that time. I wouldn't call it coexistence, but Jews and Muslims were part of the social fabric, just as there were rich and poor, nobles and peasants. It was simply the reality of the time, but there were pressures, such as those exerted by Ramon de Peñafort and the Dominican friars on the Dominican friars on the Dominican friars," the historian remarked, marveling at the figure of Ramon Llull. "He was clearly against forced conversion and was convinced that he could prove the authenticity of Christianity through a logical demonstration. Book of the Gentile and the Three Wise Men Absolutely fascinating. The other side of the coin is that it doesn't seem that Llull managed to convert anyone on all his voyages,” Abulafia asserted.

The historian's work received awards such as the British Academy Medal, the Wolfson History Prize, and the Mountbatten Maritime Award, the Star of Italian Solidarity, and the title of Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his service in historical research and dissemination.