David D'Avray

David Levesley d'Avray (born 3 February 1952) is a British historian who specialises in the religious and social history of the Middle Ages. He is Emeritus Professor of History at University College London and Supernumerary Fellow in History at Jesus College, Oxford.

Academic career D'Avray was educated at St Benedict's School, Ealing before beginning his undergraduate studies at St John's College, Cambridge, matriculating in 1970. He completed his doctoral studies at Balliol College, Oxford, in 1976, where his supervisor was Richard William Hunt. He then spent a year as the Michael Foster Memorial Scholar at LMU Munich. He returned to the University of Oxford as a supernumerary fellow in history at Jesus College in 2022.

Research D'Avray's early publications focused on medieval preaching as a form of mass communication and as evidence for popular attitudes to monarchy, death and marriage. The next defining theme of his research was the practical influence of symbolism on the social and legal history of marriage in the medieval period. He then moved on to exploring rationalities in history, comparatively and with reference to the Middle Ages, and his most recent published works have focused on the relationship between royal marriage and papal government. From 1996–2004 he was a member of the editorial board of the journal Reviews in History and has been a member of the editorial advisory board of German History since 2003. and The Spectator.

Honours and awards D'Avray was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (FRHistS) in 1991 and a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA) in 2005. In 2016 he was a Corresponding Fellow of the Medieval Academy of America.