Dimitri Obolensky

Dimitri Dimitrievich Obolensky (; – 23 December 2001) was a Russian-British historian who was Professor of Russian and Balkan History at the University of Oxford and the author of various historical works.

Biography

Dimitri Dimitrievich Obolensky was born in the Russian Soviet Republic on 1 April 1918 in Petrograd, the son of the ex-Knyaz Dimitri Alexandrovich Obolensky (1882–1964) and ex-Countess Maria (Shuvalova) (1894–1973). His family was alleged to have descended from Rurik, Igor, Svyatoslav, St Vladimir of Kiev, St Michael of Chernigov, and Prince Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov: however, as one of his students has written, "he was a sober enough scholar to know that Rurik may not actually have existed."

He spent his first years at the Vorontsov Palace (built by one of his ancestors) at Alupka, in Crimea. His family was evacuated from Russia in a British warship.

He was educated in Britain at Lynchmere Preparatory School, Eastbourne, and in France at the Lycée Pasteur in Neuilly-sur-Seine, before going up to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he distinguished himself with a Blue for lawn tennis and graduated in 1940.

Obolensky became a distinguished academic. He was elected a Fellow of Trinity College (1942–1948, Honorary Fellow 1991–2001) and Lecturer in Slavonic Studies, University of Cambridge (1946–1948). He became a British national in 1948.

From 1949 to 1961, Obolensky was Reader in Russian and Balkan Medieval History at the University of Oxford (1949–1961) and subsequently Professor of Russian and Balkan History (1961–1985, Emeritus 1985–2001). He was also a Student of Christ Church, Oxford (1950–1985, Emeritus 1985–2001).

He married Elisabeth Lopukhin in 1947; they had no children, and the marriage was dissolved in 1989.

He died on 23 December 2001 at Burford in Oxfordshire. His memorial service was held in Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, and he is buried at Wolvercote Cemetery.

Selected works