Sir Peter Edward Lionel Russell, FBA (24 October 1913 – 22 June 2006) was a British historian whose main area of study was Spain and Portugal in the medieval period.
Born in Christchurch, New Zealand, on 24 October 1913, Russell moved to the UK at the age of 12 with his mother and brothers, he received his schooling at Cheltenham College and studied French, Spanish and Portuguese as an undergraduate at Queen's College, Oxford, graduating with a First in 1935.
His doctoral research focused on the Plantagenet involvement in the Iberian Peninsula and was guided by Maurice Powicke and V. H. Galbraith but was incomplete by the outbreak of war in 1939.
During the Spanish Civil War he undertook assignments in Spain for British Intelligence, this resulted in his arrest and expulsion in 1938.
He is depicted in several novels by Javier Marías as the character Sir Peter Wheeler.