David Norman Dumville (5 May 1949 – 8 September 2024) was a British medievalist and Celtic scholar.
[1] He attended Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he studied Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic; Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München; and received his PhD at the University of Edinburgh in 1976, presenting the thesis "The textual history of the Welsh-Latin Historia Brittonum".
He became a lecturer in Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic at the University of Cambridge in 1977 (and a fellow of Girton College in 1978), winning promotion to Reader in Early Mediaeval history and Culture of the British Isles (1991–1995) and then to Professor of Palaeography and Cultural History (1995–2005).
Shortly afterwards his post was reconfigured to be shared with the School of Language and Literature: Dumville taught in both departments, taking a key role in establishing an MA in Celtic and Anglo-Saxon Studies, with his title changed to Professor in History, Palaeography and Celtic.
[4] Dumville retired in 2020, becoming Emeritus Professor[4] of Celtic & Anglo-Saxon[citation needed] at Aberdeen.