C.S. Lewis became the first holder of the Chair of Medieval and Renaissance Literature at Magdalene College, Cambridge.
Lewis moved from Oxford to Cambridge in 1954 after being appointed to the newly established chair. He remained associated with Magdalene College until his death in 1963. His Cambridge appointment came after a long Oxford career, including teaching at Magdalen College, Oxford, and later at Oxford’s colleges and university departments.
The Cambridge post reflected Lewis’s scholarly expertise in medieval and Renaissance literature. His academic books included The Allegory of Love, A Preface to Paradise Lost, and English Literature in the Sixteenth Century, Excluding Drama. Lewis did not abandon fiction or popular Christian writing after moving to Cambridge; he continued to write and publish during this period. The two institutions named Magdalene can cause confusion: Lewis taught at Magdalen College, Oxford, earlier in his career, and later held the Cambridge chair at Magdalene College. Their spellings differ, and they are separate colleges.