At which Cambridge college did C.S. Lewis hold a chair in Medieval and Renaissance English?

C.S. Lewis held the Cambridge chair in Medieval and Renaissance English at Magdalene College. He moved from Oxford to Cambridge in 1954 to take the position.

The Cambridge appointment created an important distinction in Lewis’s academic career. At Oxford, he had been a Fellow and tutor of Magdalen College, spelled without a final “e.” At Cambridge, he became a professor and Fellow of Magdalene College, spelled with a final “e.” The two colleges belong to different universities despite their nearly identical names.

Lewis held the Cambridge professorship until his death in 1963. His academic work included studies of medieval and Renaissance literature, especially the ways older writers understood imagination, reason, and the natural world. His scholarly reputation preceded and outlasted his popular success as a novelist and apologist.

The chair is also sometimes described loosely as an English literature position, which is broadly understandable but less precise. Its formal field was Medieval and Renaissance English, and Magdalene College was the Cambridge institution associated with it.