At which university did C.S. Lewis become chair of Medieval and Renaissance Literature in 1954?

C.S. Lewis became chair of Medieval and Renaissance Literature at Cambridge University in 1954. The appointment created a major second academic chapter after his long period teaching at Oxford’s Magdalen College.

The Cambridge position was the first holder of a newly established chair. Lewis continued his scholarly work there while remaining connected with Oxford friends and literary circles. His academic reputation rested on medieval and Renaissance literature, even though many general readers knew him primarily for apologetics and fiction.

Lewis’s move can be confused because Oxford remained strongly associated with him. He studied at Oxford, taught there from 1925, and lived much of his adult life in and around the city. Cambridge was the university where he held the later professorship from 1954 until his death.

The title of the post also reflects Lewis’s scholarly specialization. He wrote extensively about medieval literature, allegory, literary history, and the ways older texts shaped modern imagination.