At which university did J.R.R. Tolkien serve as Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor?

J.R.R. Tolkien served as Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at the University of Oxford.

He held the Oxford chair from 1925 until 1945. The position focused on Old English language and literature, subjects closely connected with Tolkien’s scholarly interests. He later became Merton Professor of English Language and Literature at Oxford, serving from 1945 until his retirement in 1959.

Tolkien’s academic work included major studies of medieval texts and languages. His 1936 lecture “Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics” helped redirect scholarly attention toward the poem’s artistic structure and monsters, rather than treating it merely as a historical source.

His Oxford career also placed him among other writers and scholars, including C. S. Lewis. Tolkien’s teaching and research were separate from his fiction, but his knowledge of Old English, Norse, Welsh, and other traditions deeply informed the invented languages, names, and cultures of Middle-earth.