J.R.R. Tolkien taught at the University of Leeds in Leeds, England.
Tolkien joined the University of Leeds in 1920 as a reader in English language. He became Professor of English Language in 1924 and remained there until 1925, when he moved to the University of Oxford. His Leeds years were important in establishing his academic reputation and expanding his work on medieval languages and literature.
While at Leeds, Tolkien collaborated with E.V. Gordon on Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, a scholarly edition published in 1925. He also helped create an Old English vocabulary with George S. Gordon. These projects show how closely his teaching and research were connected to the medieval texts that inspired his creative writing.
Tolkien is most strongly associated with Oxford because he spent much longer there and wrote much of his best-known fiction while working there. However, Leeds was his first university teaching post. The city is in West Yorkshire, northern England, and should not be confused with Tolkien’s childhood surroundings near Birmingham.