What academic subject did C.S. Lewis teach at Cambridge University?

C.S. Lewis taught Medieval and Renaissance English at Cambridge University.

In 1954, Lewis became the first holder of the newly established chair of Medieval and Renaissance English at Magdalene College, Cambridge. He held the position until his retirement in 1963. His Oxford career had included teaching English literature, but the Cambridge appointment gave him a professorship later in his life.

The field suited Lewis’s deep knowledge of medieval literature, Renaissance writing, literary history, and Christian intellectual traditions. He wrote major scholarly works such as The Allegory of Love and English Literature in the Sixteenth Century, excluding drama.

The Cambridge chair is often confused with Lewis’s earlier Oxford appointments. He was a fellow and tutor at Magdalen College, Oxford, for many years, while his Cambridge professorship was at Magdalene College, a different institution. The similar college names are a frequent source of mistakes.