What subject did C.S. Lewis hold at Cambridge University from 1954?

From 1954, C.S. Lewis held the Cambridge chair of Medieval and Renaissance Literature. The position was newly established, and Lewis became its first professor.

The appointment marked his move from Oxford, where he had taught at Magdalen College for nearly three decades. At Cambridge, he became a Fellow of Magdalene College, Cambridge, which is a different institution from Magdalen College, Oxford. That similarity in names is a frequent source of confusion.

Lewis’s academic work included medieval and Renaissance literature, literary history, allegory, and English studies. His scholarly books include The Allegory of Love, published in 1936, and English Literature in the Sixteenth Century, published in 1954. Although the Cambridge chair came late in his career, it reflected his standing as a specialist in earlier English literature rather than merely as a popular religious writer or children’s author.