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

From 1954, C.S. Lewis taught medieval and Renaissance literature at Cambridge University. He became the first holder of the Cambridge Chair of Medieval and Renaissance Literature and was also elected a Fellow of Magdalene College, Cambridge.

The appointment followed nearly three decades at Oxford, where Lewis had taught English at Magdalen College. Cambridge gave him a new academic setting while allowing him to continue the field that had shaped much of his scholarship: literature from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

His academic interests included medieval cosmology, allegory, epic poetry, and the development of English literary traditions. Works such as The Allegory of Love and The Discarded Image reflect this scholarly background, even though general readers often know him better for Narnia and Christian apologetics.

The subject is sometimes shortened in biographies to “medieval literature,” but the official chair covered both the medieval and Renaissance periods. Lewis held the Cambridge post until his death in 1963.