What was C.S. Lewis’s Cambridge academic chair called when he began there in 1954?

C.S. Lewis held the Cambridge chair of Medieval and Renaissance English when he began teaching there in 1954.

The chair was created for Lewis at Magdalene College, Cambridge, after he had spent nearly three decades teaching at Oxford’s Magdalen College. His Cambridge appointment recognized his expertise in older English literature, including medieval writing and the Renaissance period.

Lewis’s major scholarly work had already established him as an influential literary historian. His 1936 study The Allegory of Love examined medieval and Renaissance allegorical traditions, while English Literature in the Sixteenth Century, Excluding Drama appeared in 1954. His Cambridge role therefore followed a substantial career as a critic and teacher, not merely his popularity as a religious writer.

Lewis continued to write fiction, apologetics, and literary criticism after moving to Cambridge. The Oxford and Cambridge colleges have similarly named institutions—Magdalen at Oxford and Magdalene at Cambridge—which is why biographical accounts sometimes cause confusion about where he worked.