C.S. Lewis became a professor of medieval and Renaissance English at Magdalene College, Cambridge, in 1954. He held the Cambridge chair until his retirement in 1963.
The appointment followed Lewis’s long Oxford career at Magdalen College. The two colleges are easy to confuse because their names are similar, but the Oxford college is Magdalen, while the Cambridge college is Magdalene, ending in “e.”
At Cambridge, Lewis continued teaching and writing while maintaining his interest in medieval literature, Renaissance texts, Christianity, and literary history. His Cambridge professorship was his only university chair, even though he had already become a prominent author before receiving it.
Lewis died in 1963, so his Cambridge period lasted less than a decade. The college remains closely associated with him, and the building known as the New Buildings includes rooms connected with his years there.