What was J.R.R. Tolkien’s academic field at Oxford from 1925?

From 1925, J.R.R. Tolkien was Oxford’s Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon.

He took the post at the University of Oxford after teaching at the University of Leeds. The professorship focused on Old English language and literature, the field commonly called Anglo-Saxon studies at the time. Tolkien held it until 1945, when he became Merton Professor of English Language and Literature.

His academic work strongly influenced his fiction. He studied and taught texts such as Beowulf, and his knowledge of Old English helped shape names, poetic styles, and legendary patterns in Middle-earth. The word “Anglo-Saxon” in this title refers principally to the language and literature of early medieval England, not to Tolkien’s own creative mythology. Tolkien’s later academic career continued at Oxford until his retirement in 1959.