J.R.R. Tolkien’s Rawlinson and Bosworth Professorship was in Anglo-Saxon. He held the position at the University of Oxford from 1925 until 1945.
The title refers primarily to the study of Old English language and literature. Tolkien’s work in this field included teaching and scholarship on texts such as Beowulf, whose language, monsters, and heroic culture influenced his creative thinking.
Tolkien later became the Merton Professor of English Language and Literature. His academic career is important because his fiction grew alongside rigorous study of historical languages and medieval sources. Although Tolkien drew on Celtic, Finnish, Norse, and classical traditions, the Rawlinson and Bosworth chair itself was specifically concerned with Anglo-Saxon studies.