J.R.R. Tolkien’s first Oxford professorship specialized in Anglo-Saxon, the historical form of English also called Old English.
In 1925 he became Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at the University of Oxford. The post reflected his expertise in Old English language and literature, including texts such as Beowulf. Tolkien’s philological training shaped his approach to invented languages, names, genealogies, and the historical layers of his fiction.
He later moved to the Merton Professorship of English Language and Literature in 1945. The two posts are sometimes mixed up, but Anglo-Saxon specifically identifies Tolkien’s first Oxford professorship. His scholarship was not separate from his creative writing: he often described stories and languages as developing together.