J.R.R. Tolkien became Oxford’s Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon in 1925.
The title refers to the study of Old English language and literature. Tolkien held the chair at Oxford from 1925 until 1945, teaching and researching the language that shaped works such as Beowulf. His scholarly expertise strongly influenced the invented languages, names, and historical depth of his fiction.
In 1945, Tolkien moved to the Merton Professorship of English Language and Literature, which he held until his retirement in 1959. Thus, “Anglo-Saxon” identifies the subject of his first Oxford professorship, not his entire academic career.
Tolkien was also a philologist, meaning that he studied languages and their historical development. His professional scholarship and his creative writing were closely connected, although he did not treat Middle-earth as a real historical period.