What was J.R.R. Tolkien’s academic title at Oxford from 1945 to 1959?

J.R.R. Tolkien was the Merton Professor of English Language and Literature at Oxford from 1945 to 1959.

He took the post after serving as Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford from 1925 to 1945. The Merton professorship broadened his formal academic title, although his research continued to focus heavily on language, philology and medieval texts.

Tolkien’s academic career strongly influenced his fiction. His knowledge of Old English, Middle English, Norse literature and medieval legends helped shape the languages, names and narrative traditions of Middle-earth.

The title is sometimes confused with his earlier Rawlinson and Bosworth Professorship. That earlier position concerned Anglo-Saxon and lasted two decades. Tolkien held the Merton chair until his retirement in 1959, after which he continued writing and revising his legendarium.