What was the name of C.S. Lewis’s Cambridge academic chair, created for him in 1954?

C.S. Lewis held the Cambridge chair of Medieval and Renaissance English from 1954.

The professorship was created for him at Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he worked during the final decade of his academic career. Before moving to Cambridge, Lewis had spent many years teaching at Oxford, first as a fellow and tutor at Magdalen College and later as a professor of English literature.

The chair reflected Lewis’s scholarly specialization. His academic books examined medieval and Renaissance texts, including works by Edmund Spenser and John Milton. Although his fiction and apologetics made him famous with general readers, his professional field remained literary history and criticism.

The title is not the same as a general chair in English literature. Its wording specifically identifies the two historical periods central to Lewis’s scholarship: the medieval era and the Renaissance.