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

C.S. Lewis’s Cambridge professorship was the Chair of Medieval and Renaissance English.

In 1954 Lewis left Oxford for Cambridge, where he became the first holder of the newly established Chair of Medieval and Renaissance English. He was attached to Magdalene College, Cambridge, rather than Magdalen College, Oxford; the similar names are a frequent source of confusion. The Cambridge appointment recognized the area that had defined much of his academic scholarship.

Lewis held the chair until his retirement in 1963. His work on medieval literature included studies of allegory, literary history, and the intellectual world surrounding older texts. His academic writing and imaginative fiction were closely connected: medieval cosmology, myth, allegory, and Christian thought all influenced books such as The Discarded Image and his space trilogy. The title of the Cambridge chair is more precise than the broad description “English professor,” because it identifies both the historical periods and the literary field he taught.