What was the name of Tolkien’s academic field at Oxford that focused on Old and Middle English literature?

Tolkien’s Oxford academic field was English language and literature, with a strong specialization in Old and Middle English. His scholarship examined the languages, texts, and traditions that shaped early English literature.

He studied at Exeter College, Oxford, and later held major academic posts there. From 1925 to 1945 he was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon, and from 1945 to 1959 he was Merton Professor of English Language and Literature.

Tolkien’s academic expertise influenced his fiction deeply. His knowledge of Old English, Norse, Welsh, Finnish, and other languages helped him construct believable invented languages and cultures. His famous 1936 lecture “Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics” also changed the direction of Beowulf scholarship by arguing that the poem’s monsters were central to its artistic design, not merely distractions from historical content.