J.R.R. Tolkien became Oxford’s Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon in 1925.
The chair placed him among Britain’s leading scholars of Old English language and literature. His academic work included major studies of texts such as Beowulf, and his expertise in historical languages strongly influenced the languages, names, poetry, and cultures of Middle-earth.
Tolkien held the Oxford professorship until 1945, when he became Merton Professor of English Language and Literature. He remained at Oxford for the rest of his academic career, teaching and writing while developing the mythology that later became famous through The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.
The title “Anglo-Saxon” refers here to the study of Old English and its literature, not to a fictional group in Tolkien’s books. Tolkien’s scholarship and creative writing were closely connected, but his novels were not simply coded versions of Old English stories. Instead, ancient languages and texts supplied methods, sounds, themes, and inspiration.