What was the title of J.R.R. Tolkien’s academic professorship at Oxford from 1925?

J.R.R. Tolkien became the Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford in 1925.

The professorship was based at Oxford University and focused on Old English language and literature. Tolkien held the position from 1925 until 1945, when he moved to the Merton Professorship of English Language and Literature. His academic work in philology deeply influenced the invented languages, names, and historical layers of Middle-earth.

Tolkien was especially known for his scholarship on Old English texts, including Beowulf. His 1936 lecture “Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics” helped redirect scholarly attention toward the poem’s artistry and structure rather than treating it merely as a historical source.

The title is often shortened informally to “Professor of Anglo-Saxon,” but the full historical name includes Rawlinson and Bosworth. It should not be confused with Tolkien’s later Merton professorship, which he held from 1945 until his retirement in 1959.

His academic specialization was not separate from his fiction. Tolkien’s professional study of languages and medieval texts supplied methods and ideas that helped him construct believable fictional histories.