Magdalene College appointed C.S. Lewis its first professor of Medieval and Renaissance English in 1954.
In 1954, Lewis left Oxford for the University of Cambridge, where he became the first holder of the newly established chair of Medieval and Renaissance English. His Cambridge college was Magdalene College, whose name is traditionally pronounced “Maudlin.”
Lewis continued teaching and writing there until his death in 1963. The appointment was significant because his earlier academic career had been based at Magdalen College, Oxford, a different institution with a similar-looking name. That resemblance is a frequent source of confusion.
Magdalene College, Cambridge, dates from the sixteenth century and has strong associations with English literature. Lewis’s move did not end his connection with Oxford completely, but Cambridge became the setting for the final phase of his academic career.