C.S. Lewis joined Magdalene College, Cambridge, as the first professor of Medieval and Renaissance English.
In 1954 Lewis was elected to the newly established chair of Medieval and Renaissance English at the University of Cambridge. He became a fellow of Magdalene College and moved there from Magdalen College, Oxford, where he had taught English since 1925.
The two colleges have similar names but belong to different universities. Magdalen College, Oxford, is spelled without a final “e,” while Magdalene College, Cambridge, includes the final “e.” This spelling difference is a common source of confusion in accounts of Lewis’s career.
Lewis held the Cambridge professorship until his death in 1963. His academic work focused especially on medieval and Renaissance literature, including the literary history surrounding authors such as Edmund Spenser and John Milton.