Which Cambridge college employed C.S. Lewis when he held his 1954 literature chair?

C.S. Lewis held his 1954 literature chair at Magdalene College, Cambridge. He became the first occupant of the Cambridge University chair of Medieval and Renaissance Literature and remained associated with Magdalene until his death.

The college’s name is Magdalene, pronounced like “Maudlin,” and it is distinct from Magdalen College at Oxford, where Lewis had taught since 1925. The similar names are one of the most persistent facts readers mix up when tracing Lewis’s career. Oxford’s Magdalen has no final “e”; Cambridge’s Magdalene does.

Lewis’s Cambridge appointment reflected his standing as a scholar of older English literature, not only as an author of Christian apologetics and fantasy. His academic work included studies of medieval allegory and sixteenth-century literature. He continued teaching and writing while at Cambridge, and his correspondence and friendships remained central to his intellectual life.