Which Oxford academic position did J.R.R. Tolkien receive in 1925?

J.R.R. Tolkien received the Rawlinson and Bosworth Professorship of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford University in 1925. He held the post until 1945, teaching and researching Old English language and literature.

The position placed Tolkien at the centre of Oxford’s study of Anglo-Saxon texts. His academic work included influential teaching on Beowulf, and his scholarship helped reshape how the poem was understood as a work of literature rather than merely a historical source. His expertise in Old English also influenced the languages, names, and poetic traditions of Middle-earth.

In 1945 Tolkien moved to the Merton Professorship of English Language and Literature, which he held until 1959. These titles are sometimes mixed up because both were Oxford professorships. The 1925 appointment was specifically the Rawlinson and Bosworth Professorship of Anglo-Saxon.