Which Oxford college did J.R.R. Tolkien become a professor at in 1945?

J.R.R. Tolkien became a professor at Merton College, Oxford, in 1945.

After teaching at Leeds and serving as Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford, Tolkien became Merton Professor of English Language and Literature in 1945. He held that chair until his retirement in 1959. Merton College was therefore the Oxford college most closely associated with his final major academic appointment.

Tolkien’s career involved several Oxford institutions, which can cause confusion. He studied at Exeter College, taught at Pembroke College, and later held his Merton professorship. His period at Pembroke was especially important for his literary work because he wrote and published The Hobbit and much of The Lord of the Rings during those years.

His academic expertise in Old and Middle English, philology, and medieval literature strongly shaped his fiction. Tolkien regarded language history as a creative force, and his invented languages were developed alongside histories, peoples, and myths.