Which Oxford university chair did J.R.R. Tolkien hold from 1945 to 1959?

From 1945 to 1959, J.R.R. Tolkien held the Oxford chair of Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon.

The title reflected Tolkien’s academic specialization in Old English, the language used in works such as Beowulf. He held the chair at Oxford University after serving as Professor of Anglo-Saxon at the University of Leeds and before becoming Merton Professor of English Language and Literature. Tolkien retired from his Oxford academic career in 1959.

The chair is often simplified in general accounts as an “Anglo-Saxon professor,” but its formal name matters. Rawlinson and Bosworth refers to the benefaction and scholarly tradition attached to the post. Tolkien’s professional study of early Germanic languages and literature strongly influenced his fiction, including invented languages, heroic poetry, riddling traditions, and the sound patterns of names in Middle-earth.