Which Oxford university professorship did J.R.R. Tolkien hold from 1925?
Answer
Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon
From 1925, J.R.R. Tolkien held the Rawlinson and Bosworth Professorship of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford University.
The appointment placed him at the center of the academic study of Old English language and literature. Tolkien taught and researched subjects including Beowulf, whose language and imaginative world strongly interested him.
He later became Oxford’s Merton Professor of English Language and Literature in 1945. These academic posts were distinct from his career as a novelist. Tolkien’s professional expertise in historical languages helped shape the sound, grammar, and history of the languages he invented for Middle-earth.