Magdalen College, Oxford
constituent college of the University of Oxford in England
Magdalen College ( MAWD-lin) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by Bishop of Winchester William of Waynflete. It is one of the wealthiest Oxford colleges, as of 2022, and one of the strongest academically, setting the record for the highest Norrington Score in 2010 and topping the table twice since then. It is home to several of the university's distinguished chairs, including the Agnelli-Serena Professorship, the Sherardian Professorship, and the four Waynflete Professorships.
The large, square Magdalen Tower is an Oxford landmark, and it is a tradition, dating to the days of Henry VII, that the College choir sings from the top of it at 6 a.m. on May Morning. The College stands next to the River Cherwell and the University of Oxford Botanic Garden. Within its grounds are a deer park and Addison's Walk.
History
Foundation
Magdalen College was founded in 1458 by William Waynflete, Bishop of Winchester and Lord Chancellor of England and named after St Mary Magdalene. The College succeeded a university hall called Magdalen Hall, founded by Waynflete in 1448, and from which the College drew most of its earliest scholars.
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Contemporary correspondence, administrative files and participant testimony can test how later narratives organized the event or institution. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q81162. VIAF identifies the subject as 168107621. The Library of Congress control number is n84238697. Authority coordinates are 51.752, -1.246. 3 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1458, 2022, 2010 and 1448.
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This entry incorporates text from “Magdalen College, Oxford” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.