Magdalen College, Oxford
Magdalen College 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 of 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. Magdalen Hall was suppressed when the college was founded. The name was revived for a second Magdalen Hall, established in the college's grounds around 1490, which in the 19th century was moved to Catte Street and became Hertford College.Waynflete also established a school, now Magdalen College School, a private school located nearby on the other side of the Cherwell. Waynflete was assisted by a large bequest from Sir John Fastolf, who wished to fund a religious college.
Magdalen College took over the site of St John the Baptist Hospital, alongside the Cherwell, initially using the hospital's buildings until new construction was completed between 1470 and 1480. At incorporation in 1458, the college consisted of a president and six scholars. In 1487 when the Founder's Statutes were written, the foundation consisted of a President, 40 fellows, 30 demies, four chaplain priests, eight clerks, 16 choristers, and appointed to the Grammar School, a Master and an usher.
The founder's statutes included provision for a choral foundation of men and boys and made reference to the pronunciation of the name of the college in English. The college's name is pronounced like the adjective maudlin because the late medieval English name of Mary Magdalene was Maudelen, derived from the Old French Madelaine.
English Civil War
Oxford and Magdalen College were supporters of the Royalist cause during the English Civil War. In 1642, Magdalen College donated over 296 lbs of plate to fund the war effort – the largest donation by weight of any Oxford college.Magdalen College, commanding a position on the banks of the Cherwell that overlooked Magdalen Bridge and the road from London, had tactical significance for the King's forces. From 1643 to 1645, Magdalen's Grove was occupied by the Royalist ordnance, and Prince Rupert is thought to have quartered in the college.
The city built fortifications in preparation for siege through Magdalen's grounds, including Dover's Speare, a bastion that would have allowed observation to the north and east of the city. The earthworks where it was located, in the Water Meadow where the Cherwell forks, are still apparent today. Further fortifications and earthworks were built to protect the Holywell Ford site to the north.
During the first Siege of Oxford, Charles I surveyed the battle from Magdalen Tower.
Following the capitulation of Oxford to Thomas Fairfax at the end of the First English Civil War, Parliament ordered a Visitation to Oxford to purge Fellows for political and religious reasons. In 1647, the Visitors removed the then-president of Magdalen John Oliver and appointed instead one of their number, John Wilkinson, a former Principal of Magdalen Hall who had previously run unsuccessfully for the position of President at the college. When they refused to submit to the authority of Parliament, around 28 of the fellows, 21 of the demies, and all but one of the servants were also expelled. With the Royalists finally removed, the college would host Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell in 1649.
After the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660 John Oliver was reappointed to the college, followed by 17 fellows and eight demies.
Expulsion of the Fellows
During the 1680s, King James II made several moves to reintroduce Catholicism into the then Anglican university. In 1687, he attempted to install Anthony Farmer as president of Magdalen. The fellows rejected this, not just because Farmer was reputedly a Catholic and had a tarnished reputation, but also as he was not a fellow of the college, and therefore ineligible under the statutes. The fellows elected instead one of their own, John Hough. James eventually offered a compromise candidate in the form of the moderate Bishop of Oxford, Samuel Parker, but he too was rejected by the fellows as they considered the role filled.Parker was admitted by force and the fellows and demies who had defied the king were expelled, replaced by the king's choice of Catholics or moderate Anglicans. Parker died in 1688 and was replaced by Bonaventure Giffard, a Catholic under whose tenure the Chapel converted to Catholicism.
The expulsion of the fellows marked a turning point in the university's relationship with the Crown: Brockliss writes, "the royalist and Anglican University established at the Restoration had had to make a choice and it had chosen Anglicanism." James' interference with the college fed resentment in Anglicans who used it as evidence that his rule was autocratic. On 25 October 1688, shortly before the Glorious Revolution and overthrow of James II by William of Orange, James' appointments were reversed and Hough and the expelled fellows were restored to the college. This event is marked every year at a special banquet, the Restoration Dinner, for Magdalen fellows, demies, and academic clerks.
20th–21st centuries
Magdalen's prominence since the mid-20th century owes much to such famous fellows as C. S. Lewis and A. J. P. Taylor, and its academic success to the work of such dons as Thomas Dewar Weldon. During World War II, RAF Maintenance Command was headquartered at Magdalen.Magdalen College owns and manages the Oxford Science Park to the south of Oxford, a science and technology park home to over 100 companies. The Oxford Science Park opened in 1991, with Magdalen as part owner. The college acquired total ownership in 2016, before selling 40% of its stake in 2021 for £160 million. It was reported that this sale will more than double the size of Magdalen's endowment fund, and make it "probably the richest of Oxford's 39 colleges".
Like many of Oxford's colleges, Magdalen admitted its first mixed-sex cohort in 1979, after more than half a millennium as a men-only institution. Between 2015 and 2017, 47.2% of UK undergraduates admitted to Magdalen were from state schools; 12.2% were of BME heritage and 0.7% were black. Of the 300 undergraduate offers made by Magdalen between 2017 and 2019, 25 went to pupils from Eton College or Westminster School.
Architecture
The college grounds stretch north and east from the college, and include most of the area bounded by Longwall Street, the High Street, and St Clement's. The college features a variety of architectural styles, and has been described as "a medieval nucleus with two incomplete additions, one from the eighteenth and one from the nineteenth century".The college is organised around five quads. The irregularly shaped St John's Quad is the first on entering the college, and includes the Outdoor Pulpit and old Grammar Hall. It connects to the Great Quad via the Perpendicular Gothic Founders Tower, which is richly decorated with carvings and pinnacles and has carved bosses in its vault. The Chaplain's Quad runs along the side of the Chapel and Hall, to the foot of the Great Tower. St Swithun's Quad and Longwall Quad date from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and make up the southwest corner of the college.
Original buildings
The college is built on the site of St John the Baptist Hospital, which was dissolved in 1457 and its property granted to William of Waynflete. Some of the hospital buildings were reused by the college, and the kitchens survive today as the college bar, the Old Kitchen Bar.New construction began in 1470 with the erection of a wall around the site by mason William Orchard. Following this, Orchard also worked on the chapel, hall, and the cloister, including the Muniment and Founder's Towers, with work completed around 1480.
Cloister
The Cloister or Great Quad is the "medieval nucleus" of the college. It was constructed between 1474 and 1480, also by Orchard, although several modifications were made later. Access to the Cloister from St John's Quad is via the Founder's Tower or Muniment Tower. The chapel and the hall make up the southern side of the quad. It is also home to the junior, middle, and senior common rooms, and the old library.In 1508, grotesques known as hieroglyphics were added to the Cloister. These are thought to be allegorical, and include four hieroglyphics in front of the old library that represent scholarly subjects: science, medicine, law, and theology. The other hieroglyphics have been assigned symbolism relating to virtues that should be encouraged by the college or vices that should be avoided. In 2017, repair work was undertaken to restore the severely damaged boxers statue.
In 1822, the north side of the Cloister was knocked down, ostensibly due to disrepair. This decision was controversial, provoking protests from the fellows and in the contemporary press, and it was rebuilt shortly afterwards.
In the early 1900s, renovations were performed, and it was returned to a more medieval character. Student rooms were installed in the roof space in the 1980s.