Magdalen College was founded in 1458 by Bishop of Winchester and Lord Chancellor of England,  William of Waynflete. It is one of the strongest academically.

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.

Magdalen College 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 current site  between 1470 and 1480. 

The of the name of the college in English is pronounced like the adjective maudlin because the late medieval English name of Mary Magdalene was Maudelen, derived from the Old French Madelaine.

Magdalen admitted its first mixed-sex cohort in 1979, after more than half a millennium as a men-only institution.

Magdalen College, Oxford - Wikipedia