May Morning and Magdalen College, Oxford

Abstract

THE custom of singing from Magdalen Tower on May Morning is well-recorded since the late seventeenth century. 1 Beliefs about it and attitudes towards it have changed considerably during this time, and my intention here is to examine these changes and to seek to identify the factors involved in the development of this particular tradition.There have been two popular explanations for the ceremony, one concerned with an ecclesiastical origin, and the other with possible pagan connections. The earliest full statement of the first is to be found in a guidebook by W. M. Wade, published in 1817: At the hour of five in the morning of May-day, the choristers of the College assemble on the top of this tower, and sing the following hymn: Hymnus Euckaristicus Deo Tri-Uni. [Here followed the full LatinText.] This is done in lieu of a requiem, which, before the Reformation, was performed in the same place for the soul of Henry VII. The rectory of Slimbridge, in Gloucestershire, is charged with an annual payment of ten pounds for the performance of this service. 2This picturesque statement brings together material which had begun independently in different ways.The first part of this article will seek to disentangle the sources and background of the various items included here, and to show how Wade's account became an acceptable and orthodox summary of them. EARLY TRADITIONS