| Principal | Date | Notes |
| John Anwykyll | 1480–1488 | first master of the grammar school |
| John Stanbridge | - | - |
| Richard Berne | - | first Principal of Magdalen Hall |
| Thomas Coveney | 1553–1558 | - |
| Adrian Hawthorne | 1558–1567 | - |
| Robert Lyster | 1567–1602 | matriculated Thomas Hobbes |
| James Hussey | 1602–1605 | - |
| John Wilkinson | 1605–? | removed by Royalists |
| Thomas Read | - | Royalist appointee |
| John Wilkinson | ?–1648 | restored |
| Henry Wilkinson | 1648–1662 | removed by the Act of Uniformity |
| James Hyde | 1662–1681 | - |
| William Levet | 1681–1694 | - |
| Richard Adams | 1694–1716 | - |
| Digby Cotes | 1716–1745 | - |
| William Denison, the Elder | 1745–1755 | - |
| William Denison, the Younger | 1755–1786 | - |
| Matthew Lamb | 1786–1788 | - |
| Henry Ford | 1788–1813 | - |
| John Macbride | 1813–1822 | moved Magdalen Hall to the site of Hertford College |