"Away in a Manger" is a Christmas carol first published in the late nineteenth century and used widely throughout the English-speaking world.

Although it was long claimed to be the work of German religious reformer Martin Luther, the carol is now thought to be wholly American in origin.

An early appearance was on 2 March 1882, in the "Childrens' [sic] Corner" section of the anti-Masonic journal The Christian Cynosure.

[12] Another early version was published in Little Pilgrim Songs, a book of Christian music for young children, whose preface is dated 10 November 1883.

An article in the May 1884 issue of The Myrtle, a periodical of the Universalist Publishing House in Boston,[10] also included the carol, stating: Martin Luther, the great German reformer, who was born four hundred years ago the 10th of next November, composed the following hymn for his children; and it is still sung by many German mothers to their little ones.

Decades later, a story was published attributing the third verse to John T. MacFarland: Bishop William F. Anderson has given the story of the writing of the third stanza: When I was Secretary of the Board of Education, 1904–08, I wanted to use "Away in a manger", which I found with the designation "Martin Luther's Cradle Song", in the Children's Day program one year.

By Christmas of 1883, "Luther's Cradle Song" was already being performed as a recitation as part of a Sunday School celebration in a church in Nashville.

One woman said that 'Hush my dear', and 'Mother mine', were heard all day in their alley, and now more lately, Luther's cradle hymn, 'Away in a manger, no cot for his bed', has a place with them and is a favorite.

By 1891, Hill writes, "the carol was sweeping the country [the United States]", with at least four musical settings published that year.

[1] The great majority of early publications ascribe the words to German Protestant reformer Martin Luther.

[23] The claim of Luther's authorship continued to be made well into the 20th century, but it is now rejected as spurious for the following reasons:[1] Richard Hill, in a comprehensive study of the carol written in 1945, suggested that "Away in a Manger" might have originated in "a little play for children to act or a story about Luther celebrating Christmas with his children", likely connected with the 400th anniversary of the reformer's birth in 1883.

[1] The melody was first published, under the title "Luther's Cradle Hymn", by James R. Murray in his collection Dainty Songs for Little Lads and Lasses (1887).

As a consequence, his fellow compilers of song books apparently supposed that all he had done was to arrange the accompaniment.As a result of this "tactical mistake", Murray's melody appeared, without credit, in several subsequent publications.

The tune, written by the Irish-American composer William J. Kirkpatrick, was first published as part of the collection Around the World with Christmas (1895), a "Christmas Exercise" for schools featuring material representing various countries: "Away in a Manger" was included, under the title "Luther's Cradle Hymn", as a representative of "The German Fatherland".

In his article "Not So Far Away in a Manger; Forty-One Settings of an American Carol", published in the Music Library Association Notes (second series) III, no.

[1][29] His 1896 setting, reprinted in many different collections, is based on his 1892 melody but adds a chorus at the end of each verse, with the word "asleep" sung antiphonally.

[1] Another popular arrangement, found at least as early as 1897,[30] sets the words to Jonathan E. Spilman's 1838 melody "Flow Gently, Sweet Afton".