Kings and Universities in the Iberian Peninsula (13th century)

Abstract

The creation of a studium generale in Palencia around 1180 by King Alfonso VIII of Castile is part of the great movement to protect knowledge, teachers and students that characterizes the West in the second half of the twelfth century. In Spain, kings are the “defenders of faith” and must therefore fight against errors and promote knowledge. In the kingdom of Castile, after Palencia’s schools –studium generale–, they created those of Salamanca (1254) and Valladolid (c. 1260), as well as studia in Seville and Murcia. The kings of Aragon, who could count on the schools of Montpellier, founded a general studium in Lérida in 1300. Shortly before, the kings of Portugal had done the same in Lisbon. In the 13th century, only the schools of Salamanca enjoyed the title of “university of teachers and students” and, with Montpellier, the ubique docendi license granted by the popes.