ALCALÁ DE HENARES. – A city in central Spain (the Roman Complutum) in the province of Madrid, formerly the seat of a diocese (v. MADRID).
I. THE UNIVERSITY
The first idea of a Studium generale in Alcalá is due to Archbishop Gonzalo, who on 20 May 1293 obtained from King Sancho IV of Castile “the Brave” the privilege of its foundation. Archbishop Don Alfonso Carrillo, having received confirmation from Pius II (16 June 1459), entrusted the study to the guardian of the Franciscan convent of S. Diego.But the true University of Alcalá, rival of Salamanca and called by the Spaniards “the eighth wonder of the world,” was the work of the Franciscan Francisco Ximenes (Jiménez de Cisneros), who was appointed Archbishop of Toledo in 1495 and created cardinal in 1507. With the intention of providing his diocese with a learned and numerous clergy and of facilitating the education of poor students who could not travel far, he resolved to establish a great university. For this purpose he obtained from Alexander VI, on 13 April 1499, the bull of foundation *Inter cetera*, which granted it the same privileges as the Universities of Salamanca, Valladolid, Bologna, and others. With broad vision and ample resources, Ximenes began the works in 1498 and continued them for a decade. On 25 July 1508, the date of the inauguration of the Colegio Mayor de S. Ildefonso, the central institution of the university, is historically regarded as the beginning of its academic courses.
Thanks to the variety of its institutions and colleges (Ximenes had planned 18), Alcalá became a true city of learning. The Colegio de S. Ildefonso was reserved for theologians, and its superior was ex officio rector of the university; the Colegio de S. Isidoro was intended for students of rhetoric; those of S. Balbina and S. Caterina for philosophers; and that of S. Girolamo, also called the Trilingual College, for the study of biblical languages (Hebrew, Greek, Latin). Perhaps Alcalá was the first university city to possess a women’s college, that of S. Giovanni della Penitenza, directed by Franciscan nuns. It also had, like Salamanca, a university hospital. In 1508–1509 the faculties of philosophy and theology began to function, followed the next year by those of arts and canon law. The faculty of medicine was established by Leo X on 3 November 1514. The chairs, which initially numbered 33, soon rose to 46, distributed as follows, with a marked predominance of theological chairs: 8 in theology, 2 in Sacred Scripture, 6 in canon law, 4 in medicine, 2 in anatomy and surgery, 8 in arts and philosophy, 1 in moral theology, 1 in mathematics, and 14 in languages and rhetoric. The faculty of civil law, excluded by the founder, was later erected by Alexander VII on 7 June 1656. The statutes, drawn up by the cardinal himself, were published on 22 January 1510 and revised in 1517. The abbot of S. Giusto served as chancellor. New graduates were required to pledge themselves to defend, both publicly and privately, the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin.
Anticipating the work of the Counter-Reformation, Cisneros sought to make his university an active Catholic humanist center. He called to it, especially from Salamanca and Paris, the leading scholars of the day, and through them initiated publications of the first order, such as the edition of the most ancient liturgical books of the Spanish Church (the Mozarabic Liturgy) and the famous Polyglot Bible, known as the Complutensian, the first of its kind (6 folio volumes, 1514–17).
During its period of greatest splendor, the University of Alcalá, with its perfect organization, the number of its students, and the renown of its teachers, gave great impetus to the Spanish Renaissance of the 16th century, which marks one of the most flourishing periods of Catholic scholarship. Among its most distinguished professors were Melchior Cano (1543–46), Báñez (1567–69), and Suárez (1585–93). Among its students and later professors were St. Thomas of Villanova and his illustrious pupil Francisco or Domingo de Soto (1520–24). The University of Alcalá fostered the Carmelite reform (cf. St. Teresa, *Foundations*, XXIX, 30). For the so-called Theses of Alcalá at the time of the Thomist-Molinist controversies on the efficacy of grace under Clement VIII (1602), cf. Pastor, XI, pp. 567–71.
After various vicissitudes, in 1836 the university, with its magnificent library, was transferred to nearby Madrid to form the Central University of Spain, which until recent times held all faculties and could grant the degree of doctor. Housed successively in the Seminary of Nobles, then in the “Salesas Nuevas,” in 1842 it settled in the building it occupied until the construction of the grand Ciudad Universitaria, decreed by King Alfonso XIII on 17 May 1927 and inaugurated by Gen. F. Franco on 12 October 1943. It retains the ancient coat of arms with the inscription “Universitas Complutensis. Ciudad Universitaria de Madrid.” Among its buildings is to be noted the Colegio Mayor Ximénez de Cisneros. Today, with its various colleges that ensure the spiritual and social formation of students, it remains a model university center.
II. THE COLLEGE OF THE CARMELITES
In Alcalá, in addition to the university, is to be remembered the College of the Discalced Carmelites, dedicated to St. Cyril (Complutense Collegium Carmelitarum Discalceatorum divo Cyrillo sacrum), renowned in Carmelite history for the so-called “chapter of separation,” held on 3 March 1581 (cf. St. Teresa, *Foundations*, XXIX, 30). As a result of the Teresian reform—which, because of the dangers in university environments, forbade new religious from attending its courses—there was established here a philosophical school for the students of the Order. In 1624 the college began the anonymous publication of the famous *Complutensis Artium cursus*, whose exact title, indicating its method and doctrinal approach, was: *Collegium Complutense Philosophicum hoc est Artium Cursus sive disputationes in Aristotelis Dialecticam et Philosophiam Naturalem iuxta miram Angelici Doctoris divi Thomae et Scholae eius doctrinam*.The author of the first volume (*Logica*) is Fr. Michele della S.ma Trinità; the other three (*Comm. in VIII libros Phys.* and *in libros de Anima*) are the work of Fr. Antonio della Madre di Dio (d. 1641), who also edited the first volumes of the subsequent *Cursus Theologicus Salmanticensis* (v. SALAMANCA). These learned Carmelites, to ensure the unity of the work and the fidelity of their teaching in every detail to the doctrine of St. Thomas, consulted collegially, deciding by vote when agreement was not reached on controversial questions. Thus the Complutensian courses, like the Salmanticensian, rather than expressing the personal thought of the various authors, present the official doctrine of the Order.
Fr. Biagio della Concezione, a French Discalced Carmelite (d. 1694), completed the *Cursus* with two further volumes: one on metaphysics (Paris 1640) and another on moral philosophy (ibid. 1647). Finally, Fr. Giovanni dell’Annunziano (d. 1701), general of the Order and the most illustrious editor of the *Cursus Salmanticensis*, recast for school use the work of the professors of Alcalá under the title: *Cursus Philosophicus Collegii nostri Complutensis ad clariorem formam redactus*, 5 vols., Lyon 1669–71. These five volumes, together with the two by Fr. Biagio della Concezione, formed the complete *Cursus Complutensis* in seven volumes. This work, especially in its original form, was received with acclaim by scholars, particularly Thomists, and saw many reprints.
Notitiae bibliographicae super Collegii Complutensis Fratrum Carmelitarum Disc. Artium Cursu, in Analecta Ordinis Carmelitarum Discalceatorum, 8 (1933), pp. 267-89; Silverio di S. Teresa, Historia del Carmen Descalzo, IX, Burgos 1940, pp. 1-45 (Los estudios en la Reforma Teresiana; El Curso Completo).