page_title: University of Orihuela
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: University of Orihuela / History
caption_attribution_description: Fernando de Loazes, Patriarca de Antioquía
context_page_description: The University of Orihuela was located at the Convent of Santo Domingo, in Orihuela. It was the second university in the ancient Kingdom of Valencia, founded 40 years after the University of Valencia. The official name of the institution was Pontificia y Real Universidad de Orihuela. The aforementioned university was governed by the Order of the Preachers who had their convent inside it.
  Its building is currently occupied by the Diocesan School of Santo Domingo.
context_section_description: In 1552 Pope Julius III granted, by papal privilege, the rank of University to the College. In the year 1569, Pope Pius IV granted it Pontifical University status via papal bull.
  In 1569, Pope Pius V granted the College the full category of Public University of all sciences and arts for those who wanted to attend, be they clergy or secular, comparable to the Universities of Salamanca, Alcalá, Valencia and others, with the same prerogatives and rights. However, they had to wait until 1610 for studies to begin and until 1646 for King Philip IV, by the Royal Warrant of 1646, to grant the title of “Royal” to the Pontifical University of Orihuela, declaring it a Regal, Public, and General University in spite of pressures from the University of Valencia, which wanted this declaration for itself and not for Orihuela.
  It thus became the only existing university in the arc that spans Alcalá de Henares (founded by Cardinal Cisneros in 1499), Valencia (founded by Ferdinand the Catholic in 1502), and Granada (founded by Carlos I of Spain in 1531).
  During the 18th century, coinciding with the population increase and the revitalization of agriculture, the University of Orihuela experienced a Golden Era. It boasted 24 department chairs, a faculty of some 100 doctors and close to 300 students, in addition to 117 schoolchildren in the seminary, which was incorporated into the university, as well as the seminary of Saint Fulgencio of Murcia.
  During the War of Spanish Succession, Orihuela chose the side of the Habsburg candidate, and after the war ended in 1713, the political positions of the city of Orihuela and of the new Bourbon monarchy had negative repercussions on the university, with teachers not being able to attend the town council easily. The 1807 education reform plan restricted the disciplines to philosophy and theology, in fact losing almost all the secular students.
  The university was going to be closed down by the General Decree of University Closures, because of which the likes of Baeza, Ávila, etc. were closed down in 1818, but in the end, its closure was postponed until 1824 and once again until the final date of 1835, after three hundred years of history. This closure was carried out by the minister Francisco Tadeo Calomarde. The real reason for its removal was the fact that it was overshadowing the University of Valencia, the city that received King Fernando VII on his return to Spain.
  Finally, in 1836, after the Law of Expulsion of the Religious Orders and the Ecclesiastical Confiscations of Mendizábal, the building was passed on to the Diocese of Orihuela, that, from 1871 supported the Collegiate school until 1956, when the current Diocesan College was built.
caption: Cardinal Loazes, founder of the university.
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