Royal reform of the Colegio Mayor de San Ildefonso

For the jurist who authored the reform, see García de Medrano y Álvarez de los Ríos.

Royal reform of the Colegio Mayor de San Ildefonso
Illustration of the 1666 reform statutes from the 1716 edition of the Universidad de Alcalá.
Philip IV of Spain (27 August 1665)
Long title Reales estatutos hechos por Su Majestad para el gobierno del Colegio Mayor de San Ildefonso
Citation	Archivo General de Simancas, LEG-665
Territorial extent	Colegio Mayor de San Ildefonso, University of Alcalá de Henares
Enacted by	Philip IV of Spain (27 August 1665)
Enacted	4 November 1666
Commenced	1666
Introduced by	García de Medrano y Álvarez de los Ríos
Summary
Comprehensive royal legislation enacted in 1666 to reform the governance, discipline, and structure of the Colegio Mayor de San Ildefonso at the University of Alcalá. Repealed in 1777, it was superseded by Enlightenment-inspired reforms issued by the Council of Castile.

The royal reform of the Colegio Mayor de San Ildefonso (Spanish: Reales estatutos hechos por Su Majestad para el gobierno del Colegio Mayor de San Ildefonso) also known as the reform of García de Medrano was a comprehensive institutional reorganization of the principal college of the University of Alcalá de Henares, formally enacted on 4 November 1666 by direct order of the Spanish Crown following a royal decree issued on 27 August 1665. The reform was designed and implemented by García de Medrano y Álvarez de los Ríos, a Doctor of Canons and professor of canon law at the University of Salamanca, and a senior jurist of the Royal Council of Castile, who was appointed by King Philip IV of Spain to address the college's declining academic standards, administrative disorder, and lax discipline. The resulting body of legislation—consisting of 82 detailed statutes—regulated all aspects of college life, including elections, lectures, residence, dress, religious observance, and governance. The reform of García de Medrano, codified under the title Reales estatutos hechos por Su Majestad para el gobierno del Colegio Mayor de San Ildefonso, represented one of the most ambitious interventions in Spanish higher education during the seventeenth century.

It marked the only Crown-imposed university reform of its kind in early modern Spain, and has since been recognized as a model of legalistic rigor and absolutist educational control. The statutes were preserved in the Archivo General de Simancas and are cited by modern scholars as a defining example of state-led academic restructuring during the Spanish Habsburg monarchy.

From its founding in 1499 by Cardinal Cisneros, the Colegio Mayor de San Ildefonso functioned as the intellectual and symbolic center of the University of Alcalá, intended to cultivate Spain’s future scholars and administrators in theology, law, and governance. It quickly became the crown jewel of the Cisnerian system, both architecturally and institutionally, and served as a model for university reform throughout Spain.

Background

In the early seventeenth century, the Colegio Mayor de San Ildefonso—the principal college of the University of Alcalá de Henares—experienced a period of institutional decline. Once regarded as one of the most prestigious centers of learning in Spain, it had fallen into disrepair due to absenteeism among scholars, corruption in academic appointments, and a general deterioration in discipline and moral conduct.

The disorder extended to both academic and spiritual life: lectures were irregular, financial accounts were poorly kept, and religious observance had become lax among residents. The situation of Alcalá reflected broader tensions in Spanish higher education during the Habsburg period. As noted by George M. Addy, most universities in seventeenth-century Spain resisted reform, and Alcalá was the only one to undergo a Crown-imposed restructuring during that era.

The decay of the Colegio Mayor became so pronounced that it drew royal attention. In 1665, King Philip IV issued a decree through the Royal Council of Castile appointing García de Medrano, a jurist and member of the Council, to investigate and reform the institution. Medrano, who was part of a generation of highly trained Navarrese legal experts advancing through Spain's judicial system, was entrusted with drafting a new legal code to restore order to the college.

The most prominent figure sent to the University of Alcalá was García de Medrano, whose appointment formed part of a broader Crown initiative to assert control over elite institutions. His reforms effectively ended the university's traditional autonomy, long supported by the Catholic Church, and came to symbolize the intersection of royal power, legal rigor, and educational governance in seventeenth-century Spain.

This final reform, led by García de Medrano, consolidated all legislation issued since 1510 into a unified body of statutes that remained in effect until 1777, when it was superseded by Enlightenment-inspired reforms from the Council of Castile.

Royal decree (1665–1666)

In response to the deteriorating condition of the Colegio Mayor de San Ildefonso, King Philip IV issued a royal decree on 27 August 1665, appointing Doctor García de Medrano, a jurist and a member of His Majesty’s Chamber and Councils, to conduct a formal visitation and implement a comprehensive reform of the institution.

The original royal decree of 1665–1666 opens with a decorated "D" for Doctor García de Medrano, framed by ecclesiastical heraldry and a double-headed eagle—a symbol of the Holy Roman Empire and the Spanish Habsburg monarchy. Its inclusion affirms the union of royal and ecclesiastical power, as García de Medrano enacted the reforms as both royal councilor and member of the Supreme Inquisition, reinforcing the reform's institutional and doctrinal weight.

Drafting the legal code (1665)

In 1666, the Colegio Mayor de San Ildefonso in Alcalá de Henares underwent a comprehensive program of academic and institutional reform.

Doctor García de Medrano led an official visitation and reform of the Colegio Mayor de San Ildefonso in Alcala de Henares. In his capacity as visitor and reformer, García de Medrano was charged with examining the university’s statutes, governance, academic organization, and financial administration.

After completing his investigation, García drafted a comprehensive legal code intended to restore discipline, reassert the founder's original intentions, and bring the college under tighter royal control.

Decree and enactment (1666)

After a year of inquiry and legal drafting, Medrano's reform was formally enacted and presented to university authorities on 4 November 1666 in Alcalá de Henares. The reform aimed to unify and modernize the university's fragmented constitutions and previous reforms into a single codified structure, suited to the needs of the time:

By royal command, Doctor Don García de Medrano, of Our Council and the Supreme and General Inquisition, was appointed Visitor and Reformer of the Colegio Mayor de San Ildefonso and the University of Alcalá de Henares. Having reviewed the outcomes of his visitation and consulted Our Council, it has been deemed appropriate to issue various provisions for the good governance of said College and University, and for the observance of its statutes. Therefore, we charge him to enact all that has been decreed, ensuring that it be faithfully observed, executed, and not contradicted in any way. To this end, we grant him the same powers as his predecessors, and all necessary authority by law. Issued in Madrid on 27 August 1665. Transcribed and formally delivered in Alcalá de Henares on 4 November 1666.

This decree launched one of the most important institutional reforms in the university's history, strengthening academic discipline, standardizing internal governance, and affirming the Crown's oversight of higher education in the Spanish monarchy.

The decree's language asserts both the ceremonial authority of the Habsburg monarchy and its growing desire to assert control over academic institutions that had traditionally operated with a degree of ecclesiastical and institutional autonomy.

Table of contents

The 1666 reform of García de Medrano (Reales estatutos hechos por Su Majestad...) is divided into 82 titles, grouped thematically as follows:

Governance and Elections (Statutes 1–5, 12, 17, 56)

These statutes establish the college’s constitutional framework:

• Title 1–5: Structure and election of the rector, councillors, vice positions, and their powers
• Title 11: Defines the legal privileges of collegians and doctors within the College and University
• Title 12: Election of Familiares (domestic and clerical staff)
• Title 17: On appointments and separation of prebendaries
• Title 18: Regulates internal restrictions, access, and administrative closure of college spaces
• Title 56: Defines the council of the University

Eligibility and Genealogical Requirements (Statute 7)

Regulates access to prebends, collegial offices, and academic honors based on lineage, legitimacy, and limpieza de sangre (purity of blood):

• Title 7: On the qualifications required for prebends, the obligations for graduation, and the term of permanence within the College

Academic Instruction and Degrees (Statutes 6, 33–47)

These titles regulate lectures, academic disciplines, examinations, and degrees:

• Title 6: Lecture schedules and attendance requirements
• Titles 33–37: Arts curriculum, regents, bachelors, and degrees
• Titles 38–41: Theology courses and doctoral paths
• Titles 42–44: Medicine instruction and licensing
• Titles 45–47: Canon Law and its examinations

Moral Conduct, Discipline, and Oaths (Statutes 9, 19–20, 58–60)

Attire of the a student at the Colegio Mayor de Sn Ildefonso.

These statutes enforce personal comportment and institutional integrity:

• Title 8: On decorum, habits, and language expected of collegians
• Title 9: On dress and appearance
• Titles 19–20: Penalties for misconduct and theft
• Titles 58–60: Oaths for officials, military personnel, and students

Religious Observance (Statutes 21, 26–28, 53)

Reflecting Catholic orthodoxy and the founder's pious intent:

• Title 21: Chapel and Mass obligations
• Title 26: Sacramental practices
• Title 27: Suffrages for the deceased and founder
• Title 28: Processions and solemnities
• Title 53: Latin mandated within the college

Residential Life and Social Order (Statutes 10, 13–16, 22, 29–32, 77–81)

Rules governing daily life, food, student housing, and behavior:

• Title 10: Audience rights of Portionists
• Title 13–16: Dormitories (camarillas), seating, steward duties, etiquette
• Title 22: Privileges of ecclesiastical officials
• Titles 29–32: Poor colleges and specialized student accommodations
• Titles 77–80: Conduct of poor students, cleanliness, and piety
• Title 81: Duties and discipline of Chaplains and poor students

Financial Oversight and Administration (Statutes 23–25, 51, 54–55, 61–62)

On the accounts and inventory books that must be kept:

• Title 23: Account books and inventories
• Title 24: Old archival records
• Title 25: Duties of stewards and bursars
• Title 51: Role of bedels
• Title 54–55: Visitors and university obedience
• Title 61–62: Protectors and constitutions

Academic Offices and Faculty Roles (Statutes 48–50, 57)

Defines university teaching positions and administrative posts:

• Title 48: Rhetoric and Grammar
• Title 49: Greek and Hebrew
• Title 50: Secretaries and notaries
• Title 57: Oaths of regents and readers

Statutory Enforcement and Preservation (Statute 82)

Ensures the binding force and lasting observance of the entire reform:

Title 82: On the observance and enforcement of the constitutions and reform

This structure reveals the legal mind of García de Medrano: precise, hierarchical, and totalizing in scope—touching every level of college life from the ritual to the administrative, from scholars to servants of the Spanish Empire.

Implementation and Enforcement (1666)

Façade of the Colegio Mayor de San Ildefonso in Alcalá de Henares.

Following the royal approval of the statutes in 1666, the reform of García de Medrano entered its implementation phase. The enforcement of the reales estatutos was entrusted to the newly restructured governing body of the college, with explicit instructions to apply the statutes as binding law across all levels of the institution. This marked the transition from García de Medrano’s legal drafting to the active reordering of university life under royal authority.

Ceremonial enforcement and institutional discipline

This is a photo of a monument listed in the Spanish heritage register of Bienes de Interés Cultural.

The rector, councillors, fellows, and academic officials were required to oversee the institutional transition in accordance with the reform of García de Medrano, ensuring that daily life—from academic scheduling to chapel attendance—conformed to the new rules. Students, readers, regents, and officials were mandated to swear oaths of obedience to the statutes, as outlined in Titles 57 through 60. These oaths formalized their submission to the Crown’s authority and to the moral and academic disciplines outlined in the statutes. In addition to legal enforcement, the reform had a symbolic and ceremonial dimension. The imposition of Latin-only usage within the college (Title 53), the rearrangement of seating in the dining hall (Titles 15–16), and the regulation of processions, suffrages, and religious observance (Titles 21, 27–28) provided order, hierarchy, and Catholic orthodoxy.

As part of the reform led by García de Medrano in 1666, the total number of fellows at the Colegio Mayor was formally reduced to twenty-one, reflecting a broader effort to streamline and discipline the institution’s internal structure. This restructuring would remain in place until 1780, when the college was ultimately merged with the Colegio de la Concepción under the educational policies of Charles III.

Royal authority and lasting impact

Despite the breadth of the changes, historical records do not indicate formal resistance. As noted by scholars such as George M. Addy, the reform of Alcalá was unique among Spanish universities precisely because it was fully carried out by royal mandate, rather than negotiated with internal academic bodies. The reform thus signaled a new model of state-imposed academic governance, one that would shape the tone of higher education in Spain for decades to come.

Titles I–VI: foundational statutes of the 1665–1666 reform

Detail of the façade of Colegio Mayor de San Ildefonso in Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain.

The following translations represent the first six titles of the 1665–1666 university reform, establishing the constitutional core of García de Medrano's reorganization. These statutes codified the number of officials, rules of election, term limits, succession procedures, and rigorous standards for academic appointments—forming the legal foundation of internal governance at the Colegio Mayor de San Ildefonso under royal authority.

Title I

On the number of chaplains that there shall be:

Let there be twelve senior chaplains, as established in the constitution of this Title; that they be elected by the theologians and canon lawyers from among those who meet the qualifications specified therein, and let them serve and reside permanently in the College. If any are absent or leave, replacements shall be elected immediately under the same conditions and requirements, so that the full number of twelve is always maintained.

This statute fixed the number of senior chaplains at twelve and mandated their continuous residence and immediate replacement under equivalent qualifications.

Title II

On the rector and councilors:

We command that the election of the Rector and Councilors take place on the eve of Saint Luke, the seventeenth of October each year, as stated in this Title.

This statute establishes the annual schedule and procedural formality for electing the College’s highest authorities. Elections are to be held each year on October 17, in the College Chapel of the University of Alcalá, and must be presided over by the full chapters of the College, including rectors, councilors, doctors, and full masters.

The outcome is to be formally recorded and submitted to both the Archbishop of Toledo and the University’s governing body, with the results notarized for official record. Notably, the statute excludes senior chaplains from voting or being elected unless they belong to the College by right or academic degree, "and possess the corresponding privileges."

Title III

Detail of the façade of Colegio Mayor de San Ildefonso in Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain.

On the method of electing rectors and councilors:

We ordain and command that on the tenth day of October each year, in accordance with what is prescribed by the Constitution of this Title, the Ordinary Chapter of the College shall convene…

This title establishes the formal procedures for electing the Rector and Councilors of the Colegio Mayor. It mandates that the electoral process begin on October 10 with the gathering of eligible fellows, culminating in the election on October 17, the eve of Saint Luke. Only qualified residents who are not disqualified due to absence, foreign origin, or other restrictions may vote or be elected. The election is to be carried out in chapel, following a structured series of ballots based on seniority.

A minimum of four votes is required to elect a rector or councilor. Attendance at the Mass of the Holy Spirit is mandatory for participation. Influence or solicitation of votes is explicitly forbidden and punishable by disqualification and temporary exclusion from office. If a resolution is not reached on the first day, the vote continues the following day under the same conditions. The final results must be formally documented by the Secretary of the chapel and preserved in the college archives.

Title IV

On the term of office of the rector and councilors:

We ordain and command that the Constitution which states that no one who is studying at the College shall remain in the position of Rector beyond the term established for the election of a new Rector shall be upheld. That is, upon the fifteenth day following the election—if for any reason a new Rector has not been elected—the Vice-Rector shall assume the duties of Rector, except in the case of serious illness, in which case a member of the College gravely ill may be excused from attending or voting in the Rectoral election.

This statute limits the rector’s tenure to fifteen days beyond the scheduled election. If no successor has been chosen, the vice-rector assumes the role—except in cases of serious illness, when a gravely ill fellow may be excused from voting.

Title V

On the absence of the rector and councilors, and the method of electing a vice-rector and vice-councilors:

We ordain and command that what is established in the Constitution of this Title concerning succession in the absence of the Rector shall be followed: namely, that the most senior Fellow shall govern in the absence of the Rector for a period of fifteen days.

This statute provides for institutional continuity in the event of a vacancy or prolonged absence in the College's leadership. If the rector or a councilor is absent and no appointment has been made within fifteen days, the oldest fellow by seniority assumes their duties. The absentee may only reclaim office if the Chapter approves their reinstatement following a formal petition. If no communication is received and no resignation is submitted, the office is considered abandoned, and a new election must be held. The successor, once elected, inherits all responsibilities and rights of the original official. All such transitions must be reported to the Visitador (Inspector), who validates the legitimacy of the process.

The vice-rector is also bound by these same regulations and cannot exceed fifteen days in office without formal election. In cases of illness or legitimate impediment, the rector or councilors must submit written notice to the secretary of the chapel. Failure to notify is treated as abandonment, allowing the College to proceed with elections under the standard procedures.

Title VI

On the method of posting notices for vacant prebends and electing collegians, portionists, and chaplains for them:

When a prebend held by a Collegian, Chaplain, or Portionist becomes legitimately vacant, the Rector must post a public edict in the Chapel on the second day after the vacancy, indicating the opening and inviting applications.

This statute details the formal process for filling vacant prebends in the College, emphasizing publicity, fairness, and rigorous academic standards. Edicts must be posted within two days of a vacancy and remain visible for thirty days, both in the Chapel and at the University gates, "bearing the signatures of the rector, councilors, and secretary of the chapel." If the rector fails in this duty, the Chapter may act in his place. Applicants must meet all formal qualifications, and no one may apply without "a signed and sealed certification confirming their eligibility," including documentation of studies, lineage, degrees, and public lectures. "If an application is submitted without naming the specific prebend, it shall be null and void."

After the posting period, a fifteen-day examination phase begins, during which candidates undergo public exercises in theology, canon law, and scriptural exegesis—read aloud and debated before the rector, councilors, and assigned professors. The entire process is to be judged by impartial assessors, and any attempt at favoritism or "undue influence" voids the candidacy. Voting follows strict procedures: each fellow casts one vote, and a majority elects the candidate; if votes are tied, the most senior fellow decides. Elections held "before all evaluations and exercises are completed" are declared null, and any rector responsible is stripped of their voting rights.

Every step—votes, petitions, disputes—is to be documented and preserved. The statute also mandates support for "poor applicants" in need of housing or supplies, and allows for delayed participation from distant candidates facing hardship, provided they give notice and testimony.

In closing, title VI reaffirms that no person may apply or be elected "except through the official and transparent process," and that "everything laid out in this reformation be strictly followed."

These titles illustrate the formal mechanisms through which García de Medrano implemented the reform by royal mandate—reinforcing both legal order and royal authority within the Colegio Mayor.

Modern analysis

Carmen Purroy Turrillas and María Dolores Martínez Arce

In their study Navarra y América, scholars Carmen Purroy Turrillas and María Dolores Martínez Arce examine the broader role of Navarrese jurists in the administration of the Spanish Empire during the seventeenth century, particularly within the Council of the Indies. They position García de Medrano y Álvarez de los Ríos as a representative figure within a cohort of highly trained legal minds from Navarre, who rose to the high positions of authority in the Council of Castile, the Council of the Indies, the Inquisition and imperial governance.

Their analysis emphasizes that García de Medrano’s appointment in 1665 to reform the Colegio Mayor de San Ildefonso was not merely academic but formed part of a wider Crown-led rationalization campaign. His intervention in Alcalá is portrayed as paralleling the administrative logic and centralizing criteria that shaped Spanish colonial policy:

Appointed by the king as Visitor and Reformer of the Colegio Mayor de San Ildefonso in 1665, García de Medrano carried out an intervention that followed the same rationalizing principles that guided the actions of the Council of the Indies.

This reading situates the reform not only within the realm of education but within the broader architecture of imperial statecraft, where legal expertise, institutional discipline, and royal prerogative converged.

George M. Addy

In his article "Alcalá before Reform—the Decadence of a Spanish University" (1968), historian George M. Addy provides one of the earliest and clearest English-language analyses of the institutional crisis facing the University of Alcalá prior to the reform of 1666. He describes a university mired in disorder, weakened by absenteeism, internal factionalism, and the erosion of discipline and instruction.

Within this context, García de Medrano’s royal appointment is framed not merely as an administrative measure, but as a decisive assertion of state control. Addy emphasizes that the reform marked a break with long-standing ecclesiastical protections, effectively ending the autonomy traditionally upheld by the Catholic Church.

The intervention is interpreted as a symbol of shifting power—away from university independence and toward centralized royal authority:

The principal one sent to the University of Alcalá was Don García de Medrano. The reforms which were instituted brought to an end the university autonomy which had been cherished and encouraged by the Catholic Church.

For Addy, the reform was not just a response to institutional failure but a reflection of broader absolutist impulses within Habsburg governance, channeling law and reform through loyal, legally trained aristocrats like García de Medrano.

María Teresa de Salazar y Cútoli

Salazar y Cútoli highlights the concrete institutional effects of García de Medrano’s reform, particularly the reduction in the number of fellows (colegiales) to twenty-one. Writing in the Spanish-language edition of the Cambridge History, she presents this as part of a long-term reconfiguration of the Colegio Mayor’s internal structure. The changes introduced by Medrano would remain in place until 1780, when further reforms under Charles III merged the college into the Colegio de la Concepción:

The reform of García de Medrano, in the year 1665, reduced the total number of fellows to twenty-one.

Consultation of 1688 and the defense of foundational reform

Statue of Cardinal Ciscneros, the founder of the college's constitutions.

In 1688, the Colegio Mayor de San Ildefonso issued a formal consultation to the Council in response to a Royal Provision that sought to impose a series of administrative and economic reforms on the institution. The Provision followed the visitation of Don Matheo de Dicastillo, who had been appointed by royal decree to investigate the College’s finances and practices and to recommend corrective measures. While the College accepted the initial intent of reform, it issued a detailed rebuttal to many of the specific prescriptions laid out in the Provision.

The consultation was grounded in a juridical and moral defense of the founder’s constitutions—those of Cardinal Francisco Ximénez de Cisneros—and in the precedent established by the Royal Reform of 1666, a Medrano-era codification of administrative norms. The College emphasized that while it did not oppose reform per se, it rejected what it perceived as overreach by the Visitor. In particular, it questioned the legal authority of a visitorial report to bind the College with the force of law, insisting that such binding authority must derive directly from the monarch’s signed will, not from delegation or bureaucratic mediation.

This insistence on internal legitimacy and reform through continuity rather than rupture was deeply consonant with the doctrine of medrar—a theory of ascendant merit and stewardship that, by this time, had come to define the College’s political and institutional identity. Rather than passively accepting externally imposed reforms, the College asserted its right to evolve from within, through measures aligned with its foundational statutes and rooted in the legacy of trusted administrators, including members of the Medrano family.

Fiscal Justification and Stewardship

At the heart of the 1688 consultation was a detailed financial account demonstrating the College’s administrative competence and fiscal recovery. Following the Council's failure to resolve the institution’s economic pressures in 1683, the Colegio Mayor de San Ildefonso undertook a five-year program of internal stewardship. By 1688, it had reduced its deficit from 580 reales de vellón to 109 and brought its debt down from 2,000 to 1,420 reales—evidence, it argued, of prudent self-governance without the need for external intervention.

This financial rehabilitation was framed as both a technical success and a moral vindication. The College asserted that the reforms proposed by the Royal Visitor risked dismantling the very structures that had enabled its recovery. New taxes on provisions, reductions in basic food rations (including wine, bacon, and oil for study), and rigid enforcement of dues from impoverished students were presented not only as impractical, but as contrary to the Founder’s will and to the principles of Christian charity.

The College advocated for a measured, humane model of institutional reform, one that recognized poverty exemptions, allowed debts to be paid in kind or through credit, and preserved internal oversight over its own fiscal policies. Such a model, far from rejecting reform, aligned directly with the medrar tradition: improvement not through rupture or replacement, but through stewardship, memory, and earned continuity.

Limits of Delegated Royal Authority

Detail of the façade of Colegio Mayor de San Ildefonso in Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain.

The consultation strongly challenged the notion that reforms recommended by a royal Visitor could carry the force of law without express ratification by the monarch. The College distinguished between the King’s personal authority, which it reverently affirmed, and the administrative reach of his delegates, which it held to be constitutionally limited. This distinction had deep legal and theological roots in early modern Spain, where royal power was seen as indivisible and inalienable unless formally expressed.

The College argued that while Don Matheo de Dicastillo had lawfully conducted his visitation, any subsequent enforcement of reform chapters required either the King’s direct signature or a new legislative act. The idea that one man’s report—however thorough—could be elevated to normative status was, in the College’s view, an infringement on both its privileges and the sacred prerogatives of the Crown.

By appealing to this doctrine, the College was not resisting royal authority, but defending it from dilution through overbroad delegation. This legal stance was not isolated; it reflected a broader principle of governance anchored in the Medrano tradition, whereby authority must remain proximate to its source. Reform, in this view, must be the product of accountable proximity to royal will—not bureaucratic expansion or procedural overreach.

Guest and Student Protections

Among the most contentious elements of the Royal Provision were new financial impositions on guests (huéspedes) and paying residents (porcionistas), which the College argued risked excluding or penalizing students who were already close to completing their studies. Chapter Two of the reform mandated a flat advance payment of one real per term for all residents, regardless of individual circumstances. The College objected to this uniformity, noting that many students lacked the means to pay in full, and that some had already exhausted their family resources pursuing an education at the College. Instead, the consultation proposed a tiered and discretionary system that accounted for poverty, service to the institution, and academic standing. Collegians who had proven their need—especially those earning less than 200 ducats annually—were to be exempted or permitted to pay partially through credit. Those already invested with the academic mantle were to be protected from expulsion solely for lack of funds.

The College also rejected proposed restrictions on food, heating, and study materials for residents in the guest quarters, arguing that these reductions were incompatible with the dignity of their mission and the expectations of intellectual formation. It defended long-standing customs such as allowing guests to cook independently at night due to the layout of the College grounds and its partial enclosure.

Taken together, these protections reflect not just a concern for logistics, but a deeper institutional ethic: education as a social trust, not a commodity. Within the framework of medrar, students were not passive recipients of favor but participants in a shared ascent—one governed by merit, piety, and institutional solidarity.

Petition for the preservation of the 1666 Medrano royal reform

The consultation concluded with a direct appeal to the monarch, invoking both the Constitutions of the Holy Founder and the Royal Reform of 1666 as the legitimate framework for any future governance. This final petition served not merely as a plea for administrative relief, but as a reaffirmation of the College’s legal and spiritual identity—an identity forged through medrar: the principled ascent of institutions through continuity, discipline, and reform from within.

In light of all this, we petition Your Majesty to order the cessation of the visitation, and suspend the enforcement of the Royal Provision concerning the contested chapters. We ask that the Constitutions of our Holy Founder and the Royal Reform of 1666 be upheld, correcting any abuses or excesses that contravene them, and in this we will receive great favor.

In this act of petition, the College positioned itself not in opposition to reform, but as its rightful guardian. The appeal framed the 1666 Medrano-led reform not as a fixed historical event, but as a living standard—a framework flexible enough to permit correction, but firm enough to resist capricious innovation. The petition thus embodies a distinctive model of early modern institutionalism: one in which authority is sustained by memory, reform proceeds through inheritance, and ascent—medrar—is both a personal and collective obligation.

Legacy and institutional impact

Detail of the façade of Colegio Mayor de San Ildefonso in Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain.

The royal reform of the Colegio Mayor de San Ildefonso, executed by García de Medrano y Álvarez de los Ríos and enacted in 1666, marked a turning point in the history of Spanish higher education. It redefined the internal organization of the college, aligned it more closely with the ideological aims of the Habsburg monarchy, and left institutional effects that persisted for more than a century.

One of the most tangible legacies was the numerical restructuring of the Colegio Mayor and its affiliated foundations. According to María Teresa de Salazar y Cútoli, Medrano’s reform reduced the number of fellows at the Colegio de Madre de Dios to twenty-one, a cap that remained in force until the college was absorbed into the Colegio de la Concepción in 1780 under the government of Charles III. Similar reductions occurred in other colleges: San Ambrosio fell from 36 fellows to 16, while Santa Balbina was limited to 20 as part of the same institutional recalibration.

These cuts were not merely administrative but symbolic—asserting Crown control over appointments and admissions, traditionally dominated by church interests and local elites. The statutes also had an enduring effect on the legal consciousness of university governance. Scholars such as Carmen Purroy Turrillas and María Dolores Martínez Arce have argued that the reform reflects the same rationalizing impulse that guided the operations of the Council of the Indies, positioning García de Medrano as a conduit of imperial legal ideology within the educational sphere.

The use of oaths, codified procedures, and punitive enforcement mechanisms within the statutes prefigured the more comprehensive Bourbon-era reforms of the 18th century, making Alcalá a testing ground for state-led academic modernization. Although the University of Alcalá would eventually decline and the college system be dismantled by liberal reforms in the 19th century, the 1666 reform stands as a defining moment in the legal and administrative history of Spanish education. Its preservation in the Archivo General de Simancas under reference LEG-665 ensures its ongoing relevance for legal historians and scholars of early modern statecraft.

Preservation and historiography

Colegio Mayor de San Ildefonso.

The Reales estatutos hechos por Su Majestad para el gobierno del Colegio Mayor de San Ildefonso, enacted in 1666, were preserved as a royal legal instrument in the Archivo General de Simancas, the central archive of the Spanish monarchy. The document is catalogued under the reference LEG-665, where it is stored alongside other official decrees, ordinances, and state correspondence from the Council of Castile and the Habsburg administration.

This classification reflects the reform’s status not merely as an internal academic regulation, but as an authoritative act of the Spanish Crown with legal and administrative force. The statutes were also printed and distributed in the late seventeenth century, and several facsimile copies survive in rare book collections and digital repositories. These editions, along with the original digitized by the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek and other European archives, provide researchers with access to the original text and typographical formatting. The structure of the reform—divided into 82 detailed titles—has been the subject of analysis in modern university histories and legal scholarship.

The survival and citation of the statutes affirms their value as a legal and political artifact—a document that bridges the realms of academic regulation, royal authority, and imperial ideology. The reform of García de Medrano has since become a standard case study for understanding the relationship between legal rationalism, Catholic orthodoxy, and absolutist governance. Contemporary scholars such as Carmen Purroy Turrillas and María Dolores Martínez Arce have drawn upon the statutes in their work on the Navarrese legal elite, situating García de Medrano’s intervention as part of a broader pattern of imperial rationalization in both peninsular and colonial institutions.

Conclusion

Detail of the façade of Colegio Mayor de San Ildefonso in Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain.

The Royal Reform of the Colegio Mayor de San Ildefonso, enacted in 1666, stands as one of the most far-reaching and meticulously codified interventions in the history of early modern Spanish higher education. Designed and executed by García de Medrano y Álvarez de los Ríos, a jurist of the Royal Council of Castile and a trusted servant of the Habsburg monarchy, the reform reflected a broader ideological commitment to order, hierarchy, and royal oversight.

Uniquely among Spanish universities, the Colegio Mayor of Alcalá was subjected to a comprehensive legal reordering—one that replaced inherited privileges and informal practices with statutory clarity and institutional discipline. Medrano's 82-title legal code not only regulated elections, instruction, and conduct but formalized the Crown’s authority in shaping the future of academic life. It is widely regarded by scholars as a model of legalistic precision and absolutist educational governance, emblematic of the Habsburg era’s fusion of law, Catholic orthodoxy, and central administration.

Although the statutes were partially dismantled or absorbed during the Bourbon reforms and ultimately erased by the nineteenth-century liberal restructuring of Spanish universities, their preservation in the Archivo General de Simancas ensures their continued relevance. Today, the reform serves as a focal point in the historiography of imperial legal culture, early modern universities, and the intersection of education and statecraft. It remains a foundational document in the history of university law in Spain.

Further reading

• Addy, George M. "Alcalá before Reform: The Decadence of a Spanish University." Hispanic American Historical Review 48, no. 4 (1968): 561–585.
• Archivo General de Simancas. Reales estatutos hechos por Su Majestad para el gobierno del Colegio Mayor de San Ildefonso (1666). Archival record LEG-665. PARES (Portal de Archivos Españoles)
• García de Medrano y Álvarez de los Ríos. Reformación que por mandado del Rey Nuestro Señor se ha hecho en la Universidad de Alcalá de Henares... (Madrid: 1666). Original edition available via the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek.
• Purroy Turrillas, Carmen, and Martínez Arce, María Dolores. Navarra y América: Presencia en el Consejo de Indias de Antiguos Miembros del Consejo Real de Navarra en el Siglo XVII. Universidad de Navarra / Sociedad de Estudios Históricos de Navarra.
• XXV años de la Escuela de Genealogía, Heráldica y Nobiliaria. Ediciones Hidalguía, 1985. ISBN 978-84-398-4671-0

See also

• University of Alcalà
• Colegio Mayor de San Ildefonso
• Council of Castile
• Education in Spain
• Archivo General de Simancas
• García de Medrano y Álvarez de los Ríos
• Spanish Habsburg monarchy

References

• "Reformación que por mandado del Rey Nuestro Señor se ha hecho en la Universidad de Alcalá de Henares, siendo Visitador, y Reformador el Señor Doctor D. García de Medrano". Reformas Universitarias del Siglo XVII (in Spanish). Alcalá de Henares: s.n. 1666. Retrieved 2025-05-17.
• de Andrés Martín, Melchor (1929). Historia de la Universidad de Alcalá (in Spanish). Madrid: Imprenta Helénica. Retrieved 2025-05-17.
• Campos-Perales, Àngel (2024). "Los validos valencianos del valido: arte y legitimación social en tiempos del Duque de Lerma (1599–1625)". Espacio, Tiempo y Forma. Serie VII: Historia del Arte (in Spanish). 12. Madrid: UNED: 275–296. doi:10.5944/etfvii.12.2024.38583. Retrieved 2025-05-08.
• Cristina Borreguero Beltrán, ed. (2022). "Piedra a piedra: La construcción de la historia moderna a la sombra de las catedrales" (PDF). XVI Reunión Científica de la Fundación Española de Historia Moderna (in Spanish). Burgos: Fundación Española de Historia Moderna: 137.
• "Reales estatutos hechos por Su Majestad para el gobierno del Colegio Mayor de San Ildefonso". Portal de Archivos Españoles (PARES) (in Spanish). Ministerio de Cultura y Deporte, Gobierno de España. Retrieved 2025-05-17.
• Addy, George M. (1968). "Alcalá before Reform: the Decadence of a Spanish University". Hispanic American Historical Review. 48 (4). Duke University Press: 561–585. doi:10.1215/00182168-48.4.561. Retrieved 2025-05-17.