Note 1382 — Chapter VIII

The university was transferred from Palencia to Salamanca, early in the thirteenth century. Forner, Oracion Apologética por la España, Madrid, 1786, p. 170. By the beginning of the fifteenth century, it had become very prosperous (Sempere, De la Monarchie Espagnole, vol. i. p. 65); and in 1535, it is described as ‘a great Universitie, conteyning seven or eight thowsand students.’ See a letter from John Mason, dated Valladolid, 3rd July, 1635, in Ellis's Original Letters, second series, vol. ii. p. 56, London, 1827. But, like every thing else which was valuable in Spain, it declined in the seventeenth century; and Monconys, who carefully examined it in 1628, and praises some of its arrangements which were still in force, adds, ‘Mais je suis aussi contraint de dire après tant de loüanges, que les écoliers qui étudient dans cette université sont des vrais ignorans.’ Les Voyages de Monsieur de Monconys, Quatrième Partie, vol. v. p. 22, Paris, 1695. However, their ignorance, of which Monconys gives some curious instances, did not prevent Spanish writers, then, and long afterwards, from deeming the University of Salamanca to be the greatest institution of its kind in the world. ‘La mayor del orbe, madre gloriosísima de todas las ciencias y de los mas vehementes ingenios, que han ilustrado las edades.’ Vida de Calderon de la Barca, pp. iii. iv., reprinted in Keil's edition of Calderon, Leipsique, 1827. Compare Davila (Felipe Tercero, p. 81), ‘Salamanca, madre de ciencias y letras;’ Yañez (Memorias, p. 228), ‘Universidad insigne, y Oficina de las buenas Letras de España;’ Bacallar (Comentarios, vol. i. p. 238), ‘El emporio de las ciencias;’ and Ximenez (Vida de Ribera, p. 6), ‘Salamanca, cathedra universal de las artes, y emporio de todas ciencias.’