The Literary University of Solsona (1614-1717): Social function and interuniversity conflict

Abstract

This article analyzes from a historical and institutional perspective “General and University Studies” applied to a specific case: that of the College of Llobera in Solsona (1614-1717), whose existence caused a first debate on university policy in 17th century Catalonia. This article reviews the contributions of various authors on this institution and, based on the analysis of published sources and unpublished materials, reinterprets the role and institutional conflict generated by this University with other higher education institutions. The university center in Solsona was born in a very atypical way, the result of the conversion of the pious geriatric foundation of the Hospital d’en Llobera, created at the beginning of the 15th century by this family of merchants, into a “college of ‘studies’ managed by the Order of Preachers. The pontifical bull of commutation (1614) did not specify the scope of academic deployment, and the episcopal, communal and collegiate authorities interpreted it as covering a complete university development, without restrictions on faculties, people or territories. In this way, the centre of Solsona became the seventh and last of the historic university centres of the Principality of Catalonia, which lasted until 1717, when they were all suppressed by order of the new Spanish Bourbon monarchy.