On 10 October 1548, Pope Paul III issued the papal bull ‘In Supereminenti Apostolicae Sedis,’ authorising the establishment of a General Study in the town of Osuna, dedicated to the Pure and Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, to whom the founder had a special devotion.
Por ello en un documento rectoral figura que «se denomina Colegio Mayor y Universidad Literaria de la Inmaculada Concepción de Nuestra Señora». Así pues, el Colegio-Universidad ursaonés fue una institución pontificia y tal vez fuese ello uno de los motivos para que se considerase menor.
The request for this authorisation came from Don Juan Tellez de Girón, 4th Count of Ureña and father of the first Duke of Osuna, who wanted to found a college and a university in the capital of his estates, following the model of Alcalá de Henares, where students could obtain degrees that were as valid as those awarded by ‘Bologna, Salamanca, Alcalá de Henares and other general studies, with the same honours and privileges’.
The building was financed and endowed exclusively by the aforementioned count, whose family was one of the wealthiest in Spain. It housed fifteen major chairs at the University and eight minor chairs at the College, grouped around the faculties of Theology, Law (Canons and Laws), Medicine and Arts.
The Theology Faculty was the most popular since its foundation and the most attended. Let us not forget that its objective, like that of Alcalá de Cisneros, is to train ‘the leaders of a Church more worthy of Christ’.
As the founder enjoyed very good relations with certain religious orders—Dominicans, Augustinians, Franciscans, and Carmelites—he ensured that the chairs of this faculty were distributed among them.
Cerrada en 1820, la Escuela Universitaria de Osuna abre de nuevo sus puertas a los estudiantes en el año 1993.
Our university has now been offering its services to anyone who wishes to access them for thirteen years. During this time, we have made significant progress through a constant process of consolidation, which has enabled us to grow both qualitatively and quantitatively.
María de la Cueva, esposa del Iv conde de Ureña, Juan Téllez Girón, madre del I duque de Osuna, junto a su marido será la responsable de las fundaciones más destacadas de Osuna,
Siendo soltera fue dama de la emperatriz Isabel de Portugal, y ocupando dicho cargo contrajo matrimonio con Juan Téllez-Girón, el Santo, IV conde de Ureña, llevado a cabo conjuntamente una serie de fundaciones tanto religiosas como civiles, entre ellas la Universidad de Osuna.
Quedando viuda en 1558, el rey Felipe II de España la nombró camarera mayor de su mujer, la reina Isabel de Valois, cargo que ocupó hasta su muerte, acaecida en el Palacio Real de Madrid el 19 de abril de 1566.
¿QUÉ UNIVERSIDAD ERA EL MODELO QUE QUERÍA SEGUIR LA DE OSUNA?
Harvard
Alcalá de Henares
Universidad de la Vida
¿EN QUÉ FECHA SE VOLVIÓ A ABRIR LA UNIVERSIDAD?
Aún está cerrada
1993
1850
¿CÓMO SE LLAMABA LA MUJER DE FELIPE II?
Isabel de Valois
Shakira
María de Borbón
