University of Baeza

The University of Baeza (Spanish: Universidad de Baeza) was a university in Baeza in the old Kingdom of Jaén, Spain. Established in 1538, it existed until 1824. The surviving university building was built in 1595.

The University of Baeza was established in 1538 by a papal bull of Paul III. Its first rector was Saint John of Avila.After successfully fending off an attempt in 1585 by the Augustinians to establish a rival university, in 1630, Pope Urban VIII granted it the status of a pontifical university, upon the demise of the university in nearby Jaén.

The curriculum included liberal arts, medicine, and theology. Founded by notary Rodrigo López, a relative of Pope Paul III, the school had important early participation from so-called New Christians—bourgeois Jews who had converted to Christianity rather than leave Spain—as well as from the Jesuits and the Carmelites; Saint John of the Cross participated in prayer seminars there.

In terms of the battles over theology, the University of Baeza in its early years was distinctly on the modernizing side. Between its alumbrado mysticism and the Jewish ancestry of many of its faculty (including rector John of Avila), the university aroused the suspicions of the Spanish Inquisition. Many of its most popular faculty faced the Inquisition. While Hernán Núñez, Hernando de Herrera, Diego Pérez de Valdivia and Bernardino de Carleval all escaped any formal conviction, the Inquisition effectively ended all of their careers, as they spent large portions of their lives entangled in its processes. Bernardino de Carleval was forced to formally recant a statement that the Jews were not responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus.

...
Wikipedia