Colegio Mayor de San Ildefonso

The college was built by Cardinal Cisneros, who commissioned architect Pedro de Gumiel, designing it in the purism style. The foundation stone was laid in 1499, the Saint Ildefonsus` Chapel was completed in 1510; in 1516 began construction of the Paraninfo (Auditorium) and in 1537 Rodrigo Gil de Hontañón designed the main façade.

Although most of the work had been carried out by 1617 when Juan Gómez de Mora redesigned the courtyard (Thomas of Villanova's courtyard), the construction was not finished until the second half of the 17th century.

In 1666, the Colegio Mayor de San Ildefonso underwent one of the most comprehensive institutional reforms in the history of Spanish higher education.^[1] Acting under a royal decree issued by King Philip IV, jurist García de Medrano y Álvarez de los Ríos, of His Majesty’s Chamber and Royal Council, was appointed to investigate and restructure the college as royal visitor.^[2]

His reform was codified into an 82-title legal code, which took effect in 1666 and reshaped nearly every aspect of college governance, discipline, academic appointments, and religious life.^[1]

The reform marked the end of the college’s traditional autonomy, imposing Crown authority over faculty elections, introducing term limits, and centralizing university oversight under the Council of Castile. It is now recognized as a defining example of absolutism applied to educational institutions during the Habsburg era.^[1][3]