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ALCALA DE HENARES

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Originally appearing in Volume V01, Page 517 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ALCALA DE HENARES , a See also:town of See also:Spain, in the See also:province of See also:Madrid, 17 M. E.N.E, of Madrid, on the See also:river Henares, and the Madrid-See also:Saragossa railway. Pop. (1900) 11,206. Alcala de Henares contains a military See also:academy and various public institutions, but its commercial importance is slight and its See also:main See also:interest is See also:historical. The town has been identified with the See also:Roman Complutum, which was destroyed about. the See also:year woo, and was rebuilt by the See also:Moors in ro83. In later times it was renowned for its richly endowed university, founded by See also:Cardinal See also:Jimenes de Cisneros in 1510, which at the height of its prosperity numbered 12,000 students, and was second only to that of See also:Salamanca. Here the famous edition of the See also:Bible known as the Complutensian Polyglot was prepared from 1514 to 1517. The See also:college of See also:San Ildefonso, completed in 1583, was the See also:chief university See also:building. Its modernized See also:Gothic See also:church, the Colegiata, contains the 16th See also:century See also:marble See also:monument of Jimenes (d. 1517) and a See also:fine See also:reredos. The greatest of See also:Spanish writers, Cervantes, was See also:born at Alcala de Henares, and baptized in the otherwise insignificant church of S.

Maria on the 9th of See also:

October 1547. A tablet, set up in 184o, marks the See also:house in which he is said to have been born. Other illustrious natives of the town were the See also:emperor See also:Ferdinand I. (1503-1564) and the Spanish dramatist and historian See also:Antonio de See also:Solis (1610-1686). After the removal of the university to Madrid in 1836 the town rapidly declined, and the See also:government turned most of the See also:principal buildings erected by Cardinal Jimenes in the 16th century into a See also:depot for the archives of various See also:state departments. Here are'kept very See also:complete and curious documents of the See also:Inquisition, showing all its workings from the 15th to the 19th century. One of the principal See also:libraries is the former See also:palace of the archbishops of See also:Toledo. For a See also:fuller description of Alcala see the Guia del viajero en Alcala de Henares, by L. A. de la Torre (Alcala, 1882). The following See also:works are mainly of historical interest:—M. de See also:Ayala and F. Sastre, Alcald de Henares (Madrid, 189o) ; J. C.

See also:

Garcia, Ensayo de una Tipografia Complutense (Madrid, 1889) ; M. Portilla y Esquivel, Historia de la See also:ciudad de Compluto (Alcala, 1725–1728); and the Annales Cgmplutenses " and " Chronicon Complutense " in Espana Sagrada, by H. See also:Florez and others (Madrid, 1754–1899).

End of Article: ALCALA DE HENARES

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