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The University of Salamanca is the oldest institution of higher education in Christian Spain, following the General Study of Palencia, which does not exist today. Alfonso IX of Leon grants the degree of General Study in 1218 to the cathedral schools of Salamanca emulating his nephew Alfonso VIII of Castile, who had done it with Palencia in 1208. The date of 1218 is officially considered as the birth of the «Studii salmantini ‘. After the definitive union of the two kingdoms under the scepter of Fernando III, the importance of the Salmantino study languishes that of Palencia, which will eventually disappear. In 1254 Alfonso X the Wise granted to Salamanca the title of University, ratified by the Pope in 1255, what makes it the first European in bearing this title.
