The Aldehuela de Torrelaguna. The construction of a farm and retirement house of the Saint Ildefonso College and University of Alcalá

Abstract

The year 1511 the Cardinal Ximenez de Cisneros linked to his University of Alcalá the priory of Saint Tuy. This priory owned a farm called Aldehuela de Torrelaguna that, once annexed to the University, represented one of the most important pieces of the economic maintenance of the Academic Institution. The Cardinal Ximenez not only considered the economical functions of the Aldehuela, but even planified in it the existence of a college destinated to retired Theology doctors of the University. To the development of this role, Ximenez ordered the construction of a stone made building, with a chapel tower and courtyard, lifted up by some of the builders of the University itself. This essay deals with the construction of such a bulding, partialy preserved today.