institution of higher learning founded in 1508 at Alcalá de Henares, in the province of Madrid, and moved in 1836 to the city of Madrid.

Founded by Cardinal Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros (Jiménez de Cisneros, Francisco, Cardenal), as an instrument in the intellectual reform of the church, it was recognized by papal bull in 1508. The university, which taught Thomist, Scotist, and Nominalist theology and Oriental languages, attracted many outstanding scholars who cooperated in the production of the famous Complutensian Polyglot Bible (completed in 1517 and published about 1522). The Colegio de Maria de Aragon was added to the institution in 1590.

In 1836 the university was transferred to Madrid, where it became the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. (Complutense means “native to Complutum,” the Roman settlement at the site of Alcalá de Henares.) It now embraces several other institutions, such as the Medical College of San Carlos, the Royal Institute of San Isidro, a technical college that was added in 1966, and a Jesuit school of philosophy.