 By Royal Decree of 1857, the University of Madrid was the only institution in Spain authorized to grant doctorates throughout the Spanish Empire.On 20 May 1293, King Sancho IV of Castile granted the Archbishop of Toledo, Gonzalo Pérez Gudiel, a Royal Charter to found a (as Universities were known at that time), named "El Estudio de Escuelas Generales" in Alcalá de Henares.One of its alumni, Cardinal Cisneros, made extensive purchases of land and ordered the construction of many buildings, in what became the first university campus ex-novo in history