Page:Vol 6 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/654

634 Velasco, a royal cédula of September 21, 1551, ordained its erection, providing an endowment of 1,000 pesos de oro, which was increased by later grants and private bequests. Privileges were conferred upon it. The institution was inaugurated on January 25, 1553. In 1589 it was transferred to the site occupied till modern times on the east side of the Plaza del Volador.

The Jesuit college at Mérida, Yucatan, obtained in 1662 the title and privileges of a university, but it did not long exist. The only other permanent institution of the kind, therefore, in New Spain was at Guadalajara, founded by cédula of 1791 in the former Jesuit college, with incorporation of the chairs and endowments of the Seminario de San José, both of which were increased in numbers and amount. The war of independence broke in upon the educational revival with which the present century opened, and where the kindled flame was not absolutely extinguished it burned low. Once free, the republic became