The University of Perpignan (French: Université de Perpignan; Catalan: Universitat de Perpinyà Via Domícia) is a French university, located in Perpignan.
The first university of Perpignan was established in 1349 by King Peter IV of Aragon. It is one of the oldest regional universities, following in the steps of more renowned centers of learning, such as the far more influential University of Toulouse and University of Montpellier.
Peter IV, having conquered in 1344 the town of Perpignan and reunited to his estates the Kingdom of Majorca, of which Perpignan became its capital, compensated that city for its loss of power by founding, at the request of the magistrates, 20 March 1349, the University of Perpignan, for the teaching of civil and canon law, and other arts and sciences. In the charter he praised "the deep learning of the professors of Perpignan".
By the Bull of 28 November 1379, the antipope Clement VII confirmed the foundation and privileges, and the university, in a petition addressed to him in 1393, declared him its founder: "Pater et Genitor". In 1381 John I of Aragon, son of Peter IV, granted permission to the city authorities to build the university near the royal castle. The institution spread in Perpignan an atmosphere of learning, the study of law being specially developed. Theology was taught there during the first years of the fourteenth century, but it was not until 21 July 1447, that the faculty of theology was created by a Bull of Pope Nicholas V and it did not receive its statutes until 1459.[2]
The university of Perpignan was closed for two centuries between 1794 and 1971. A new University Center was established in Perpignan and in 1979 the University became autonomous financially, administratively and educationally.
