The history of education in Spain is marked by political struggles and the progress of modern societies. It began in the late Middle Ages, very close to the clergy and the nobility, and during the Renaissance it passed into the domain of a thriving bourgeois class that led an incipient enlightenment in the so-called Age of Enlightenment. The Constitution of 1812 and the drive of the liberals originated the contemporary education.

Ancient Age The Romanization of Hispania led to the creation of educational institutions. The sources record the foundation by Sertorius, around 80 BC, of a peculiar "academy" in Osca (Huesca) where the children of the local elites were educated.But it was the children that won them over the most. For the noblest of the people were gathered in Osca, an important city, and brought teachers of Greek and Roman teachings and, in fact, he used them as hostages, but in words he educated them to make them participants, when they were men, of the government and power.

Plutarch, Parallel Lives.Archaeological remains have been preserved of the so-called "House of Hippolytus" at Complutum (Alcalá de Henares), dating from the 3rd and 4th centuries, a school for young people linked to the Anios family, with recreational and educational uses.

Late Antiquity did not entail a total break with the Roman tradition, although in educational institutions the most important effect was its restriction to the Christian religious sphere, particularly the monastic one.We hardly know anything about the end of the ancient school in Spain. The Hispano-Roman tradition of municipal schools languished along with the culture throughout the 5th century, to such an extent that we can think of their gradual and almost definitive loss in this century and at the beginning of the next. The Visigoth invaders did not show the slightest interest in them, as they were considered to be the cultural heritage of the conquered. Certain monastic communities that managed to survive the difficulties of the invasion represent a continuity between the Roman and Hispano-Visigothic cultures, such as the monastery of Asan in Huesca, founded by Victorinus, which tried to imitate the great Eastern models of monasticism. In this context, it is inevitable that it was the Church that felt the need to create centres where clerics and especially future bishops could be trained. A certain development of Visigothic educational institutions can be traced back to the Council decrees. During the First Council of Toledo (397-400), a bishop named Patruinus urged a similar formation for all those receiving holy orders, following the decrees of Nicaea. [...] Gradually, the Hispano-Romans became aware that their power lay in the cultural sphere. In this way, the idea that traditional education was necessary as an effective means for the moral life of Christians and for triumphing in theological disputes with the heterodox. This idea came from Italy and was clearly formulated by two notable personalities such as Cassiodorus and Gregory the Great. The interest in the formation of those who were to receive the sacred ministries was also discovered at the same time in a letter that Licinius of Carthagena sent to Pope Gregory, complaining about the harshness of the pontifical dispositions regarding clerical formation, admitting that if he were to follow them to the end, he were to follow them to the letter, it would be difficult for him to ordain any priests in his diocese. All these concerns were expressed in the Second Council of Toledo (527), considered the birthplace of the episcopal schools. In the first of its canons, it establishes compulsory training from childhood for those whose parents aspire to assign them to ecclesiastical service. This conciliar provision, moreover, gives a glimpse of the decadence of the educational system, a system which is now to be reoriented towards the tutelage of the ecclesiastical hierarchy. This canon determines the responsibility of the bishop in the control and organisation of the educational process aimed at the aspirants' reception of Holy Orders. It also stipulates that they opt for marriage or consecrated life at the age of eighteen, reaching the subdiaconate three years later if they continue. The following canon establishes, in turn, the obligation to remain in the church that had formed the cleric, since "it is hard for one to snatch and appropriate what another has taken from the rusticity and weakness of childhood". It is precisely in this provision that the two sides of the conciliar and ecclesiastical notion of ignorance appear: rurality and the inexperience of childhood. In our understanding, it is the second canon of the Second Council of Toledo which establishes the two great tendencies which guide the educational-pastoral work of the Visigothic Church: a) The Christianisation of rural populations: those whose ignorance is due to the socio-economic and geographical condition of rurality (''rurali sensu'') are the subjects of formative action. b) The preparation of children and young people destined for the clergy: those whose ignorance is due to the inexperience of their young age (''squallore infantiae'') also become the recipients of ecclesiastical pedagogical work. These tendencies respond to different geographical and socio-cultural situations, the former being oriented towards north-western Hispania, the latter towards the provinces traditionally more closely linked to the imperial capital. [...] [In] the canons of the Fourth Council of Toledo in 633, inspired by the Council of Seville [...] [it] established the collective formation of young men in the domus ecclesiae, under the supervision of an elder of proven virtue. This was common in both episcopal and monastic schools. The possible existence of a palatine school in Visigothic Toledo, which could be attended by high nobles, including some women, has been pointed out.

Middle Ages

The presence in medieval Spain of the three monotheistic religions (Jews, Christians and Muslims) also meant the existence of different educational institutions.Isabel Miró, Historia de la educación judía en la España judía medieval (in Spanish), 2014. Celia Diego García, La enseñanza en el occidente islámico - Aparición y desarrollo de la madrasa (in Spanish), Universidad de Salamanca. La educación en la Hispania Antígua y Medieval, vol. I of Historia de la Educación en España y América (in Spanish), 1994 (file available in Dialnet).Concepción Cárceles Laborde. La educación en los distintos reinos cristianos - La educación en Castilla; la aportación de Alfonso X el Sabio (in Spanish), 1992,Buenaventura Delgado Criado. La educación en los distintos reinos cristianos: la educación en Aragón; política educativa e instituciones docentes (in Spanish).

From ancient times, the dioceses used to have schools attached to the cathedral, the cathedral schools, whose initial purpose was to teach future priests, but as they were the only centre of education, they gradually admitted secular individuals as well. In the 13th century, King Alfonso VIII of Castile elevated the Palencia school to the rank of Estudio General (1212). Probably, the King of León, Alfonso IX, founded the Estudio General de Salamanca (1218), which would be called "University" by Alfonso X the Wise, at such an early date (1253) that it probably implies that it would have been the first to bear that title.

Teaching in these institutions took place in the cathedral premises and in rented buildings, but colleges were also founded to prepare for the university exams, and even earlier. In Salamanca, the first was the Colegio de Santa María de la Vega, of the Order of Canons Regular of Saint Augustine, founded in 1166 (prior to the foundation of the Estudio General) and in 1222 the Colegio de San Esteban. In 1401, Bishop Diego de Anaya founded the first Colegio Mayor, that of San Bartolomé, for poor students, endowing it with sufficient income to provide scholarships. Anaya took as his model the Royal College of Spain in Bologna, founded in 1364 by Cardinal Gil de Albornoz. Successively, other schools, both menor and mayor, were established, almost all with the same orientationː to provide education for poor and capable students.

Subsequently, other Estudios Generales and Universities were created.

In these establishments, the degrees of Bachelor, Licentiate, Master (or Magister, what is now called master's degree) and Doctor were successively awarded. The organisation was quite democratic, led by a rector elected annually by students. Although largely a nominal figure, akin to a modern ceremonial head of state who doesn't govern, the rector held immense symbolic importance. He presided over ceremonies and awarded degrees, and his rank at academic events was second only to the king. The real government of the university was exercised by the Master-scholar, who had his own police force and even a prison, since the students enjoyed a privilege that prevented the local authorities from taking action against them.

Modern Age

It covers the period between the 16th and 17th centuries, with an important inflection point at the end of the 16th century. If until then the university was a relatively meritocratic institution (as has been said, many of the mayor and mejor colleges were intended for poor students), the prestige that came with studying at certain universities, especially the major colleges, meant that these, and the university itself, were dominated by noble students.As an indication of this, the list of rectors of the University of Salamanca can be found in Alejandro Vidal y Díaz: Memoria histórica de la Universidad de Salamanca (in Spanish), Salamanca 1869. While until 1606 it can be seen that most of the rectors came from the university itself (professors, students, priests and the odd nobleman's son), from then onwards the majority were nobles or noblemen's sons. They made use of various tricks, such as the democratic system in the functioning of the Colleges or in the election of the rector and even demanded cleanliness of blood, something that only those with family records, that is, the nobles, could prove.

Spanish education in the late 15th and early 16th centuries was influenced by humanism, which was promoted by the Catholic Monarchs. They influenced members of the court to devote themselves to the study of letters and to behave in a manner befitting their class.

Humanism

Nobility

The princes and infantes, together with some children from important families, studied in the royal classroom with the most renowned humanists. Numerous treatises were written for them with the aim of educating future rulers. Their preparation was based on physical education, since the princes had to be agile and leaders of armies, they trained in jumping, javelin, self-defence, use of the sword and lance, horseback riding and hunting; in the study of classical authors and history. But although they read classical authors, they were instilled with admiration and respect for saints, Christian figures and God. They were also taught manners, such as courtesy for diplomacy or proper behaviour at ceremonies. The sons of the nobles studied at the palatine school run by Peter Martyr d'Anghiera, to later study at the universities and gain access to bureaucratic and administrative positions.

Women gained particular attention, as the importance of their education as preservers of religion and morals was recognised, and this was reflected in the writing of various treatises. Juan Luis Vives wrote in 1523 one of the most renowned treatises: On the Instruction of Christian women (De la Instrucción de la mujer cristiana), in which religious reading acquires a relevant role in women's education.

Bourgeoisie