The University of Barcelona is founded under the royal prerogative granted by King Alfonso V of Aragon, in Naples, on November 3, 1450.

For forty-nine years prior to this, however, the city had a fledgling medical school (or Estudi General, as the universities are known at this time), founded by King Martin of Aragon, but neither the Consell de Cent (Barcelona's Council of One Hundred) nor the city’s other leading institutions had given it their official recognition, considering it an intrusion on their respective jurisdictions.

Alphonse the Magnanimous’ prerogative, though, had been granted at the petition of the Consell de Cent.