At the request of James I the Conqueror, Pope Innocent IV in 1246 authorized (by a Bull) the establishment of estudis generals in Valencia.

In 1501, Pope Alexander VI signed the bill of approval and one year later Ferdinand II the Catholic proclaimed the Royal Mandatory Concession.

[citation needed] Its foundation was due to the zeal of Vincent Ferrer (later canonised) and to the donation of a building by Mosen Pedro Vilaragut.

From the time of its foundation the courses included Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, philosophy, mathematics, and physics, theology, Canon law, and medicine.

[citation needed] The closing years of the seventeenth, and the whole of the eighteenth century, witnessed the most prosperous era of the university, Greek, Latin, mathematics, and medicine being specially cultivated.

[3] Among the names of illustrious students that of Tosca, Evangelista Torricelli's friend, noted physicist and author of important mathematical works, stands out prominently.

Luis Collado, professor of botany, made some valuable discoveries and carried on exhaustive studies of the plants of the Levant; Vicente Alfonso Lorente wrote works on botany; and the famous botanist Cavanilles was also a student of this university.

Among the most noted professors of the university was D. Francisco Pérez Bayer, a man of wide culture and great influence in the reign of Charles III of Spain.