University of Perugia (Italian Università degli Studi di Perugia) is a public-owned university based in Perugia, Italy. It was founded in 1308, as attested by the Bull issued by Pope Clement V certifying the birth of the Studium Generale. The official seal of the university portraits Saint Herculan, one of the saint patrons, and the rampant crowned griffin, which is the city symbol: they represent the ecclesiastical and civil powers, respectively, which gave rise to the university in the Middle Ages. History One of the "free" universities of Italy, it was elevated into a studium generale on September 8, 1308, by the Bull "Super specula" of Clement V. A school of arts existed by about 1200, in which medicine and law were soon taught, with a strong commitment expressed by official documents of the City Council of Perugia. Before 1300 there were several universitates scholiarum. Jacobus de Belviso, a famous civil jurist, taught here from 1316 to 1321. By Bull on August 1, 1318, John XXII granted the privilege of conferring degrees in civil and canon law, and on February 18, 1321, in medicine and arts. On May 19, 1355, the Emperor Charles IV issued a Bull confirming the papal elevation and raising it to the rank of an imperial university. This unusual mark of favour was given to assist Perugia after the terrible plague years 1348–49. In 1362 the Collegium Gregorianum (later called the Sapienza vecchia) was founded by Cardinal Nicolò Capocci for the maintenance of forty youths. Gregory XI, by Brief of October 11, 1371, gave the privileges of a studium generale to the new faculty of theology. This faculty was suppressed and its property merged in the university in 1811. The Collegio di S. Girolamo was founded by Benedetto Guidalotti, Bishop of Recanatias a free hostel for impecunious strangers who wished to study law and medicine in 1426, with Martin V's approval, and transferred (as the Sapienza nuova) to the University. Suppressed by the French in 1798, it was reopened in 1807 by Pius VII as the Collegio Pio. In the Constitution of August 27, 1824, Leo XII made this the chief college of the university. With the unification of Italy in 1860 the University of Perugia was established under the jurisdiction of the Rector and the Town Council, who issued statutes subject to approval by the Government. From 1944 to the present, the University of Perugia