Alcalá de Henares
[key], town, Madrid prov., central Spain, on the Henares River. Chemicals, plastics,
electrical appliances, leather, and china are produced in the town. Once surrounded by wheat
fields, an auto route has drawn it into the suburban orbit of Madrid. Called Complutum in
Roman times, the town is triply famous as the former seat of a great university founded in
1508 and transferred in 1836 to Madrid, as the birthplace of Ferdinand I, Katherine of
Aragón, and Cervantes, and as the scene of the Cortes in which Alfonso XI promulgated the Ordenamiento de Alcalá. The
town was severely damaged in the Spanish civil war. Among the landmarks are a Gothic
collegiate church and the former archiepiscopal palace. The Univ. of Alcalá de Henares
was founded in 1977.