King's College is the first university in…

King's College is the first university in Aberdeen, the third in Scotland and the fifth in the British Isles.

William Elphinstone, the relatively newly appointed Bishop of Aberdeen, has petitioned Pope Alexander VI on behalf of King James IV to create the facility to cure the ignorance he has witnessed within his parish and in the north generally.

A papal bull is issued in February 1495 (1491 in the calendar of the day) founding the university; a royal charter later this year recognizes Aberdeen's status as equal to that of Scotland's two existing universities at Glasgow and St Andrews.

As a former professor at the University of Paris, Elphinstone models the university very much on the continental European tradition.

Hector Boece, a fellow professor at Paris, is awarded the status of first principal of the new institution.