 The Dominican order had established itself in Salamanca by 1244, when a provincial chapter was held in that city. The convent of San Esteban, chosen as the site of a studium generale of the order in 1299, offered courses in grammar, logic, and theology. During the fourteenth century, the Dominican convent gained control of two of the university’s four chairs of theology. In 1489, Salamanca’s Dominican studium received from the papacy the right to award academic degrees. The building now associated with Vitoria and his school was begun in 1524 but not finished until 1610, when the university was falling into decline. By that date, other Iberian universities, especially Alcalá and Coimbra, had become competitors of Salamanca for intellectual leadership. In addition, the Jesuits had become competitors of the Dominicans as leading philosophers and theologians. In Vitoria’s century, distinguished scholars at Salamanca included the jurist Martín de Azpilcueta, who is known for developing a monetarist theory, and the Scripture professor Gregorio Gallo, who considered the possibility that the Apostle Thomas had preached in the New World.