The pavordes were church honorary titles linked to some university theology chairs, classical languages, canons, or civil law, which had a seat in the choir after the canons and wore canonical habits. The documentary fonds of the pavordías are composed of 87 boxes, 143 books, and about 205 academic records and its importance lies in those documents which are essential for the study of the history of the Universitat de València: proceedings from the Board of full-time university professors, accounting documents, relative information about the entrance to different university chairs, correspondence and other types of documents since 1585. This was the year Pope Sixtus V linked the pavordías to the Estudi General, until 1853, when Francisco Villalba Montesinos (Valencia, 23 November 1798 – 20 August 1859), who had been viceprincipal in 1834 and principal (1835–1840 and 1843–1845) gets Queen Isabella II’s authorization to entrust the keys to the pavordes’ chambers to the principal of the Universitat and move said archive the Valencia Cathedral.

The historical trajectory of the institutions causes documentary dispersion. In the case of the Universitat de València, it happens for different reasons In the first place, the end of the old regime in the 19th century, with a new legislation and a change in the structure and operation of the universities, which will bring the move of the pavordes’ Archive to the Cathedral, with Queen Isabella II’s authorization. The singularity of the Estudi General itself, linked since the beginning to the city government, causes another part of the documents associated to the UV to be preserved in the Municipal Archive of Valencia. Moreover, documents related to the Universitat on personal files can also be found, related to members linked the very one or by a professional relation from some public notary with the academic world.

The trajectory of the Universitat de València cannot be built without the preserved documents in the Fondo de Pavordes of the Cathedral. Its description and study will allow for having a broader and more complete vision of its history, given to the elevated number of cathedral clergy members that were part of the Senate and had university government positions, principal being one of them: from the 16th century to the half of the 19th century, the position of principal was held by a pavorde. The Archive of the Valencia Cathedral will provide the tasks to be performed to the UV staff charged with the digitalisation of these documents that will allow for discovering part of the history of the Universitat de València, which is celebrating 525 years since its creation.