On May 19, 1355, the Emperor Charles IV issued a Bull confirming the papal erection 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. To this foundation the "Sapienza nuova" was transferred in 1829. The latter was founded by Benedetto Guidalotti, Bishop of Recanati in 1426, with Martin V's approval, as the "Collegio di S. Girolamo". It was a free hostel for impecunious strangers who wished to study law and medicine. 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.