Toledo Through the Centuries

Peter O'Malley Pierson, Professor of History Emeritus, Santa Clara University

Set on a hill defined by a horseshoe loop in the River Tagus, Toledo’s history goes back at least to the Bronze Age. Celtic tribes fortified it. The Romans captured it in 193 B.C. The Visigoths made it their capital. Toledo survived the fragmentation of Moorish Spain as the center of a minor Muslim kingdom. The Kings of Castile took it back. Charles V made it the Imperial City of his Holy Roman Empire, but his son Philip II moved to Madrid. Professor O’Malley Pierson will illuminate this fascinating history and the art of El Greco it eventually inspired.

MLF: Humanities/International Relations
Location: SF Club Office
Time: 5:30 p.m. networking reception, 6 p.m. program
Cost: $8 members, $20 non-members, $7 students (with valid ID)
Program Organizer: George Hammond