title: Nancy Pelosi

text: In January 2019, Pelosi criticized President Trump's planned withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria and Afghanistan. She called Trump's announcement a "Christmas gift to Vladimir Putin". In an October 2019 letter to Democratic caucus members, Pelosi wrote that both parties were condemning President Trump's deserting the US's "Kurdish allies in a foolish attempt to appease an authoritarian strongman" Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey and opined that the decision "poses a dire threat to regional security and stability, and sends a dangerous message to Iran and Russia, as well as our allies, that the United States is no longer a trusted partner". Later that month, she visited Jordan to discuss the Syrian situation with King Abdullah II. Afterwards, she went to Afghanistan, where she met President Ashraf Ghani and chief executive officer Abdullah Abdullah, and she was also briefed by U.S. diplomats on reconciliation efforts with the Taliban.


title: Nancy Pelosi

text: In mid-October 2007, after the House Foreign Affairs Committee passed a resolution to label the 1915 killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as genocide, Pelosi pledged to bring the measure to a vote. The draft resolution prompted warnings from President Bush and fierce criticism from Turkey, with Turkey's Prime Minister saying that approval of the resolution would endanger U.S.–Turkey relations. After House support eroded, the measure's sponsors dropped their call for a vote, and in late October Pelosi agreed to set the matter aside.


title: Nancy Pelosi

text: The resolution was passed during Pelosi's second term as Speaker. The House voted 405 to 11 in October 2019 to confirm the resolution.


title: Nancy Pelosi

text: On April 30, 2022, Pelosi met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv, to pledge U.S. support for Ukraine during the Russian invasion.


title: Nancy Pelosi

text: Pelosi's only close race so far has been in the special election to succeed U.S. Representative Sala Burton after her death in February 1987. Pelosi defeated San Francisco Supervisor Harry Britt in the Democratic primary with 36 percent of the vote to his 32 percent, then Republican Harriet Ross by more than 2-to-1. Since then, Pelosi has enjoyed overwhelming support in her political career, collecting 76 and 77 percent of the vote in 1988 and 1990. In 1992, after the redistricting from the 1990 Census, Pelosi ran in , which now covered the San Francisco area. She has continued to post landslide victories since, dropping beneath 80 percent of the vote only three times in general elections. After redistricting from the 2010 Census, Pelosi ran in , which she currently represents. Due to the most recent redistricting from the 2020 Census, Pelosi will be running to represent , which will cover San Francisco.


title: Nancy Pelosi

text: Nancy D'Alesandro met Paul Francis Pelosi while she was attending college. They married in Baltimore at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen on September 7, 1963. They moved to New York after they wed, then moved to San Francisco in 1969, where Paul's brother Ronald Pelosi was a member of the City and County of San Francisco's Board of Supervisors.


title: Nancy Pelosi

text: Nancy and Paul Pelosi have five children, including Christine and Alexandra, and nine grandchildren. Alexandra, a journalist, covered the Republican presidential campaigns in 2000 and made a film about the experience, "Journeys with George". In 2007, Christine published a book, "Campaign Boot Camp: Basic Training for Future Leaders".


title: Nancy Pelosi

text: Pelosi resides in the Pacific Heights neighborhood of San Francisco. Her 2016 financial disclosure report lists among her assets a combined home and vineyard in St. Helena, California, two commercial buildings in San Francisco, and a townhouse in Loomis, California. In January 2021, her San Francisco home was vandalized with graffiti, messages of "[c]ancel rent" were left on her garage, along with fake blood and a severed pig's head.


title: Nancy Pelosi

text: The nonpartisan OpenSecrets estimated in 2009 that Pelosi's average net worth was approximately $58 million, ranking her 13th among 25 wealthiest members of Congress. In 2014, OpenSecrets reported Pelosi's average net worth almost doubled to approximately $101 million, ranking her 8th out of the 25 wealthiest members of Congress. "Business Insider" reported that Pelosi's worth was $26.4million in 2012 and made her the 13th richest member of Congress. In 2014, "Roll Call" estimated that Pelosi's net worth was $29.35million, ranking her the 15th wealthiest member of Congress.


title: Nancy Pelosi

text: "Roll Call" said Pelosi's earnings are connected to her husband's heavy investments in stocks that include Apple, Disney, Comcast and Facebook. "Roll Call" reported that the couple have $13.46million in liabilities including mortgages on seven properties. According to "Roll Call", Pelosi and her husband hold properties "worth at least $14.65million, including a St. Helena vineyard in Napa Valley worth at least $5million and commercial real estate in San Francisco".


title: Nancy Pelosi

text: As of 2021, Pelosi's net worth was valued at $120 million, making her the 6th richest person in Congress. According to journalist Glenn Greenwald, the Pelosis have traded $33 million worth of tech stocks over the past two years, including Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook, and Google stocks. In May and June 2021, Pelosi's husband purchased stocks in tech companies such as Alphabet, Amazon, and Apple, netting a gain of $5.3 million. This occurred even while Speaker Pelosi was working on anti-trust legislation to better regulate the tech industry. The CEO of Apple, Tim Cook, had called Pelosi to lobby her in opposition to the new regulations. Pelosi opposes increasing regulations on stock trades by members of congress, stating that "we're a free market economy" and congresspeople "should be able to participate in that". This comment drew strong criticism, including from Democrats who favor banning stock trades by members of Congress.


title: Nancy Pelosi

text: Pelosi is a board member of the National Organization of Italian American Women. She served for 13 years as a board member of the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF). In 2007, she received the NIAF Special Achievement Award for Public Advocacy and remains involved in the foundation.


title: Nancy Pelosi

text: On May 20, 2022, Salvatore Cordileone, archbishop of San Francisco, announced that Pelosi would be barred from receiving Holy Communion because of her support of pro-choice abortion policies. Cordileone had communicated his concerns on April 7, 2022, writing, "should you not publicly repudiate your advocacy for abortion 'rights' or else refrain from referring to your Catholic faith in public and receiving Holy Communion, I would have no choice but to make a declaration, in keeping with Canon 915, that you are not to be admitted to Holy Communion."


title: Nancy Pelosi

text: On June 29, 2022, Pelosi received Communion at a Papal Mass presided over by Pope Francis in Rome at St. Peter's Basilica.


title: Nancy Pelosi

text: In October 2022, while Pelosi was in Washington, D.C., an intruder entered her San Francisco home demanding to know her whereabouts, and attacked her husband, Paul Pelosi, with a hammer. Police arrested a suspect, 42-year-old David DePape, at the scene, who has been charged federally with attempting to kidnap Nancy Pelosi and assaulting a relative of a federal official, as well as six state charges.


title: Alexandra Daddario

text: Alexandra Anna Daddario (born March 16, 1986) is an American actress. She had her breakthrough portraying Annabeth Chase in the "Percy Jackson" film series (2010–2013). She has since starred as Paige in "Hall Pass" (2011), Heather Miller in "Texas Chainsaw 3D" (2013), Blake Gaines in "San Andreas" (2015), Summer Quinn in "Baywatch" (2017), and Alexis Butler in "We Summon the Darkness" (2019). She has also guest starred in television series such as "White Collar", "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia", "True Detective", "New Girl", and "". In 2021, she starred in the first season of the HBO series "The White Lotus", for which she received widespread critical acclaim and an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie in 2022.


title: Alexandra Daddario

text: Alexandra Anna Daddario was born in New York City on March 16, 1986, the eldest child of Christina, a lawyer, and Richard Daddario, a prosecutor and former head of the New York City Police Department counterterrorism unit. She is of Italian, Irish, English, and Slovak descent. She has a younger brother, Matthew Daddario, and a younger sister, who are both actors as well. Her paternal grandfather was Emilio Q. Daddario, a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives for Connecticut from 1959 to 1971.


title: Alexandra Daddario

text: Daddario was raised on Manhattan's Upper East Side. She attended Brearley School and the Professional Children's School. Daddario said she decided to be an actress at the age of 11. "I always loved storytelling," she stated in 2019. "It was just something I genuinely wanted to do – and I could've done anything, really. I did have every opportunity on the planet." She attended Marymount Manhattan College before dropping out to pursue acting full-time. She has studied the Meisner acting technique for years.


title: Alexandra Daddario

text: Daddario made her television debut at the age of 15, when she played victimized girl Laurie Lewis in the ABC daytime soap opera "All My Children". Her first major role was as Annabeth Chase in the fantasy adventure film "" (2010). She also had a recurring role as Neal Caffrey's love interest, Kate Moreau, in the USA Network procedural drama series "White Collar". In 2011, she appeared in the comedy film "Hall Pass" and had a recurring role as Rachel in NBC's comedy-drama series "Parenthood".


title: Alexandra Daddario

text: In 2012, Daddario starred in the music video for Imagine Dragons' song "Radioactive", which surpassed 1 billion views on YouTube. She appeared as a guest in an episode of the FX sitcom "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia", in which she portrayed Ruby Taft. Her first starring role after "Percy Jackson" was as lead character Heather Miller in the slasher film "Texas Chainsaw 3D" (2013). In August 2013, Daddario reprised her role as Annabeth Chase in the film sequel "". She then appeared in the romantic horror comedy "Burying the Ex". "Burying the Ex" premiered out of competition as the Venice Film Festival in 2014.


title: Alexandra Daddario

text: In January 2013, Daddario was cast in the first season of the HBO anthology series "True Detective". She appeared in a four-episode arc as Lisa Tragnetti, a court reporter having an extramarital affair with one of the main characters. Her nude scenes in the series attracted much attention. The following year, she had a lead role as Blake Gaines in the disaster film "San Andreas" and made a cameo appearance in the pilot of the Fox comedy series "The Last Man on Earth." That same year, she made a guest appearance on "", portraying a fictionalized version of designer Natacha Rambova.


title: Alexandra Daddario

text: In 2016, Daddario had a supporting role in the Nicholas Sparks romantic drama film "The Choice", directed by Ross Katz. Daddario subsequently starred as one of the leads in the film adaptation of "Baywatch" (2017). She played Summer Quinn, who was portrayed by Nicole Eggert in the original television series. That same year, Daddario portrayed Kate Jeffries in the road trip comedy "The Layover" (2017), directed by William H. Macy.


title: Alexandra Daddario

text: In 2018, Daddario appeared in the music video "Wait" by Maroon 5 and starred as Avery Martin in the romantic comedy "When We First Met", opposite the film's co-writer Adam DeVine. Daddario made a cameo appearance as a scuba diver in "Rampage", directed by "San Andreas" filmmaker Brad Peyton, but her scenes were cut from the final film. Daddario starred as Constance Blackwood in "We Have Always Lived in the Castle", a film adaptation of Shirley Jackson's mystery thriller novel of the same name. Daddario also starred in the psychological thriller "Night Hunter", which premiered at the LA Film Festival on September 28, 2018. In 2019, Daddario starred in and produced two films, the romantic comedy "Can You Keep a Secret?", based on the novel of the same name by Sophie Kinsella, and the horror thriller "We Summon the Darkness", directed by Marc Meyers.


title: Alexandra Daddario

text: In 2020, Daddario provided the voice of Lois Lane in the superhero animated film "" and starred in the noir film "Lost Girls & Love Hotels". She also appeared in "Songbird", the first film shot in Los Angeles during the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Alexandra Daddario

text: In 2021 she appeared in the HBO social satire series "The White Lotus" and the film "Die in a Gunfight". For her performance in the former, she received widespread critical acclaim alongside the rest of the cast, with "The Hollywood Reporter" declaring that her performance "should redefine how audiences and casting directors see her." She was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie in 2022.


title: Alexandra Daddario

text: Daddario starred in the 2022 coming-of-age film "Wildflower". She will star in the 2023 AMC series "Mayfair Witches", based on the Anne Rice novel series "Lives of the Mayfair Witches".


title: Alexandra Daddario

text: Since 2020, she has been in a relationship with producer Andrew Form. On December 2, 2021, they announced their engagement. The pair married in June 2022.


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567.


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: The only surviving legitimate child of James V of Scotland, Mary was six days old when her father died and she inherited the throne. During her childhood, Scotland was governed by regents, first by the heir to the throne, James Hamilton, Earl of Arran, and then by her mother, Mary of Guise. In 1548, she was betrothed to Francis, the Dauphin of France, and was sent to be brought up in France, where she would be safe from invading English forces during the Rough Wooing. Mary married Francis in 1558, becoming queen consort of France from his accession in 1559 until his death in December 1560. Widowed, Mary returned to Scotland in August 1561. Following the Scottish Reformation, the tense religious and political climate that Mary encountered on her return to Scotland was further agitated by prominent Scots such as John Knox, who openly questioned whether her subjects had a duty to obey her. The early years of her personal rule were marked by pragmatism, tolerance, and moderation. She issued a proclamation accepting the religious settlement in Scotland as she had found it upon her return, retained advisers such as James Stewart, Earl of Moray (her illegitimate paternal half-brother), and William Maitland of Lethington, and governed as the Catholic monarch of a Protestant kingdom.


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: Mary married her half-cousin, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, in 1565, and in June 1566, they had a son, James. In February 1567, Darnley's residence was destroyed by an explosion, and he was found murdered in the garden. James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, was generally believed to have orchestrated Darnley's death, but he was acquitted of the charge in April 1567, and the following month, he married Mary. Following an uprising against the couple, Mary was imprisoned in Loch Leven Castle. On 24 July 1567, she was forced to abdicate in favour of her one-year-old son. After an unsuccessful attempt to regain the throne, she fled southward seeking the protection of her first cousin once removed, Elizabeth I of England.


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: Mary had once claimed Elizabeth's throne as her own and was considered the legitimate sovereign of England by many English Catholics, including participants in a rebellion known as the Rising of the North. Perceiving Mary as a threat, Elizabeth had her confined in various castles and manor houses in the interior of England. After eighteen and a half years in captivity, Mary was found guilty of plotting to assassinate Elizabeth in 1586 and was beheaded the following year at Fotheringhay Castle. Mary's life and subsequent execution established her in popular culture as a romanticised historical character.


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: Mary was born on 8 December 1542 at Linlithgow Palace, Scotland, to King James V and his French second wife, Mary of Guise. She was said to have been born prematurely and was the only legitimate child of James to survive him. She was the great-niece of King Henry VIII of England, as her paternal grandmother, Margaret Tudor, was Henry VIII's older sister. On 14 December, six days after her birth, she became Queen of Scotland when her father died, perhaps from the effects of a nervous collapse following the Battle of Solway Moss or from drinking contaminated water while on campaign.


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: A popular tale, first recorded by John Knox, states that James, upon hearing on his deathbed that his wife had given birth to a daughter, ruefully exclaimed, "It cam wi' a lass and it will gang wi' a lass!" His House of Stuart had gained the throne of Scotland in the 14th century via the marriage of Marjorie Bruce, daughter of Robert the Bruce, to Walter Stewart, 6th High Steward of Scotland. The crown had come to his family through a woman, and would be lost from his family through a woman. This legendary statement came true much later—not through Mary, but through her great-great-granddaughter Anne, Queen of Great Britain.


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: Mary was christened at the nearby Church of St Michael shortly after she was born. Rumours spread that she was weak and frail, but an English diplomat, Ralph Sadler, saw the infant at Linlithgow Palace in March 1543, unwrapped by her nurse Jean Sinclair, and wrote, "it is as goodly a child as I have seen of her age, and as like to live."


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: As Mary was a six-day-old infant when she inherited the throne, Scotland was ruled by regents until she became an adult. From the outset, there were two claims to the regency: one from the Catholic Cardinal Beaton, and the other from the Protestant Earl of Arran, who was next in line to the throne. Beaton's claim was based on a version of the king's will that his opponents dismissed as a forgery. Arran, with the support of his friends and relations, became the regent until 1554 when Mary's mother managed to remove and succeed him.


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: King Henry VIII of England took the opportunity of the regency to propose marriage between Mary and his own son and heir, Edward, hoping for a union of Scotland and England. On 1 July 1543, when Mary was six months old, the Treaty of Greenwich was signed, which promised that, at the age of ten, Mary would marry Edward and move to England, where Henry could oversee her upbringing. The treaty provided that the two countries would remain legally separate and, if the couple should fail to have children, the temporary union would dissolve. Cardinal Beaton rose to power again and began to push a pro-Catholic pro-French agenda, angering Henry, who wanted to break the Scottish alliance with France.


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: Beaton wanted to move Mary away from the coast to the safety of Stirling Castle. Regent Arran resisted the move, but backed down when Beaton's armed supporters gathered at Linlithgow. The Earl of Lennox escorted Mary and her mother to Stirling on 27 July 1543 with 3,500 armed men. Mary was crowned in the castle chapel on 9 September 1543, with "such solemnity as they do use in this country, which is not very costly", according to the report of Ralph Sadler and Henry Ray.


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: Shortly before Mary's coronation, Henry arrested Scottish merchants headed for France and impounded their goods. The arrests caused anger in Scotland, and Arran joined Beaton and became a Catholic. The Treaty of Greenwich was rejected by the Parliament of Scotland in December. The rejection of the marriage treaty and the renewal of the alliance between France and Scotland prompted Henry's "Rough Wooing", a military campaign designed to impose the marriage of Mary to his son. English forces mounted a series of raids on Scottish and French territory. In May 1544, the English Earl of Hertford (later Duke of Somerset) raided Edinburgh, and the Scots took Mary to Dunkeld for safety.


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: In May 1546, Beaton was murdered by Protestant lairds, and on 10 September 1547, nine months after the death of Henry VIII, the Scots suffered a heavy defeat at the Battle of Pinkie. Mary's guardians, fearful for her safety, sent her to Inchmahome Priory for no more than three weeks, and turned to the French for help.


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: King Henry II of France proposed to unite France and Scotland by marrying the young queen to his three-year-old son, the Dauphin Francis. On the promise of French military help and a French dukedom for himself, Arran agreed to the marriage. In February 1548, Mary was moved, again for her safety, to Dumbarton Castle. The English left a trail of devastation behind them once more and seized the strategic town of Haddington. In June, the much awaited French help arrived at Leith to besiege and ultimately take Haddington. On 7 July 1548, a Scottish Parliament held at a nunnery near the town agreed to the French marriage treaty.


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: With her marriage agreement in place, five-year-old Mary was sent to France to spend the next thirteen years at the French court. The French fleet sent by Henry II, commanded by Nicolas de Villegagnon, sailed with Mary from Dumbarton on 7 August 1548 and arrived a week or more later at Roscoff or Saint-Pol-de-Léon in Brittany.


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: Mary was accompanied by her own court including two illegitimate half-brothers, and the "four Marys" (four girls her own age, all named Mary), who were the daughters of some of the noblest families in Scotland: Beaton, Seton, Fleming, and Livingston. Janet, Lady Fleming, who was Mary Fleming's mother and James V's half-sister, was appointed governess. When Lady Fleming left France in 1551, she was succeeded by a French governess, Françoise de Paroy.


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: Vivacious, beautiful, and clever (according to contemporary accounts), Mary had a promising childhood. At the French court, she was a favourite with everyone, except Henry II's wife Catherine de' Medici. Mary learned to play lute and virginals, was competent in prose, poetry, horsemanship, falconry, and needlework, and was taught French, Italian, Latin, Spanish, and Greek, in addition to her native Scots. Her future sister-in-law, Elisabeth of Valois, became a close friend of whom Mary "retained nostalgic memories in later life". Mary's maternal grandmother, Antoinette de Bourbon, was another strong influence on her childhood and acted as one of her principal advisors.


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: Portraits of Mary show that she had a small, oval-shaped head, a long, graceful neck, bright auburn hair, hazel-brown eyes, under heavy lowered eyelids and finely arched brows, smooth pale skin, a high forehead, and regular, firm features. She was considered a pretty child and later, as a woman, strikingly attractive. At some point in her infancy or childhood, she caught smallpox, but it did not mark her features.


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: Mary was eloquent, and especially tall by 16th-century standards (she attained an adult height of 5 feet 11 inches or 1.80 m); while Henry II's son and heir, Francis, stuttered and was unusually short. Henry commented: "from the very first day they met, my son and she got on as well together as if they had known each other for a long time". On 4 April 1558, Mary signed a secret agreement bequeathing Scotland and her claim to England to the French crown if she died without issue. Twenty days later, she married the Dauphin at Notre Dame de Paris, and he became king consort of Scotland.


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: In November 1558, Henry VIII's elder daughter, Mary I of England, was succeeded by her only surviving sibling, Elizabeth I. Under the Third Succession Act, passed in 1543 by the Parliament of England, Elizabeth was recognised as her sister's heir, and Henry VIII's last will and testament had excluded the Stuarts from succeeding to the English throne. Yet, in the eyes of many Catholics, Elizabeth was illegitimate and Mary Stuart was the rightful queen of England, as the senior surviving legitimate descendant of Henry VII through her grandmother, Margaret Tudor. Henry II of France proclaimed his eldest son and daughter-in-law king and queen of England. In France the royal arms of England were quartered with those of Francis and Mary. Mary's claim to the English throne was a perennial sticking point between herself and Elizabeth.


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: When Henry II died on 10 July 1559, from injuries sustained in a joust, fifteen-year-old Francis and sixteen-year-old Mary became king and queen of France. Two of the Queen's uncles, the Duke of Guise and the Cardinal of Lorraine, were now dominant in French politics, enjoying an ascendancy called by some historians "la tyrannie Guisienne".


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: In Scotland, the power of the Protestant Lords of the Congregation was rising at the expense of Mary's mother, who maintained effective control only through the use of French troops. In early 1560, the Protestant Lords invited English troops into Scotland in an attempt to secure Protestantism. A Huguenot uprising in France, the Tumult of Amboise, made it impossible for the French to send further support. Instead, the Guise brothers sent ambassadors to negotiate a settlement. On 11 June 1560, their sister, Mary's mother, died, and so the question of future Franco-Scots relations was a pressing one. Under the terms of the Treaty of Edinburgh, signed by Mary's representatives on 6 July 1560, France and England undertook to withdraw troops from Scotland. France recognised Elizabeth's right to rule England, but the seventeen-year-old Mary, still in France and grieving for her mother, refused to ratify the treaty.


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: King Francis II died on 5 December 1560 of a middle ear infection that led to an abscess in his brain. Mary was grief-stricken. Her mother-in-law, Catherine de' Medici, became regent for the late king's ten-year-old brother Charles IX, who inherited the French throne. Mary returned to Scotland nine months later, arriving in Leith on 19 August 1561. Having lived in France since the age of five, Mary had little direct experience of the dangerous and complex political situation in Scotland. As a devout Catholic, she was regarded with suspicion by many of her subjects, as well as by the Queen of England. Scotland was torn between Catholic and Protestant factions. Mary's illegitimate half-brother, the Earl of Moray, was a leader of the Protestants. The Protestant reformer John Knox preached against Mary, condemning her for hearing Mass, dancing, and dressing too elaborately. She summoned him to her presence to remonstrate with him but was unsuccessful. She later charged him with treason, but he was acquitted and released.


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: To the surprise and dismay of the Catholic party, Mary tolerated the newly established Protestant ascendancy, and kept her half-brother Moray as her chief advisor. Her privy council of 16 men, appointed on 6 September 1561, retained those who already held the offices of state. The council was dominated by the Protestant leaders from the reformation crisis of 1559–1560: the Earls of Argyll, Glencairn, and Moray. Only four of the councillors were Catholic: the Earls of Atholl, Erroll, Montrose, and Huntly, who was Lord Chancellor. Modern historian Jenny Wormald found this remarkable and suggested that Mary's failure to appoint a council sympathetic to Catholic and French interests was an indication of her focus on the English throne, over the internal problems of Scotland. Even the one significant later addition to the council, Lord Ruthven in December 1563, was another Protestant whom Mary personally disliked. In this, she was acknowledging her lack of effective military power in the face of the Protestant lords, while also following a policy that strengthened her links with England. She joined with Moray in the destruction of Scotland's leading Catholic magnate, Lord Huntly, in 1562, after he led a rebellion against her in the Highlands.


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: Mary sent William Maitland of Lethington as an ambassador to the English court to put the case for Mary as the heir presumptive to the English throne. Elizabeth refused to name a potential heir, fearing that would invite conspiracy to displace her with the nominated successor. However, she assured Maitland that she knew no one with a better claim than Mary. In late 1561 and early 1562, arrangements were made for the two queens to meet in England at York or Nottingham in August or September 1562. In July, Elizabeth sent Sir Henry Sidney to cancel Mary's visit because of the civil war in France.


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: Mary then turned her attention to finding a new husband from the royalty of Europe. When her uncle, the Cardinal of Lorraine, began negotiations with Archduke Charles of Austria without her consent, she angrily objected and the negotiations foundered. Her own attempt to negotiate a marriage to Don Carlos, the mentally unstable heir apparent of King Philip II of Spain, was rebuffed by Philip. Elizabeth attempted to neutralise Mary by suggesting that she marry English Protestant Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester. Dudley was Sir Henry Sidney's brother-in-law and the English queen's own favourite, whom Elizabeth trusted and thought she could control. She sent an ambassador, Thomas Randolph, to tell Mary that if she married an English nobleman, Elizabeth would "proceed to the inquisition of her right and title to be our next cousin and heir". The proposal came to nothing, not least because the intended bridegroom was unwilling.


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: In contrast, a French poet at Mary's court, Pierre de Boscosel de Chastelard, was apparently besotted with Mary. In early 1563, he was discovered during a security search hidden underneath her bed, apparently planning to surprise her when she was alone and declare his love for her. Mary was horrified and banished him from Scotland. He ignored the edict. Two days later, he forced his way into her chamber as she was about to disrobe. She reacted with fury and fear. When Moray rushed into the room after hearing her cries for help, she shouted, "Thrust your dagger into the villain!" Moray refused, as Chastelard was already under restraint. Chastelard was tried for treason and beheaded. Maitland claimed that Chastelard's ardour was feigned and that he was part of a Huguenot plot to discredit Mary by tarnishing her reputation.


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: Mary had briefly met her English-born half-cousin Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, in February 1561 when she was in mourning for Francis. Darnley's parents, the Earl and Countess of Lennox, were Scottish aristocrats as well as English landowners. They sent him to France ostensibly to extend their condolences, while hoping for a potential match between their son and Mary. Both Mary and Darnley were grandchildren of Margaret Tudor, sister of Henry VIII of England, and patrilineal descendants of the High Stewards of Scotland.


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: Darnley shared a more recent Stewart lineage with the Hamilton family as a descendant of Mary Stewart, Countess of Arran, a daughter of James II of Scotland. They next met on Saturday 17 February 1565 at Wemyss Castle in Scotland. Mary fell in love with the "long lad", as Queen Elizabeth called him since he was over six feet tall. They married at Holyrood Palace on 29 July 1565, even though both were Catholic and a papal dispensation for the marriage of first cousins had not been obtained.


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: English statesmen William Cecil and the Earl of Leicester had worked to obtain Darnley's licence to travel to Scotland from his home in England. Although her advisors had brought the couple together, Elizabeth felt threatened by the marriage because as descendants of her aunt, both Mary and Darnley were claimants to the English throne. Their children, if any, would inherit an even stronger, combined claim. Mary's insistence on the marriage seems to have stemmed from passion rather than calculation; the English ambassador Nicholas Throckmorton stated "the saying is that surely she [Queen Mary] is bewitched", adding that the marriage could only be averted "by violence". The union infuriated Elizabeth, who felt the marriage should not have gone ahead without her permission, as Darnley was both her cousin and an English subject.


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: Mary's marriage to a leading Catholic precipitated Mary's half-brother, the Earl of Moray, to join with other Protestant lords, including Lords Argyll and Glencairn, in open rebellion. Mary set out from Edinburgh on 26 August 1565 to confront them. On the 30th, Moray entered Edinburgh but left soon afterward, having failed to take the castle. Mary returned to Edinburgh the following month to raise more troops. In what became known as the Chaseabout Raid, Mary with her forces and Moray with the rebellious lords roamed around Scotland without ever engaging in direct combat. Mary's numbers were boosted by the release and restoration to favour of Lord Huntly's son and the return of James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, from exile in France. Unable to muster sufficient support, Moray left Scotland in October for asylum in England. Mary broadened her privy council, bringing in both Catholics (Bishop of Ross John Lesley and Provost of Edinburgh Simon Preston of Craigmillar) and Protestants (the new Lord Huntly, Bishop of Galloway Alexander Gordon, John Maxwell of Terregles and Sir James Balfour).


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: Before long, Darnley grew arrogant. Not content with his position as king consort, he demanded the Crown Matrimonial, which would have made him a co-sovereign of Scotland with the right to keep the Scottish throne for himself, if he outlived his wife. Mary refused his request and their marriage grew strained, although they conceived by October 1565. He was jealous of her friendship with her Catholic private secretary, David Rizzio, who was rumoured to be the father of her child. By March 1566, Darnley had entered into a secret conspiracy with Protestant lords, including the nobles who had rebelled against Mary in the Chaseabout Raid. On 9 March, a group of the conspirators accompanied by Darnley murdered Rizzio in front of the pregnant Mary at a dinner party in Holyrood Palace. Over the next two days, a disillusioned Darnley switched sides and Mary received Moray at Holyrood. On the night of 11–12 March, Darnley and Mary escaped from the palace. They took temporary refuge in Dunbar Castle before returning to Edinburgh on 18 March. The former rebels Lords Moray, Argyll and Glencairn were restored to the council.


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: Mary's son by Darnley, James, was born on 19 June 1566 in Edinburgh Castle. However, the murder of Rizzio led to the breakdown of her marriage. In October 1566, while staying at Jedburgh in the Scottish Borders, Mary made a journey on horseback of at least four hours each way to visit the Earl of Bothwell at Hermitage Castle, where he lay ill from wounds sustained in a skirmish with border reivers. The ride was later used as evidence by Mary's enemies that the two were lovers, though no suspicions were voiced at the time and Mary had been accompanied by her councillors and guards.


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: Immediately after her return to Jedburgh, she suffered a serious illness that included frequent vomiting, loss of sight, loss of speech, convulsions and periods of unconsciousness. She was thought to be dying. Her recovery from 25 October onwards was credited to the skill of her French physicians. The cause of her illness is unknown. Potential diagnoses include physical exhaustion and mental stress, haemorrhage of a gastric ulcer, and porphyria.


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: At Craigmillar Castle, near Edinburgh, at the end of November 1566, Mary and leading nobles held a meeting to discuss the "problem of Darnley". Divorce was discussed, but a bond was probably sworn between the lords present to remove Darnley by other means: "It was thought expedient and most profitable for the common wealth ... that such a young fool and proud tyrant should not reign or bear rule over them; ... that he should be put off by one way or another; and whosoever should take the deed in hand or do it, they should defend." Darnley feared for his safety, and after the baptism of his son at Stirling and shortly before Christmas, he went to Glasgow to stay on his father's estates. At the start of the journey, he was afflicted by a fever—possibly smallpox, syphilis or the result of poison. He remained ill for some weeks.


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: In late January 1567, Mary prompted her husband to return to Edinburgh. He recuperated from his illness in a house belonging to the brother of Sir James Balfour at the former abbey of Kirk o' Field, just within the city wall. Mary visited him daily, so that it appeared a reconciliation was in progress. On the night of 9–10 February 1567, Mary visited her husband in the early evening and then attended the wedding celebrations of a member of her household, Bastian Pagez. In the early hours of the morning, an explosion devastated Kirk o' Field. Darnley was found dead in the garden, apparently smothered. There were no visible marks of strangulation or violence on the body. Bothwell, Moray, Secretary Maitland, the Earl of Morton and Mary herself were among those who came under suspicion. Elizabeth wrote to Mary of the rumours:


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: By the end of February, Bothwell was generally believed to be guilty of Darnley's assassination. Lennox, Darnley's father, demanded that Bothwell be tried before the Estates of Parliament, to which Mary agreed, but Lennox's request for a delay to gather evidence was denied. In the absence of Lennox and with no evidence presented, Bothwell was acquitted after a seven-hour trial on 12 April. A week later, Bothwell managed to convince more than two dozen lords and bishops to sign the Ainslie Tavern Bond, in which they agreed to support his aim to marry the queen.


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: Between 21 and 23 April 1567, Mary visited her son at Stirling for the last time. On her way back to Edinburgh on 24 April, Mary was abducted, willingly or not, by Lord Bothwell and his men and taken to Dunbar Castle, where he may have raped her. On 6 May, Mary and Bothwell returned to Edinburgh. On 15 May, at either Holyrood Palace or Holyrood Abbey, they were married according to Protestant rites. Bothwell and his first wife, Jean Gordon, who was the sister of Lord Huntly, had divorced twelve days previously.


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: Originally, Mary believed that many nobles supported her marriage, but relations quickly soured between the newly elevated Bothwell (created Duke of Orkney) and his former peers and the marriage proved to be deeply unpopular. Catholics considered the marriage unlawful, since they did not recognise Bothwell's divorce or the validity of the Protestant service. Both Protestants and Catholics were shocked that Mary should marry the man accused of murdering her husband. The marriage was tempestuous, and Mary became despondent.


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: Twenty-six Scottish peers, known as the confederate lords, turned against Mary and Bothwell and raised their own army. Mary and Bothwell confronted the lords at Carberry Hill on 15 June, but there was no battle, as Mary's forces dwindled away through desertion during negotiations. Bothwell was given safe passage from the field. The lords took Mary to Edinburgh, where crowds of spectators denounced her as an adulteress and murderer. The following night, she was imprisoned in Loch Leven Castle on an island in the middle of Loch Leven. Between 20 and 23 July, Mary miscarried twins. On 24 July, she was forced to abdicate in favour of her one-year-old son James. Moray was made regent, while Bothwell was driven into exile. He was imprisoned in Denmark, became insane and died in 1578.


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: On 2 May 1568, Mary escaped from Loch Leven Castle with the aid of George Douglas, brother of Sir William Douglas, the castle's owner. Managing to raise an army of 6,000 men, she met Moray's smaller forces at the Battle of Langside on 13 May. Defeated, she fled south. After spending the night at Dundrennan Abbey, she crossed the Solway Firth into England by fishing boat on 16 May. She landed at Workington in Cumberland in the north of England and stayed overnight at Workington Hall. On 18 May, local officials took her into protective custody at Carlisle Castle.


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: Mary apparently expected Elizabeth to help her regain her throne. Elizabeth was cautious, ordering an inquiry into the conduct of the confederate lords and the question of whether Mary was guilty of Darnley's murder. In mid-July 1568, English authorities moved Mary to Bolton Castle, because it was further from the Scottish border but not too close to London. Mary's clothes, sent from Loch Leven Castle, arrived on 20 July. A commission of inquiry, or conference, as it was known, was held in York and later Westminster between October 1568 and January 1569. In Scotland, her supporters fought a civil war against Regent Moray and his successors.


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: As an anointed queen, Mary refused to acknowledge the power of any court to try her. She refused to attend the inquiry at York personally but sent representatives. Elizabeth forbade her attendance anyway. As evidence against Mary, Moray presented the so-called casket letters—eight unsigned letters purportedly from Mary to Bothwell, two marriage contracts, and a love sonnet or sonnets. All were said to have been found in a silver-gilt casket just less than one foot (30 cm) long and decorated with the monogram of King Francis II. Mary denied writing them and insisted they were forgeries, arguing that her handwriting was not difficult to imitate. They are widely believed to be crucial as to whether Mary shared the guilt for Darnley's murder. The chair of the commission of inquiry, the Duke of Norfolk, described them as horrible letters and diverse fond ballads. He sent copies to Elizabeth, saying that if they were genuine, they might prove Mary's guilt.


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: The authenticity of the casket letters has been the source of much controversy among historians. It is impossible now to prove either way. The originals, written in French, were possibly destroyed in 1584 by Mary's son. The surviving copies, in French or translated into English, do not form a complete set. There are incomplete printed transcriptions in English, Scots, French, and Latin from the 1570s. Other documents scrutinised included Bothwell's divorce from Jean Gordon. Moray had sent a messenger in September to Dunbar to get a copy of the proceedings from the town's registers.


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: Mary's biographers, such as Antonia Fraser, Alison Weir, and John Guy, have come to the conclusion that either the documents were complete forgeries, or incriminating passages were inserted into genuine letters, or the letters were written to Bothwell by a different person or written by Mary to a different person. Guy points out that the letters are disjointed and that the French language and grammar employed in the sonnets are too poor for a writer with Mary's education but certain phrases in the letters, including verses in the style of Ronsard, and some characteristics of style are compatible with known writings by Mary.


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: The casket letters did not appear publicly until the Conference of 1568, although the Scottish privy council had seen them by December 1567. Mary had been forced to abdicate and held captive for the better part of a year in Scotland. The letters were never made public to support her imprisonment and forced abdication. Historian Jenny Wormald believes this reluctance on the part of the Scots to produce the letters and their destruction in 1584, whatever their content, constitute proof that they contained real evidence against Mary. In contrast, Weir thinks it demonstrates that the lords required time to fabricate them. At least some of Mary's contemporaries who saw the letters had no doubt that they were genuine. Among them was the Duke of Norfolk, who secretly conspired to marry Mary in the course of the commission, although he denied it when Elizabeth alluded to his marriage plans, saying "he meant never to marry with a person, where he could not be sure of his pillow".


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: The majority of the commissioners accepted the casket letters as genuine after a study of their contents and comparison of the penmanship with examples of Mary's handwriting. Elizabeth, as she had wished, concluded the inquiry with a verdict that nothing was proven against either the confederate lords or Mary. For overriding political reasons, Elizabeth wished neither to convict nor to acquit Mary of murder. There was never any intention to proceed judicially; the conference was intended as a political exercise. In the end, Moray returned to Scotland as regent and Mary remained in custody in England. Elizabeth had succeeded in maintaining a Protestant government in Scotland, without either condemning or releasing her fellow sovereign. In Fraser's opinion, it was one of the strangest "trials" in legal history, ending with no finding of guilt against either party, one of whom was allowed to return home to Scotland while the other remained in custody.


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: On 26 January 1569, Mary was moved to Tutbury Castle and placed in the custody of the Earl of Shrewsbury and his formidable wife Bess of Hardwick. Elizabeth considered Mary's designs on the English throne to be a serious threat and so confined her to Shrewsbury's properties, including Tutbury, Sheffield Castle, Sheffield Manor Lodge, Wingfield Manor, and Chatsworth House, all located in the interior of England, halfway between Scotland and London and distant from the sea.


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: Mary was permitted her own domestic staff, which never numbered fewer than 16. She needed 30 carts to transport her belongings from house to house. Her chambers were decorated with fine tapestries and carpets, as well as her cloth of state on which she had the French phrase, "En ma fin est mon commencement" ("In my end lies my beginning"), embroidered. Her bedlinen was changed daily, and her own chefs prepared meals with a choice of 32 dishes served on silver plates. She was occasionally allowed outside under strict supervision, spent seven summers at the spa town of Buxton, and spent much of her time doing embroidery. Her health declined, perhaps through porphyria or lack of exercise. By the 1580s, she had severe rheumatism in her limbs, rendering her lame.


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: In May 1569, Elizabeth attempted to mediate the restoration of Mary in return for guarantees of the Protestant religion, but a convention held at Perth rejected the deal overwhelmingly. Norfolk continued to scheme for a marriage with Mary, and Elizabeth imprisoned him in the Tower of London between October 1569 and August 1570. Early the following year, Moray was assassinated. His death occurred soon after an unsuccessful rebellion in the North of England, led by Catholic earls, which persuaded Elizabeth that Mary was a threat. English troops then intervened in the Scottish civil war, consolidating the power of the anti-Marian forces. Elizabeth's principal secretary William Cecil, Lord Burghley, and Sir Francis Walsingham watched Mary carefully with the aid of spies placed in her household.


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: In 1571, Cecil and Walsingham (at that time England's ambassador to France) uncovered the Ridolfi Plot, a plan to replace Elizabeth with Mary with the help of Spanish troops and the Duke of Norfolk. Norfolk was executed and the English Parliament introduced a bill barring Mary from the throne, to which Elizabeth refused to give royal assent. To discredit Mary, the casket letters were published in London. Plots centred on Mary continued. Pope Gregory XIII endorsed one plan in the latter half of the 1570s to marry her to the governor of the Low Countries and illegitimate half-brother of Philip II of Spain, John of Austria, who was supposed to organise the invasion of England from the Spanish Netherlands. After the Throckmorton Plot of 1583, Walsingham (now the queen's principal secretary) introduced the Bond of Association and the Act for the Queen's Safety, which sanctioned the killing of anyone who plotted against Elizabeth and aimed to prevent a putative successor from profiting from her murder.


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: In 1584, Mary proposed an "association" with her son, James. She announced that she was ready to stay in England, to renounce the Pope's bull of excommunication, and to retire, abandoning her pretensions to the English Crown. She also offered to join an offensive league against France. For Scotland, she proposed a general amnesty, agreed that James should marry with Elizabeth's knowledge, and accepted that there should be no change in religion. Her only condition was the immediate alleviation of the conditions of her captivity. James went along with the idea for a while, but eventually rejected it and signed an alliance treaty with Elizabeth, abandoning his mother. Elizabeth also rejected the association because she did not trust Mary to cease plotting against her during the negotiations.


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: In February 1585, William Parry was convicted of plotting to assassinate Elizabeth, without Mary's knowledge, although her agent Thomas Morgan was implicated. In April, Mary was placed in the stricter custody of Sir Amias Paulet. At Christmas, she was moved to a moated manor house at Chartley.


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: On 11 August 1586, after being implicated in the Babington Plot, Mary was arrested while out riding and taken to Tixall Hall in Staffordshire. In a successful attempt to entrap her, Walsingham had deliberately arranged for Mary's letters to be smuggled out of Chartley. Mary was misled into thinking her letters were secure, while in reality they were deciphered and read by Walsingham. From these letters it was clear that Mary had sanctioned the attempted assassination of Elizabeth.


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: Mary was moved to Fotheringhay Castle in a four-day journey ending on 25 September. In October, she was put on trial for treason under the Act for the Queen's Safety before a court of 36 noblemen, including Cecil, Shrewsbury, and Walsingham. Spirited in her defence, Mary denied the charges. She told her triers, "Look to your consciences and remember that the theatre of the whole world is wider than the kingdom of England". She protested that she had been denied the opportunity to review the evidence, that her papers had been removed from her, that she was denied access to legal counsel and that as a foreign anointed queen she had never been an English subject and thus could not be convicted of treason.


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: She was convicted on 25 October and sentenced to death with only one commissioner, Lord Zouche, expressing any form of dissent. Nevertheless, Elizabeth hesitated to order her execution, even in the face of pressure from the English Parliament to carry out the sentence. She was concerned that the killing of a queen set a discreditable precedent and was fearful of the consequences, especially if, in retaliation, Mary's son, James, formed an alliance with the Catholic powers and invaded England.


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: Elizabeth asked Paulet, Mary's final custodian, if he would contrive a clandestine way to "shorten the life" of Mary, which he refused to do on the grounds that he would not make "a shipwreck of my conscience, or leave so great a blot on my poor posterity". On 1 February 1587, Elizabeth signed the death warrant, and entrusted it to William Davison, a privy councillor. On 3 February, ten members of the Privy Council of England, having been summoned by Cecil without Elizabeth's knowledge, decided to carry out the sentence at once.


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: At Fotheringhay, on the evening of 7 February 1587, Mary was told she was to be executed the next morning. She spent the last hours of her life in prayer, distributing her belongings to her household, and writing her will and a letter to the King of France. The scaffold that was erected in the Great Hall was draped in black cloth. It was reached by two or three steps, and furnished with the block, a cushion for her to kneel on, and three stools for her and the earls of Shrewsbury and Kent, who were there to witness the execution.


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: The executioner Bull and his assistant knelt before her and asked forgiveness, as it was typical for the executioner to request the pardon of the one being put to death. Mary replied, "I forgive you with all my heart, for now, I hope, you shall make an end of all my troubles." Her servants, Jane Kennedy and Elizabeth Curle, and the executioners helped Mary remove her outer garments, revealing a velvet petticoat and a pair of sleeves in crimson brown, the liturgical colour of martyrdom in the Catholic Church, with a black satin bodice and black trimmings. As she disrobed Mary smiled and said she "never had such grooms before ... nor ever put off her clothes before such a company". She was blindfolded by Kennedy with a white veil embroidered in gold, knelt down on the cushion in front of the block on which she positioned her head, and stretched out her arms. Her last words were, "In manus tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum meum" ("Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit").


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: Mary was not beheaded with a single strike. The first blow missed her neck and struck the back of her head. The second blow severed the neck, except for a small bit of sinew, which the executioner cut through using the axe. Afterwards, he held her head aloft and declared "God save the Queen." At that moment, the auburn tresses in his hand turned out to be a wig and the head fell to the ground, revealing that Mary had very short, grey hair. Cecil's nephew, who was present at the execution, reported to his uncle that after her death "Her lips stirred up and down a quarter of an hour after her head was cut off" and that a small dog owned by the queen emerged from hiding among her skirts—though eye-witness Emanuel Tomascon does not include those details in his "exhaustive report". Items supposedly worn or carried by Mary at her execution are of doubtful provenance; contemporary accounts state that all her clothing, the block, and everything touched by her blood was burnt in the fireplace of the Great Hall to obstruct relic hunters.


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: When the news of the execution reached Elizabeth, she became indignant and asserted that Davison had disobeyed her instructions not to part with the warrant and that the Privy Council had acted without her authority. Elizabeth's vacillation and deliberately vague instructions gave her plausible deniability to attempt to avoid the direct stain of Mary's blood. Davison was arrested, thrown into the Tower of London, and found guilty of misprision. He was released nineteen months later, after Cecil and Walsingham interceded on his behalf.


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: Mary's request to be buried in France was refused by Elizabeth. Her body was embalmed and left in a secure lead coffin until her burial in a Protestant service at Peterborough Cathedral in late July 1587. Her entrails, removed as part of the embalming process, were buried secretly within Fotheringhay Castle. Her body was exhumed in 1612 when her son, King James VI and I, ordered that she be reinterred in Westminster Abbey in a chapel opposite the tomb of Elizabeth. In 1867, her tomb was opened in an attempt to ascertain the resting place of her son, James I of England. He was ultimately found with Henry VII. Many of her other descendants, including Elizabeth of Bohemia, Prince Rupert of the Rhine and the children of Anne, Queen of Great Britain, were interred in her vault.


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: Assessments of Mary in the 16th century divided between Protestant reformers such as George Buchanan and John Knox, who vilified her mercilessly, and Catholic apologists such as Adam Blackwood, who praised, defended and eulogised her. After the accession of James I in England, historian William Camden wrote an officially sanctioned biography that drew from original documents. It condemned Buchanan's work as an invention, and "emphasized Mary's evil fortunes rather than her evil character". Differing interpretations persisted into the 18th century: William Robertson and David Hume argued that the casket letters were genuine and that Mary was guilty of adultery and murder, while William Tytler argued the reverse. In the latter half of the 20th century, the work of Antonia Fraser was acclaimed as "more objective ... free from the excesses of adulation or attack" that had characterised older biographies, and her contemporaries Gordon Donaldson and Ian B. Cowan also produced more balanced works.


title: Mary, Queen of Scots

text: Historian Jenny Wormald concluded that Mary was a tragic failure, who was unable to cope with the demands placed on her, but hers was a rare dissenting view in a post-Fraser tradition that Mary was a pawn in the hands of scheming noblemen. There is no concrete proof of her complicity in Darnley's murder or of a conspiracy with Bothwell. Such accusations rest on assumptions, and Buchanan's biography is today discredited as "almost complete fantasy". Mary's courage at her execution helped establish her popular image as the heroic victim in a dramatic tragedy.


title: Khabib Nurmagomedov

text: Khabib Abdulmanapovich Nurmagomedov (born 20 September 1988) is a Russian former professional mixed martial artist. He competed in the lightweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he was the longest-reigning UFC Lightweight Champion, having held the title from April 2018 to March 2021. With 29 wins and no losses, he retired with an undefeated record. Nurmagomedov is widely considered to be among the greatest mixed martial artists of all time, and was inducted into UFC Hall of Fame on June 30, 2022.


title: Khabib Nurmagomedov

text: A two-time Combat Sambo World Champion, Nurmagomedov has a background in the disciplines of sambo, judo and wrestling. Nurmagomedov was ranked #1 in the UFC men's pound-for-pound rankings at the time of his retirement, until being removed following his title vacation in March 2021. Fight Matrix ranks him as the #1 lightweight of all time.


title: Khabib Nurmagomedov

text: Coming from the Republic of Dagestan in Russia, Nurmagomedov is the first Muslim to win a UFC title. He is the most-followed Russian on Instagram, with more than followers as of December 2022. He is also a mixed martial arts (MMA) promoter, known for promoting the Eagle Fighting Championship (EFC). Since retirement, he has transitioned to a mixed martial arts coach and cornerman.


title: Khabib Nurmagomedov

text: Khabib Abdulmanapovich Nurmagomedov was born to an Avar family on 20 September 1988, in the village of Sildi in the Tsumadinsky District of the Dagestan ASSR, an autonomous republic within the Russian SFSR, Soviet Union. He has an older brother, Magomed, and younger sister, Amina. His father's family had moved from Sildi to Kirovaul, where his father converted the ground floor of their two-storey building into a gym. Nurmagomedov grew up in the household with his siblings and cousins. His interest in martial arts began when watching students training at the gym. Khabib's training as a child included wrestling a bear when he was nine years old.


title: Khabib Nurmagomedov

text: As is common with many children in Dagestan, he began wrestling from an early age: he started at the age of eight under the tutelage of his father, Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov. A decorated athlete and a veteran of the Soviet Army, Abdulmanap had also wrestled from an early age, before undergoing training in judo and sambo in the military. Abdulmanap dedicated his life to coaching the youth in Dagestan, in hopes of offering an alternative to the Islamic extremism common to the region.


title: Khabib Nurmagomedov

text: In 2001, his family moved to Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan, where he trained in wrestling from the age of 12, and judo from 15. He resumed training in combat sambo, under his father, at 17. According to Nurmagomedov, the transition from wrestling to judo was difficult, but his father wanted him to get used to competing in a "gi" jacket. Abdulmanap was a senior coach for the combat sambo national team in the Republic of Dagestan, training several athletes in sambo in Makhachkala, Russia. Nurmagomedov frequently got into street fights in his youth, before focusing his attention on mixed martial arts. Khabib said that, along with his father, three athletes who inspired him were the American boxers Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson and the Brazilian footballer Ronaldo.


title: Khabib Nurmagomedov

text: Nurmagomedov made his professional MMA debut in September 2008 and compiled four wins in under a month. On 11 October, he became the inaugural Atrium Cup tournament champion, having defeated his three opponents at the Moscow event. Over the next three years, he went undefeated, finishing 11 out of 12 opponents. These included a first-round armbar finish of future Bellator title challenger Shahbulat Shamhalaev, which marked his M-1 Global debut. In 2011, he competed in seven fights for the ProFC promotion, all of which he won by TKO or submission.


title: Khabib Nurmagomedov

text: A 16–0 record in the regional circuits of Russia and Ukraine generated interest from the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in signing Nurmagomedov. Later, Nurmagomedov's father revealed in an interview that due to a contract dispute with ProFC they had 11 court cases contesting the legitimacy of Nurmagomedov's UFC contract. After losing six and winning five cases, they reached an agreement and Khabib was able to continue his career.


title: Khabib Nurmagomedov

text: In his UFC debut, on 20 January 2012 at , Nurmagomedov defeated Kamal Shalorus via submission in the third round.


title: Khabib Nurmagomedov

text: Nurmagomedov next defeated Gleison Tibau on 7 July 2012 at UFC 148 via unanimous decision, with all three judges scoring the fight 30-27.


title: Khabib Nurmagomedov

text: Nurmagomedov's next fight was against Thiago Tavares on 19 January 2013 at . He won via KO in the first round. After the fight, Tavares tested positive for Drostanolone, an anabolic steroid, and received a 9-month suspension.


title: Khabib Nurmagomedov

text: Nurmagomedov defeated Abel Trujillo on 25 May 2013 at UFC 160 via unanimous decision, with all three judges scoring the fight 30-27. At the weigh-ins, Nurmagomedov came in over the permitted limit, weighing in at 158.5 lb. He was given two hours to cut to the lightweight maximum of 156 pounds but elected instead to surrender a percentage of his fight purse to Trujillo and the bout was contested at a catchweight. In the course of the fight, Nurmagomedov set a new UFC record for the most takedowns in a single fight, with 21 successful takedowns out of 28 attempts.


title: Khabib Nurmagomedov

text: In his fifth UFC fight, on 21 September 2013 at UFC 165, Nurmagomedov faced Pat Healy. He dominated the fight and won via unanimous decision, with all three judges scoring the fight 30-27. Attending his first post-event press conference, UFC president Dana White praised the relative newcomer stating, "That slam, when he just scoops him up and slams him, Matt Hughes style. That reminded me of the old Matt Hughes where he would run a guy across the Octagon and slam him. The kid is exciting. We’re probably going to do big things with this kid."


title: Khabib Nurmagomedov

text: In December, Nurmagomedov challenged Gilbert Melendez on social media, with the two then expected to face off at UFC 170 on 22 February 2014. However, the bout was cancelled for undisclosed reasons, and Melendez was replaced by Nate Diaz. However, the match-up was cancelled as Diaz turned the bout down. Nurmagomedov expressed his disappointment, appearing on "The MMA Hour", "If they say that they're willing to fight the best, they should fight the best. If they want, I'll take them both at once in the cage."


title: Khabib Nurmagomedov

text: Nurmagomedov next faced former UFC Lightweight Champion Rafael dos Anjos on 19 April 2014 at UFC on Fox 11. He dominated the fight and won via unanimous decision, with all three judges scoring the fight 30-27.


title: Khabib Nurmagomedov

text: Nurmagomedov was briefly linked to a bout with Donald Cerrone on 27 September 2014 at UFC 178. However, the pairing was quickly scrapped after it was revealed that Nurmagomedov had suffered a knee injury. He was later expected to face Cerrone on 23 May 2015, at UFC 187. However, Nurmagomedov pulled out of the bout on 30 April due to a recurring knee injury and was replaced by John Makdessi.


title: Khabib Nurmagomedov

text: Nurmagomedov was expected to face Tony Ferguson on 11 December 2015 at . However, Nurmagomedov pulled out of the fight in late October, citing another injury, and was replaced by Edson Barboza.


title: Khabib Nurmagomedov

text: The bout with Ferguson was rescheduled for 16 April 2016 at UFC on Fox 19. However, on 5 April, Ferguson pulled out of the bout due to a lung issue. Ferguson was replaced by promotional newcomer Darrell Horcher at a catchweight of 160 lb. Nurmagomedov won the one-sided fight by TKO in the second round.


title: Khabib Nurmagomedov

text: In September, Nurmagomedov signed two contracts for a title shot against the reigning UFC Lightweight Champion, Eddie Alvarez, on either the UFC 205 or the UFC 206 fight card, with Dana White confirming the bout for UFC 205. However, on 26 September, the UFC announced that Alvarez would instead be defending the title against Conor McGregor. Nurmagomedov voiced his displeasure on social media, calling Alvarez a "bullshit champ" for refusing the fight and opting for a bout with McGregor instead, accusing the UFC of being a "freak show".


title: Khabib Nurmagomedov

text: In lieu of a title shot, Nurmagomedov next faced Michael Johnson on 12 November 2016 at UFC 205. Nurmagomedov dominated the fight and was heard telling Dana White to give him a title shot as he mauled Johnson, winning via submission in the third round.


title: Khabib Nurmagomedov

text: The bout with Ferguson was scheduled for a third time at UFC 209 on 4 March 2017 for the interim Lightweight Championship. Nurmagomedov, however, fell ill because of a botched weight cut, and the bout was cancelled as a result.


title: Khabib Nurmagomedov

text: Nurmagomedov faced Edson Barboza on 30 December 2017 at UFC 219. Nurmagomedov dominated all three rounds, taking Barboza down repeatedly and dominating the fight with ground and pound. He won the fight by unanimous decision, with scores of 30-25, 30-25 and 30-24. This win also earned him his first Performance of the Night bonus.


title: Khabib Nurmagomedov

text: A bout with Ferguson had been scheduled for the fourth time and was expected to take place on 7 April 2018 at UFC 223. However, on 1 April 2018, it was reported that Ferguson had injured his knee and was to be replaced by Max Holloway. On 6 April, Holloway was pulled from the fight after the New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC) declared him unfit to compete due to extreme weight cutting, and replaced by Al Iaquinta. Iaquinta's inclusion in the fight was controversial: the UFC's first choice to replace Holloway, Anthony Pettis, weighed in 0.2 pounds over the championship limit of 155 pounds and did not choose to re-weigh, and its second choice, Paul Felder, was rejected by NYSAC because he was not in the UFC's rankings at the time of the fight. Only Nurmagomedov was eligible to win the championship, as Iaquinta also weighed in 0.2 pounds over the championship weight limit. Nurmagomedov dominated the fight and won via unanimous decision, with scores of 50-44, 50-43 and 50-43, and became the UFC Lightweight Champion.


title: Khabib Nurmagomedov

text: On Friday, 3 August 2018, the UFC announced that Nurmagomedov would make his first defence of his lightweight title against Conor McGregor at UFC 229 on October 6 in Las Vegas. In the fight, Nurmagomedov won the first two rounds, but lost to McGregor in the third round. It was the first time Nurmagomedov lost a round in his UFC career. He managed to defeat McGregor in the fourth round via submission. After the contest, Nurmagomedov scaled the Octagon and tried to attack McGregor's teammate Dillon Danis, which resulted in a brawl between the two teams. After the bout against the Irishman, Khabib improved his record to 27-0 which was then the longest win streak in UFC history. The event drew 2.4 million pay-per-view buys, the most ever for an MMA event.


title: Khabib Nurmagomedov

text: In June 2019, Nurmagomedov signed a new multi-fight contract with the UFC. In the first fight of his new deal, Nurmagomedov made the second defence of his title against interim lightweight champion Dustin Poirier on 7 September 2019 in the main event at UFC 242. He won the fight via a rear naked choke submission in the third round. The win unified both titles and earned Nurmagomedov his second "Performance of the Night" bonus award. He and Poirier swapped shirts after the fight as a show of respect. In his post-fight interview Nurmagomedov said that he would be selling the shirt Poirier gave him and donating the proceeds to Poirier's charity. The shirt sold for $100,000 and the donation was matched by UFC president Dana White.


title: Khabib Nurmagomedov

text: Nurmagomedov was scheduled to defend his title against Tony Ferguson on 18 April 2020 at UFC 249. This was the fifth time that a fight between the pair had been scheduled, and both fighters were on 12-fight win streaks in the UFC. However, Nurmagomedov was unable to leave Russia because of restricted air travel due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and so was removed from the card. Ferguson instead faced top contender Justin Gaethje for the interim UFC Lightweight Championship at UFC 249, which was postponed to 9 May. Gaethje won the fight by fifth-round TKO, thus ending Ferguson's win streak and securing himself a shot at the undisputed title against Nurmagomedov.


title: Khabib Nurmagomedov

text: Nurmagomedov faced Gaethje in a unification bout on 24 October 2020 in the main event at UFC 254. Nurmagomedov won the fight via technical submission with a triangle choke in the second round to defend and re-unify the UFC Lightweight Championship. In his post-fight interview, Nurmagomedov announced his retirement from mixed martial arts. He explained that he had promised his mother that he would not continue to fight without his late father, "No way I'm going to come here without my father. It was first time after what happened with my father, when UFC called me about Justin, I talk with my mother three days. She doesn't want me to go fight without my father but I promised her it was going to be my last fight. If I give my word, I have to follow this. It was my last fight here." This win earned him the "Performance of the Night" award. Daniel Cormier claimed in an episode of DC & Helwani, after the fight, that Khabib had said he chose the triangle choke instead of an arm bar in order to prevent Gaethje from being injured.


title: Khabib Nurmagomedov

text: Despite attempted negotiations to bring him back for one more fight, UFC president Dana White announced on 19 March 2021 that he had accepted Nurmagomedov's decision to retire and that the UFC Lightweight Championship had been officially vacated.


title: Khabib Nurmagomedov

text: On July 1, 2022 Nurmagomedov was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame on the International Fight Week in Las Vegas.


title: Khabib Nurmagomedov

text: Following his retirement, Nurmagomedov purchased the Gorilla Fighting Championship (GFC), a Russian-based MMA promotion, for $1 million – going on to rename it as the Eagle Fighting Championship (EFC).


title: Khabib Nurmagomedov

text: Since retiring in October 2020, Nurmagomedov has been an active coach with American Kickboxing Academy head coach Javier Mendez. He currently coaches and corners current UFC Lightweight Champion Islam Makhachev, Zubaira Tukhugov (UFC), Tagir Ulanbekov (UFC), Islam Mamedov (Bellator), Gadzhi Rabadanov (Bellator), Saygid Izagakhmaev (ONE Championship) and cousins Abubakar Nurmagomedov (UFC), Umar Nurmagomedov (UFC), Usman Nurmagomedov (Bellator), and Belal Muhammad at UFC 280.


title: Khabib Nurmagomedov

text: Nurmagomedov employs a wrestling-based style of relentless pressure against his opponents, often described as "mauling". Using a variety of wrestling and judo/sambo takedowns, he forces his opponents against the cage, and locks up their legs and an arm to prevent them from escaping. From this position, he exhausts his opponents by forcing his weight against them and attacks with measured strikes his opponents are often unable to defend. This was one of his many signature styles that he used to deploy to advance towards his finishing move. Throughout his career, nineteen of his twenty-nine victories had come by way of either TKO/KO or submission.


title: Khabib Nurmagomedov

text: Former three-time UFC Heavyweight Champion and two-time UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Randy Couture praised Nurmagomedov as “brilliant”. MMA Commentator Joe Rogan, a black belt in both 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, said of Nurmagomedov, “He’s the most terrifying lightweight contender in the world,” and “he’s just on such another level [of grappling] that the odds of beating him drop significantly after the first minute-and-a-half.” UFC referee Herb Dean stated Nurmagomedov constantly talks to his opponents during fights.


title: Khabib Nurmagomedov

text: As part of his Dagestani Avar culture, Nurmagomedov frequently wears a papakha hat after fights and during promotional events. He speaks several languages, including Avar, Russian, English, Turkish, and Arabic. As of 2019, Nurmagomedov is a third-year student at the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics. He is an avid football fan and supporter of the clubs Anzhi Makhachkala, Galatasaray, Real Madrid and Liverpool, as well as the Russia national team.


title: Khabib Nurmagomedov

text: In August 2021, there was speculations going round that Nurmagomedov had signed a professional Football contract with third tier Russian side Legion Dynamo after he was seen shaking hands with the players and manager, However a few days later Nurmagomedov denied he had signed a professional contract instead saying he is very close to the club and just a fan.


title: Khabib Nurmagomedov

text: Nurmagomedov is a Sunni Muslim. In October 2020, "The Guardian" stated that Nurmagomedov is the second-most popular Muslim athlete in the world, behind only the Egyptian footballer Mohamed Salah. "The Guardian" additionally stated that, since his high-profile victory over McGregor, Nurmagomedov has used his influential status to "further his ultra-conservative worldview". In 2018, Nurmagomedov advocated a crackdown on nightclubs in his home region of Dagestan, and levelled criticism at a rap concert held in Makhachkala, which led to rapper Egor Kreed cancelling his performances in the region. In 2019, Nurmagomedov spoke out against a play held in Dagestan that featured a scene of a scantily-clad woman seducing a man. He described the play as "filth", recommended that there be a governmental investigation into its production, and called for those involved to issue a public apology, which allegedly led to the producer of the play receiving threats on social media. In October 2020, Nurmagomedov criticised the President of France Emmanuel Macron in the wake of the murder of Samuel Paty, stating "May the Almighty disfigure the face of this creature and all its followers, who, under the slogan of freedom of speech, offend the feelings of more than one and a half billion Muslim believers. May the Almighty humiliate them in this life, and in the next."


title: Khabib Nurmagomedov

text: Nurmagomedov has trained with SC Bazarganova in Kizilyurt, Dagestan (2012), K-Dojo, AMA Fight Club in Fairfield, New Jersey (2012), Mamishev Fight Team in Saint Petersburg (2012), Fight Spirit Team in Kolpino, St. Petersburg (2013), and KHK MMA Team in Bahrain (2015), which was funded by Bahraini prince Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa. In 2016, Nurmagomedov co-founded his own team, Eagles MMA, with support from the Dagestani billionaire Ziyavudin Magomedov. After Magomedov was arrested on charges of embezzlement in 2018, Nurmagomedov used his post-fight speech at UFC 223 to appeal to Russian president Vladimir Putin for Magomedov's release from jail. Nurmagomedov has also hosted a training seminar at the Akhmat MMA fight club that is funded by Head of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov, who has received criticism from some quarters for his government's alleged human rights abuses.


title: Khabib Nurmagomedov

text: In December 2021, Nurmagomedov's manager Ali Abdelaziz publicly offered former UFC rival Tony Ferguson a grappling match against Nurmagomedov.


title: Khabib Nurmagomedov

text: Nurmagomedov married Patimat in June 2013 and they have three children: a daughter born 1 June 2015, a son born 30 December 2017, and a son born on 22 December 2019. The first son was named Magomed, after Khabib's great-grandfather. Among Nurmagomedov's cousins are fellow UFC fighters Abubakar Nurmagomedov and Umar Nurmagomedov, and Bellator fighter Usman Nurmagomedov.


title: Khabib Nurmagomedov

text: In May 2020, Nurmagomedov's father and long-time trainer Abdulmanap was placed in a medically induced coma after contracting COVID-19 following a heart surgery. He died on 3 July 2020 at a clinic in Moscow, at the age of 57.


title: Khabib Nurmagomedov

text: In October 2018, Nurmagomedov was made an "Honorary Citizen of Grozny" by the mayor of Grozny Ibrahim Zakriev after his victory against McGregor at UFC 229. He was also presented with a Mercedes car by Chechnya's head Ramzan Kadyrov, funded from the Akhmad Kadyrov Foundation, and his father Abdulmanap was awarded the title of "Honoured Worker of Physical Culture of the Chechen Republic" by Kadyrov.


title: Khabib Nurmagomedov

text: On 5 December, 2019, Head of the Republic of Dagestan Vladimir Vasilyev awarded Nurmagomedov and his father, Abdulmanap the Order For Services to the Republic of Dagestan for their "significant contributions to sports in Dagestan".


title: Khabib Nurmagomedov

text: On 3 April 2018, Nurmagomedov and fellow fighter Artem Lobov had an altercation, in which Nurmagomedov and his entourage cornered Lobov and slapped him multiple times. Lobov is known to be close to Conor McGregor, with whom Nurmagomedov had verbal altercations and trash talk exchanges. Two days later, during promotional appearances for UFC 223, McGregor and his entourage were let into the Barclays Center by credentialed members of his promotional team. They confronted Nurmagomedov, who was on a bus leaving the arena with other "red corner" fighters for UFC 223 onboard, including Rose Namajunas, Al Iaquinta, Karolina Kowalkiewicz, Ray Borg, and Michael Chiesa. McGregor ran up alongside the slowly moving bus and then ran past it to grab a metal equipment dolly, which he threw at the bus's window, before trying to throw other objects in the vicinity. Chiesa and Borg were injured by the shattered glass, and sent to hospital. They were soon removed from the card on the advice of the NYSAC and the UFC's medical team.


title: Khabib Nurmagomedov

text: McGregor and others involved initially fled the Barclays Center after the incident. UFC president Dana White said there was a warrant out for McGregor's arrest, and the NYPD said McGregor was a person of interest. White claimed McGregor told him via text message: "This had to be done." White said, "You can imagine he's going to be sued beyond belief," and denied suggestions that the violence was a stunt intended to generate interest in the UFC. McGregor later turned himself in to a police station, where he faced three counts of assault and one count of criminal mischief. He was further charged with menacing and reckless endangerment at his arraignment and released on $50,000 bail until 14 June 2018. Under the bail conditions set by the judge, McGregor was allowed to travel without restriction. McGregor later pleaded no contest to a count of disorderly conduct and was ordered to perform five days of community service and attend anger management classes.


title: Khabib Nurmagomedov

text: On 6 October 2018, following his victory over Conor McGregor at UFC 229, Nurmagomedov jumped over the octagon fence and charged at McGregor's cornerman, Dillon Danis. Danis had reportedly shouted insults at Nurmagomedov. Soon afterwards, McGregor and Abubakar Nurmagomedov, Khabib's cousin, attempted to exit the octagon, but a scuffle broke out between them after McGregor punched Abubakar, who then punched him back. McGregor was then attacked from behind inside the octagon by two of Nurmagomedov's cornermen, Zubaira Tukhugov and Esed Emiragaev. Tukhugov, a Chechen fighter, was scheduled to fight on 27 October 2018 at against Artem Lobov, the McGregor team member who was confronted by Nurmagomedov in April 2018. Tukhugov was removed from the card on 17 October.


title: Khabib Nurmagomedov

text: Nurmagomedov's payment for the fight was withheld by the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) as a result, pending an investigation into his actions. He appeared at the post-fight interview and apologized to the NSAC, saying he was provoked by McGregor's trash talk and the UFC 223 bus incident, adding, "You cannot talk about religion. You cannot talk about nation. Guys, you cannot talk about these things. This is very important to me." He later posted on Instagram that he had warned McGregor that he would pay for everything he had done on 6 October. Khabib's father, Abdulmanap, later said he did not hold a grudge towards McGregor and invited him to Russia to train.


title: Khabib Nurmagomedov

text: The NSAC filed a formal complaint against both Nurmagomedov and McGregor, and on 24 October, the NSAC voted to approve a motion to release half of Nurmagomedov's $2 million fight payout immediately. Both Nurmagomedov and McGregor received indefinite bans until an official hearing would determine the disciplinary outcome of the post-fight brawl. On 29 January 2019, the NSAC announced a nine-month suspension for Nurmagomedov (retroactive to 6 October 2018) and a $500,000 fine. He was eligible to compete again on 6 July 2019. McGregor also received a six-month suspension and $50,000 fine, while Abubakar Nurmagomedov and Zubaira Tukhugov each received 12-month suspensions and fines of $25,000. Khabib Nurmagomedov complained about the NSAC's decisions and stated he no longer wished to compete in the state of Nevada.


title: Khabib Nurmagomedov

text: In August 2021, Nurmagomedov attracted controversy after an EFC press conference when asked by a reporter about why he does not have ring girls at his promotion. Khabib stated that he did not have an issue with how other promotions went about their operations, stating that they are welcome to do things however they wish, but that he did not see a need for them in his promotion. He said that he personally saw no point to ring girls and their function of parading round cards around before the start of each round. According to him, it is a pointless exercise that makes him "uncomfortable". He was quoted as saying "Look, I don't want to offend anyone. Ring girls are the most useless people in martial arts. What is their function? You can show that it is the second round on the screen. Do they develop a sport? Or they help people to see that it is the second round now? What are they doing? Tell me, please."


title: Greece

text: Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to the northeast. The Aegean Sea lies to the east of the mainland, the Ionian Sea to the west, and the Sea of Crete and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. Greece has the longest coastline on the Mediterranean Basin, featuring thousands of islands. The country consists of nine traditional geographic regions, and has a population of approximately 10.4 million. Athens is the nation's capital and largest city, followed by Thessaloniki and Patras.


title: Greece

text: Greece is considered the cradle of Western civilization, being the birthplace of democracy, Western philosophy, Western literature, historiography, political science, major scientific and mathematical principles, theatre and the Olympic Games. From the eighth century BC, the Greeks were organised into various independent city-states, known as "poleis" (singular "polis"), which spanned the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. Philip II of Macedon united most of present-day Greece in the fourth century BC, with his son Alexander the Great rapidly conquering much of the ancient world, from the eastern Mediterranean to India. The subsequent Hellenistic period saw the height of Greek culture and influence in antiquity. Greece was annexed by Rome in the second century BC, becoming an integral part of the Roman Empire and its continuation, the Byzantine Empire, which was culturally and linguistically predominantly Greek.


title: Greece

text: The Greek Orthodox Church, which emerged in the first century AD, helped shape modern Greek identity and transmitted Greek traditions to the wider Orthodox world. After falling under Ottoman rule in the mid-15th century, Greece emerged as a modern nation state in 1830 following a war of independence. After European powers initiated prolonged periods of monarchial rule by a foreign family, the country fell to a military junta in 1967. Subsequently, the junta collapsed in 1974 and Greece returned to democratic governance, which has continued to this day. The country's rich historical legacy is reflected in part by its 18 UNESCO World Heritage Sites.


title: Greece

text: Greece is a unitary parliamentary republic, and a developed country, with an advanced high-income economy, and a high quality of life, ranking 32nd in the Human Development Index. Its economy is among the largest in the Balkans, where it is an important regional investor. A founding member of the United Nations, Greece was the tenth member to join the European Communities (precursor to the European Union) and has been part of the Eurozone since 2001. It is also a member of numerous other international institutions, including the Council of Europe, NATO, the OECD, the WTO, and the OSCE. Greece's unique cultural heritage, large tourism industry, prominent shipping sector and geostrategic importance classify it as a middle power.


title: Greece

text: The native name of the country in Modern Greek is ("", pronounced ). The corresponding form in Ancient Greek and conservative formal Modern Greek (Katharevousa) is (, classical: , modern: ). This is the source of the English alternate name "Hellas", which is mostly found in archaic or poetic contexts today. The Greek adjectival form (, ) is sometimes also translated as "Hellenic" and is often rendered in this way in the formal names of Greek institutions, as in the official name of the Greek state, the "Hellenic Republic" (, ).


title: Greece

text: The English names "Greece" and "Greek" are derived, via the Latin ' and ', from the name of the Graeci (, ; , ), who were among the first ancient Greek tribes to settle Magna Graecia in southern Italy. The term is possibly derived from the Proto-Indo-European root "", "to grow old".


title: Greece

text: The earliest evidence of the presence of human ancestors in the southern Balkans, dated to 270,000BC, is to be found in the Petralona cave, in the Greek province of Macedonia. The Apidima Cave in Mani, in southern Greece, contains the oldest remains of anatomically modern humans outside of Africa, dated to 210,000 years ago. All three stages of the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic) are represented in Greece, for example in the Franchthi Cave. Neolithic settlements in Greece, dating from the 7th millennium BC, are the oldest in Europe by several centuries, as Greece lies on the route via which farming spread from the Near East to Europe. Following the end of the Greek Neolithic period in 3.200 BC, a slow transition period between the stone economy to the bronze economy during the end of the 4th Millennium BC including Eutresis culture and Korakou culture with the first large buildings (House of the Tiles) until the middle of the 3rd Millennium BC took place in the Greek mainland. Tiryns culture before the Middle Helladic period that developed the socioeconomic base of the following Minoan civilization and Mycenean civilisation.


title: Greece

text: Greece is home to the first advanced civilizations in Europe and is considered the birthplace of Western civilisation, beginning with the Cycladic civilization on the islands of the Aegean Sea at around 3200 BC, the Minoan civilization in Crete (2700–1500 BC), and then the Mycenaean civilization on the mainland (1600–1100 BC). These civilizations possessed writing, the Minoans using an undeciphered script known as Linear A, and the Mycenaeans writing the earliest attested form of Greek in Linear B. The Mycenaeans gradually absorbed the Minoans, but collapsed violently around 1200 BC, along with other civilizations, during the regional event known as the Late Bronze Age collapse. This ushered in a period known as the Greek Dark Ages, from which written records are absent. Though the unearthed Linear B texts are too fragmentary for the reconstruction of the political landscape and can't support the existence of a larger state, contemporary Hittite and Egyptian records suggest the presence of a single state under a "Great King" based in mainland Greece.


title: Greece

text: The end of the Dark Ages is traditionally dated to 776 BC, the year of the first Olympic Games. The "Iliad" and the "Odyssey", the foundational texts of Western literature, are believed to have been composed by Homer in the 7th or 8th centuries BC. With the end of the Dark Ages, there emerged various kingdoms and city-states across the Greek peninsula, which spread to the shores of the Black Sea, Southern Italy ("Magna Graecia") and Asia Minor. These states and their colonies reached great levels of prosperity that resulted in an unprecedented cultural boom, that of classical Greece, expressed in architecture, drama, science, mathematics and philosophy. In 508 BC, Cleisthenes instituted the world's first democratic system of government in Athens.


title: Greece

text: By 500 BC, the Persian Empire controlled the Greek city states in Asia Minor and Macedonia. Attempts by some of the Greek city-states of Asia Minor to overthrow Persian rule failed, and Persia invaded the states of mainland Greece in 492 BC, but was forced to withdraw after a defeat at the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC. In response, the Greek city-states formed the Hellenic League in 481 BC, led by Sparta, which was the first historically recorded union of Greek states since the mythical union of the Trojan War. A second invasion by the Persians followed in 480 BC. Following decisive Greek victories in 480 and 479 BC at Salamis, Plataea, and Mycale, the Persians were forced to withdraw for a second time, marking their eventual withdrawal from all of their European territories. Led by Athens and Sparta, the Greek victories in the Greco-Persian Wars are considered a pivotal moment in world history, as the 50 years of peace that followed are known as the Golden Age of Athens, the seminal period of ancient Greek development that laid many of the foundations of Western civilization.


title: Greece

text: Lack of political unity within Greece resulted in frequent conflict between Greek states. The most devastating intra-Greek war was the Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC), won by Sparta and marking the demise of the Athenian Empire as the leading power in ancient Greece. Both Athens and Sparta were later overshadowed by Thebes and eventually Macedon, with the latter uniting most of the city-states of the Greek hinterland in the League of Corinth (also known as the "Hellenic League" or "Greek League") under the control of Philip II. Despite this development, the Greek world remained largely fragmented and would not be united under a single power until the Roman years. Sparta did not join the League and actively fought against it, raising an army led by Agis III to secure the city-states of Crete for Persia.


title: Greece

text: Following the assassination of Phillip II, his son Alexander III ("The Great") assumed the leadership of the League of Corinth and launched an invasion of the Persian Empire with the combined forces of the League in 334 BC. Undefeated in battle, Alexander had conquered the Persian Empire in its entirety by 330 BC. By the time of his death in 323 BC, he had created one of the largest empires in history, stretching from Greece to India. Upon his death, his empire split into several kingdoms, the most famous of which were the Seleucid Empire, Ptolemaic Egypt, the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, and the Indo-Greek Kingdom. Many Greeks migrated to Alexandria, Antioch, Seleucia, and the many other new Hellenistic cities in Asia and Africa. Although the political unity of Alexander's empire could not be maintained, it resulted in the Hellenistic civilization and spread the Greek language and Greek culture in the territories conquered by Alexander. Greek science, technology, and mathematics are generally considered to have reached their peak during the Hellenistic period.


title: Greece

text: After a period of confusion following Alexander's death, the Antigonid dynasty, descended from one of Alexander's generals, established its control over Macedon and most of the Greek city-states by 276 BC. From about 200 BC the Roman Republic became increasingly involved in Greek affairs and engaged in a series of wars with Macedon. Macedon's defeat at the Battle of Pydna in 168 BC signalled the end of Antigonid power in Greece. In 146 BC, Macedonia was annexed as a province by Rome, and the rest of Greece became a Roman protectorate.


title: Greece

text: The process was completed in 27 BC when the Roman emperor Augustus annexed the rest of Greece and constituted it as the senatorial province of Achaea. Despite their military superiority, the Romans admired and became heavily influenced by the achievements of Greek culture, hence Horace's famous statement: "Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit" ("Greece, although captured, took its wild conqueror captive"). The epics of Homer inspired the Aeneid of Virgil, and authors such as Seneca the younger wrote using Greek styles. Roman heroes such as Scipio Africanus, tended to study philosophy and regarded Greek culture and science as an example to be followed. Similarly, most Roman emperors maintained an admiration for things Greek in nature. The Roman emperor Nero visited Greece in AD 66, and performed at the Ancient Olympic Games, despite the rules against non-Greek participation. Hadrian was also particularly fond of the Greeks. Before becoming emperor, he served as an eponymous archon of Athens.


title: Greece

text: Greek-speaking communities of the Hellenised East were instrumental in the spread of early Christianity in the 2nd and 3rd centuries, and Christianity's early leaders and writers (notably St. Paul) were mostly Greek-speaking, though generally not from Greece itself. The New Testament was written in Greek, and some of its sections (Corinthians, Thessalonians, Philippians, Revelation of St. John of Patmos) attest to the importance of churches in Greece in early Christianity. Nevertheless, much of Greece clung tenaciously to paganism, and ancient Greek religious practices were still in vogue in the late 4th century AD, when they were outlawed by the Roman emperor Theodosius I in 391–392. The last recorded Olympic games were held in 393, and many temples were destroyed or damaged in the century that followed. In Athens and rural areas, paganism is attested well into the sixth century AD and even later. The closure of the Neoplatonic Academy of Athens by the Emperor Justinian in 529 is considered by many to mark the end of antiquity, although there is evidence that the Academy continued its activities for some time after that. Some remote areas such as the southeastern Peloponnese remained pagan until well into the 10th century AD.


title: Greece

text: The Roman Empire in the east, following the fall of the Empire in the west in the 5th century, is conventionally known as the Byzantine Empire (but was simply called "Kingdom of the Romans" in its own time) and lasted until 1453. With its capital in Constantinople, its language and culture were Greek and its religion was predominantly Eastern Orthodox Christian.