title: Louis XIV

text: French military superiority might have allowed him to press for more advantageous terms. Thus, his generosity to Spain with regard to Catalonia has been read as a concession to foster pro-French sentiment and may ultimately have induced King Charles II to name Louis's grandson Philip, Duke of Anjou, heir to the Spanish throne. In exchange for financial compensation, France renounced its interests in the Electorate of Cologne and the Palatinate. Lorraine, which had been occupied by the French since 1670, was returned to its rightful Duke Leopold, albeit with a right of way to the French military. William and Mary were recognised as joint sovereigns of the British Isles, and Louis withdrew support for James II. The Dutch were given the right to garrison forts in the Spanish Netherlands that acted as a protective barrier against possible French aggression. Though in some respects the Treaty of Ryswick may appear a diplomatic defeat for Louis since he failed to place client rulers in control of the Palatinate or the Electorate of Cologne, he did in fact fulfil many of the aims laid down in his 1688 ultimatum. In any case, peace in 1697 was desirable to Louis, since France was exhausted from the costs of the war.


title: Louis XIV

text: By the time of the Peace of Ryswick, the Spanish succession had been a source of concern to European leaders for well over forty years. King Charles II ruled a vast empire comprising Spain, Naples, Sicily, Milan, the Spanish Netherlands, and numerous Spanish colonies. He produced no children, however, and consequently had no direct heirs.


title: Louis XIV

text: The principal claimants to the throne of Spain belonged to the ruling families of France and Austria. The French claim derived from Louis XIV's mother Anne of Austria (the older sister of Philip IV of Spain) and his wife Maria Theresa (Philip IV's eldest daughter). Based on the laws of primogeniture, France had the better claim as it originated from the eldest daughters in two generations. However, their renunciation of succession rights complicated matters. In the case of Maria Theresa, nonetheless, the renunciation was considered null and void owing to Spain's breach of her marriage contract with Louis. In contrast, no renunciations tainted the claims of Emperor Leopold I's son Charles, Archduke of Austria, who was a grandson of Philip III's youngest daughter Maria Anna. The English and Dutch feared that a French or Austrian-born Spanish king would threaten the balance of power and thus preferred the Bavarian Prince Joseph Ferdinand, a grandson of Leopold I through his first wife Margaret Theresa of Spain (the younger daughter of Philip IV).


title: Louis XIV

text: In an attempt to avoid war, Louis signed the Treaty of the Hague with William III of England in 1698. This agreement divided Spain's Italian territories between Louis's son "le Grand Dauphin" and Archduke Charles, with the rest of the empire awarded to Joseph Ferdinand. William III consented to permitting the Dauphin's new territories to become part of France when the latter succeeded to his father's throne. The signatories, however, omitted to consult the ruler of these lands, and Charles II was passionately opposed to the dismemberment of his empire. In 1699, he re-confirmed his 1693 will that named Joseph Ferdinand as his sole successor.


title: Louis XIV

text: Six months later, Joseph Ferdinand died. Therefore, in 1700, Louis and William III concluded a fresh partitioning agreement, the Treaty of London. This allocated Spain, the Low Countries, and the Spanish colonies to the Archduke. The Dauphin would receive all of Spain's Italian territories. Charles II acknowledged that his empire could only remain undivided by bequeathing it entirely to a Frenchman or an Austrian. Under pressure from his German wife, Maria Anna of Neuburg, Charles II named Archduke Charles as his sole heir.


title: Louis XIV

text: On his deathbed in 1700, Charles II of Spain unexpectedly changed his will. The clear demonstration of French military superiority for many decades before this time, the pro-French faction at the court of Spain, and even Pope Innocent XII convinced him that France was more likely to preserve his empire intact. He thus offered the entire empire to the Dauphin's second son Philip, Duke of Anjou, provided it remained undivided. Anjou was not in the direct line of French succession, thus his accession would not cause a Franco-Spanish union. If Anjou refused, the throne would be offered to his younger brother Charles, Duke of Berry. If the Duke of Berry declined it, it would go to Archduke Charles, then to the distantly related House of Savoy if Charles declined it.


title: Louis XIV

text: Louis was confronted with a difficult choice. He could agree to a partition of the Spanish possessions and avoid a general war, or accept Charles II's will and alienate much of Europe. He may initially have been inclined to abide by the partition treaties, but the Dauphin's insistence persuaded him otherwise. Moreover, Louis's foreign minister, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, marquis de Torcy, pointed out that war with the Emperor would almost certainly ensue whether Louis accepted the partition treaties or Charles II's will. He emphasised that, should it come to war, William III was unlikely to stand by France since he "made a treaty to avoid war and did not intend to go to war to implement the treaty". Indeed, in the event of war, it might be preferable to be already in control of the disputed lands. Eventually, therefore, Louis decided to accept Charles II's will. Philip, Duke of Anjou, thus became Philip V, King of Spain.


title: Louis XIV

text: Most European rulers accepted Philip as king, some reluctantly. Depending on one's views of the war's inevitability, Louis acted reasonably or arrogantly. He confirmed that Philip V retained his French rights despite his new Spanish position. Admittedly, he may only have been hypothesising a theoretical eventuality and not attempting a Franco-Spanish union. But his actions were certainly not read as disinterested. Moreover, Louis sent troops to the Spanish Netherlands to evict Dutch garrisons and secure Dutch recognition of Philip V. In 1701, Philip transferred the "asiento" (the right to supply slaves to Spanish colonies) to France, as a sign of the two nations' growing connections. As tensions mounted, Louis decided to acknowledge James Stuart, the son of James II, as king of England on the latter's death, infuriating William III. These actions enraged Britain and the Dutch Republic. With the Holy Roman Emperor and the petty German states, they formed another Grand Alliance and declared war on France in 1702. French diplomacy secured Bavaria, Portugal, and Savoy as Franco-Spanish allies.


title: Louis XIV

text: Even before war was officially declared, hostilities began with Imperial aggression in Italy. Once finally declared, the War of the Spanish Succession lasted almost until Louis's death, at great cost to him and France.


title: Louis XIV

text: The war began with French successes, but the talents of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, and Eugene of Savoy checked these victories and broke the myth of French invincibility. The duo allowed the Palatinate and Austria to occupy Bavaria after their victory at the Battle of Blenheim. Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria, had to flee to the Spanish Netherlands. The impact of this victory won the support of Portugal and Savoy. Later, the Battle of Ramillies delivered the Low Countries to the Allies, and the Battle of Turin forced Louis to evacuate Italy, leaving it open to Allied forces. Marlborough and Eugene met again at the Battle of Oudenarde, which enabled them to invade France.


title: Louis XIV

text: France established contact with Francis II Rákóczi and promised support if he took up the cause of Hungarian independence.


title: Louis XIV

text: Defeats, famine, and mounting debt greatly weakened France. Between 1693 and 1710, over two million people died in two famines, made worse as foraging armies seized food supplies from the villages. In desperation, Louis ordered a disastrous invasion of the English island of Guernsey in the autumn of 1704 with the aim of raiding their successful harvest. By the winter of 1708–09, he was willing to accept peace at nearly any cost. He agreed that the entire Spanish empire should be surrendered to Archduke Charles, and also consented to return to the frontiers of the Peace of Westphalia, giving up all the territories he had acquired over 60 years. But he could not promise that Philip V would accept these terms, so the Allies demanded that Louis single-handedly attack his grandson to force these terms on him. If he could not achieve this within the year, the war would resume. Louis could not accept these terms.


title: Louis XIV

text: The final phases of the War of the Spanish Succession demonstrated that the Allies could not maintain Archduke Charles in Spain just as surely as France could not retain the entire Spanish inheritance for Philip V. The Allies were definitively expelled from central Spain by the Franco-Spanish victories at the Battles of Villaviciosa and Brihuega in 1710. French forces elsewhere remained obdurate despite their defeats. The Allies suffered a Pyrrhic victory at the Battle of Malplaquet with 21,000 casualties, twice that of the French. Eventually, France recovered its military pride with the decisive victory at Denain in 1712.


title: Louis XIV

text: French military successes near the end of the war took place against the background of a changed political situation in Austria. In 1705, Emperor Leopold I died. His elder son and successor, Joseph I, followed him in 1711. His heir was none other than Archduke Charles, who secured control of all of his brother's Austrian landholdings. If the Spanish empire then fell to him, it would have resurrected a domain as vast as Holy Roman Emperor Charles V's in the 16th century. To the maritime powers of Great Britain and the Dutch Republic, this would have been as undesirable as a Franco-Spanish union.


title: Louis XIV

text: As a result of the fresh British perspective on the European balance of power, Anglo-French talks began, culminating in the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht between Louis, Philip V of Spain, Anne, Queen of Great Britain, and the Dutch Republic. In 1714, after losing Landau and Freiburg, the Holy Roman Emperor also made peace with France in the Treaties of Rastatt and Baden.


title: Louis XIV

text: In the general settlement, Philip V retained Spain and its colonies, while Austria received the Spanish Netherlands and divided Spanish Italy with Savoy. Britain kept Gibraltar and Menorca. Louis agreed to withdraw his support for James Stuart, son of James II and pretender to the throne of Great Britain, and ceded Newfoundland, Rupert's Land, and Acadia in the Americas to Anne. Britain gained the most from the treaty, but the final terms were much more favourable to France than those being discussed in peace negotiations in 1709 and 1710. France retained Île-Saint-Jean and Île Royale, and Louis acquired a few minor European territories, such as the Principality of Orange and the Ubaye Valley, which covered transalpine passes into Italy. Thanks to Louis, his allies the Electors of Bavaria and Cologne were restored to their prewar status and returned their lands.


title: Louis XIV

text: Louis and his wife Maria Theresa of Spain had six children from the marriage contracted for them in 1660. However, only one child, the eldest, survived to adulthood: Louis, "le Grand Dauphin", known as "Monseigneur". Maria Theresa died in 1683, whereupon Louis remarked that she had never caused him unease on any other occasion.


title: Louis XIV

text: Despite evidence of affection early on in their marriage, Louis was never faithful to Maria Theresa. He took a series of mistresses, both official and unofficial. Among the better documented are Louise de La Vallière (with whom he had five children; 1661–67), Bonne de Pons d'Heudicourt (1665), Catherine Charlotte de Gramont (1665), Françoise-Athénaïs, Marquise de Montespan (with whom he had seven children; 1667–80), Anne de Rohan-Chabot (1669–75), Claude de Vin des Œillets (one child born in 1676), Isabelle de Ludres (1675–78), and Marie Angélique de Scorailles (1679–81), who died at age 19 in childbirth. Through these liaisons, he produced numerous illegitimate children, most of whom he married to members of cadet branches of the royal family.


title: Louis XIV

text: Louis proved relatively more faithful to his second wife, Françoise d'Aubigné, Marquise de Maintenon. He first met her through her work caring for his children by Madame de Montespan, noting the care she gave to his favourite, Louis Auguste, Duke of Maine. The king was, at first, put off by her strict religious practice, but he warmed to her through her care for his children.


title: Louis XIV

text: When he legitimized his children by Madame de Montespan on 20 December 1673, Françoise d'Aubigné became the royal governess at Saint-Germain. As governess, she was one of very few people permitted to speak to him as an equal, without limits. It is believed that they were married secretly at Versailles on or around 10 October 1683 or January 1684. This marriage, though never announced or publicly discussed, was an open secret and lasted until his death.


title: Louis XIV

text: Louis was a pious and devout king who saw himself as the head and protector of the Catholic Church in France. He made his devotions daily regardless of where he was, following the liturgical calendar regularly. Under the influence of his very religious second wife, he became much stronger in the practice of his Catholic faith. This included banning opera and comedy performances during Lent.


title: Louis XIV

text: Towards the middle and the end of his reign, the centre for the King's religious observances was usually the Chapelle Royale at Versailles. Ostentation was a distinguishing feature of daily Mass, annual celebrations, such as those of Holy Week, and special ceremonies. Louis established the Paris Foreign Missions Society, but his informal alliance with the Ottoman Empire was criticised for undermining Christendom.


title: Louis XIV

text: Louis generously supported the royal court of France and those who worked under him. He brought the Académie Française under his patronage and became its "Protector". He allowed Classical French literature to flourish by protecting such writers as Molière, Racine, and La Fontaine, whose works remain influential to this day. Louis also patronised the visual arts by funding and commissioning artists such as Charles Le Brun, Pierre Mignard, Antoine Coysevox, and Hyacinthe Rigaud, whose works became famous throughout Europe. Composers and musicians such as Jean-Baptiste Lully, Jacques Champion de Chambonnières, and François Couperin thrived. In 1661, Louis founded the Académie Royale de Danse, and in 1669, the Académie d'Opéra, important driving events in the evolution of ballet. He also attracted, supported and patronized such artists as André Charles Boulle, who revolutionised marquetry with his art of inlay, today known as "Boulle Work". Always on the lookout for new talent, the king launched music competitions: in 1683, Michel-Richard de Lalande thus became deputy master of the Royal Chapel, composing his "Symphonies for the Soupers du Roy" along with 77 large scale "Grand Motets".


title: Louis XIV

text: Over the course of four building campaigns, Louis converted a hunting lodge built by Louis XIII into the spectacular Palace of Versailles. With the exception of the current Royal Chapel (built near the end of his reign), the palace achieved much of its current appearance after the third building campaign, which was followed by an official move of the royal court to Versailles on 6 May 1682. Versailles became a dazzling, awe-inspiring setting for state affairs and the reception of foreign dignitaries. At Versailles, the king alone commanded attention.


title: Louis XIV

text: Several reasons have been suggested for the creation of the extravagant and stately palace, as well as the relocation of the monarchy's seat. The memoirist Saint-Simon speculated that Louis viewed Versailles as an isolated power centre where treasonous cabals could be more readily discovered and foiled. There has also been speculation that the revolt of the "Fronde" caused Louis to hate Paris, which he abandoned for a country retreat, but his sponsorship of many public works in Paris, such as the establishment of a police force and of street-lighting, lend little credence to this theory. As a further example of his continued care for the capital, Louis constructed the "Hôtel des Invalides", a military complex and home to this day for officers and soldiers rendered infirm either by injury or old age. While pharmacology was still quite rudimentary in his day, the "Invalides" pioneered new treatments and set new standards for hospice treatment. The conclusion of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1668 also induced Louis to demolish Paris's northern walls in 1670 and replace them with wide tree-lined boulevards.


title: Louis XIV

text: Louis also renovated and improved the Louvre and other royal residences. Gian Lorenzo Bernini was originally to plan additions to the Louvre; however, his plans would have meant the destruction of much of the existing structure, replacing it with an Italian summer villa in the centre of Paris. Bernini's plans were eventually shelved in favour of the elegant Louvre Colonnade designed by three Frenchmen: Louis Le Vau, Charles Le Brun, and Claude Perrault. With the relocation of the court to Versailles, the Louvre was given over to the arts and the public.


title: Louis XIV

text: Few rulers in world history have commemorated themselves in as grand a manner as Louis. He cultivated his image as the Sun King ("le Roi Soleil"), the center of the universe "without equal". Louis used court ritual and the arts to validate and augment his control over France. With his support, Colbert established from the beginning of Louis' personal reign a centralised and institutionalised system for creating and perpetuating the royal image. The King was thus portrayed largely in majesty or at war, notably against Spain. This portrayal of the monarch was to be found in numerous media of artistic expression, such as painting, sculpture, theatre, dance, music, and the almanacs that diffused royal propaganda to the population at large.


title: Louis XIV

text: Over his lifetime, Louis commissioned numerous works of art to portray himself, among them over 300 formal portraits. The earliest portrayals of Louis already followed the pictorial conventions of the day in depicting the child king as the majestically royal incarnation of France. This idealisation of the monarch continued in later works, which avoided depictions of the effect of smallpox that Louis contracted in 1647. In the 1660s, Louis began to be shown as a Roman emperor, the god Apollo, or Alexander the Great, as can be seen in many works of Charles Le Brun, such as sculpture, paintings, and the decor of major monuments.


title: Louis XIV

text: The depiction of the king in this manner focused on allegorical or mythological attributes, instead of attempting to produce a true likeness. As Louis aged, so too did the manner in which he was depicted. Nonetheless, there was still a disparity between realistic representation and the demands of royal propaganda. There is no better illustration of this than in Hyacinthe Rigaud's frequently-reproduced "Portrait of Louis XIV of 1701", in which a 63-year-old Louis appears to stand on a set of unnaturally young legs.


title: Louis XIV

text: Rigaud's portrait exemplified the height of royal portraiture during Louis' reign. Although Rigaud crafted a credible likeness of Louis, the portrait was neither meant as an exercise in realism nor to explore Louis' personal character. Certainly, Rigaud was concerned with detail and depicted the king's costume with great precision, down to his shoe buckle.


title: Louis XIV

text: However, Rigaud's intention was to glorify the monarchy. Rigaud's original, now housed in the Louvre, was originally meant as a gift to Louis' grandson, Philip V of Spain. However, Louis was so pleased with the work that he kept the original and commissioned a copy to be sent to his grandson. That became the first of many copies, both in full and half-length formats, to be made by Rigaud, often with the help of his assistants. The portrait also became a model for French royal and imperial portraiture down to the time of Charles X over a century later. In his work, Rigaud proclaims Louis' exalted royal status through his elegant stance and haughty expression, the royal regalia and throne, rich ceremonial fleur-de-lys robes, as well as the upright column in the background, which, together with the draperies, serves to frame this image of majesty.


title: Louis XIV

text: In addition to portraits, Louis commissioned at least 20 statues of himself in the 1680s, to stand in Paris and provincial towns as physical manifestations of his rule. He also commissioned "war artists" to follow him on campaigns to document his military triumphs. To remind the people of these triumphs, Louis erected permanent triumphal arches in Paris and the provinces for the first time since the decline of the Roman Empire.


title: Louis XIV

text: Louis' reign marked the birth and infancy of the art of medallions. Sixteenth-century rulers had often issued medals in small numbers to commemorate the major events of their reigns. Louis, however, struck more than 300 to celebrate the story of the king in bronze, that were enshrined in thousands of households throughout France.


title: Louis XIV

text: He also used tapestries as a medium of exalting the monarchy. Tapestries could be allegorical, depicting the elements or seasons, or realist, portraying royal residences or historical events. They were among the most significant means to spread royal propaganda prior to the construction of the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles.


title: Louis XIV

text: Louis loved ballet and frequently danced in court ballets during the early half of his reign. In general, Louis was an eager dancer who performed 80 roles in 40 major ballets. This approaches the career of a professional ballet dancer.


title: Louis XIV

text: His choices were strategic and varied. He danced four parts in three of Molière's comédies-ballets, which are plays accompanied by music and dance. Louis played an Egyptian in "Le Mariage forcé" in 1664, a Moorish gentleman in "Le Sicilien" in 1667, and both Neptune and Apollo in "Les Amants magnifiques" in 1670.


title: Louis XIV

text: He sometimes danced leading roles that were suitably royal or godlike (such as Neptune, Apollo, or the Sun). At other times, he would adopt mundane roles before appearing at the end in the lead role. It is considered that, at all times, he provided his roles with sufficient majesty and drew the limelight with his flair for dancing. For Louis, ballet may not have merely been a tool for manipulation in his propaganda machinery. The sheer number of performances he gave as well as the diversity of roles he played may serve to indicate a deeper understanding and interest in the art form.


title: Louis XIV

text: Ballet dancing was actually used by Louis as a political tool to hold power over his state. He integrated ballet deeply in court social functions and fixated his nobles' attention on upholding standards in ballet dancing, effectively distracting them from political activities. In 1661, the Royal Academy of Dance was founded by Louis to further his ambition. Pierre Beauchamp, his private dance instructor, was ordered by Louis to come up with a notation system to record ballet performances, which he did with great success. His work was adopted and published by Feuillet in 1700 as "Choregraphie". This major development in ballet played an important role in promoting French culture and ballet throughout Europe during Louis' time.


title: Louis XIV

text: Louis greatly emphasized etiquettes in ballet dancing, evidently seen in "La belle danse" (the French noble style). More challenging skills were required to perform this dance with movements very much resembling court behaviours, as a way to remind the nobles of the king's absolute power and their own status. All the details and rules were compressed in five positions of the bodies codified by Beauchamp.


title: Louis XIV

text: Besides the official depiction and image of Louis, his subjects also followed a non-official discourse consisting mainly of clandestine publications, popular songs, and rumours that provided an alternative interpretation of Louis and his government. They often focused on the miseries arising from poor government, but also carried the hope for a better future when Louis escaped the malignant influence of his ministers and mistresses, and took the government into his own hands. On the other hand, petitions addressed either directly to Louis or to his ministers exploited the traditional imagery and language of monarchy. These varying interpretations of Louis abounded in self-contradictions that reflected the people's amalgamation of their everyday experiences with the idea of monarchy.


title: Louis XIV

text: Despite the image of a healthy and virile king that Louis sought to project, evidence exists to suggest that his health was not very good. He had many ailments: for example, symptoms of diabetes, as confirmed in reports of suppurating periostitis in 1678, dental abscesses in 1696, along with recurring boils, fainting spells, gout, dizziness, hot flushes, and headaches.


title: Louis XIV

text: From 1647 to 1711, the three chief physicians to the king (Antoine Vallot, Antoine d'Aquin, and Guy-Crescent Fagon) recorded all of his health problems in the "Journal de Santé du Roi" ("Journal of the King's Health"), a daily report of his health. On 18 November 1686, Louis underwent a painful operation for an anal fistula that was performed by the surgeon Charles Felix de Tassy, who prepared a specially shaped curved scalpel for the occasion. The wound took more than two months to heal.


title: Louis XIV

text: Louis died of gangrene at Versailles on 1 September 1715, four days before his 77th birthday, after 72 years on the throne. Enduring much pain in his last days, he finally "yielded up his soul without any effort, like a candle going out", while reciting the psalm "Deus, in adjutorium me festina" ("O Lord, make haste to help me"). His body was laid to rest in Saint-Denis Basilica outside Paris. It remained there undisturbed for about 80 years until revolutionaries exhumed and destroyed all of the remains found in the Basilica.


title: Louis XIV

text: Cardinal Armand Gaston Maximilien de Rohan gave Last Rites (confession, viaticum, and unction) to king Louis XIV.


title: Louis XIV

text: Louis outlived most of his immediate legitimate family. His last surviving legitimate son, the Dauphin, died in 1711. Barely a year later, the Duke of Burgundy, the eldest of the Dauphin's three sons and then heir-apparent to Louis, followed his father. Burgundy's elder son, Louis, Duke of Brittany, joined them a few weeks later. Thus, on his deathbed, Louis' heir-apparent was his five-year-old great-grandson, Louis, Duke of Anjou, Burgundy's younger son.


title: Louis XIV

text: Louis foresaw an underaged successor and sought to restrict the power of his nephew Philip II, Duke of Orléans, who, as his closest surviving legitimate relative in France, would likely become regent to the prospective Louis XV. Accordingly, the king created a regency council as Louis XIII had in anticipation of Louis XIV's own minority, with some power vested in his illegitimate son Louis-Auguste de Bourbon, Duke of Maine. Orléans, however, had Louis' will annulled by the "Parlement of Paris" after his death and made himself sole regent. He stripped Maine and his brother, Louis-Alexandre, Count of Toulouse, of the rank of Prince of the Blood, which Louis had granted them, and significantly reduced Maine's power and privileges.


title: Louis XIV

text: Line of succession to the French throne upon the death of Louis XIV in 1715. Louis XIV's only surviving legitimate grandson, Philip V, was not included in the line of succession due to having renounced the French throne after the war of the Spanish Succession, which lasted for 13 years after the death of Charles II of Spain in 1700.


title: Louis XIV

text: Further down the French line of succession in 1715 was the House of Conde, followed by the House of Conti (a cadet branch of the House of Conde). Both of these royal houses were descended in the male line from Henri II, Prince of Conde, a second cousin of French King Louis XIII (the father of Louis XIV) in the male line.


title: Louis XIV

text: According to Philippe de Courcillon's "Journal", Louis on his deathbed advised his heir with these words: Do not follow the bad example which I have set you; I have often undertaken war too lightly and have sustained it for vanity. Do not imitate me, but be a peaceful prince, and may you apply yourself principally to the alleviation of the burdens of your subjects.


title: Louis XIV

text: Some historians point out that it was a customary demonstration of piety in those days to exaggerate one's sins. Thus they do not place much emphasis on Louis' deathbed declarations in assessing his accomplishments. Rather, they focus on military and diplomatic successes, such as how he placed a French prince on the Spanish throne. This, they contend, ended the threat of an aggressive Spain that historically interfered in domestic French politics. These historians also emphasise the effect of Louis' wars in expanding France's boundaries and creating more defensible frontiers that preserved France from invasion until the Revolution.


title: Louis XIV

text: Arguably, Louis also applied himself indirectly to "the alleviation of the burdens of [his] subjects." For example, he patronised the arts, encouraged industry, fostered trade and commerce, and sponsored the founding of an overseas empire. Moreover, the significant reduction in civil wars and aristocratic rebellions during his reign are seen by these historians as the result of Louis' consolidation of royal authority over feudal elites. In their analysis, his early reforms centralised France and marked the birth of the modern French state. They regard the political and military victories as well as numerous cultural achievements as the means by which Louis helped raise France to a preeminent position in Europe. Europe came to admire France for its military and cultural successes, power, and sophistication. Europeans generally began to emulate French manners, values, goods, and deportment. French became the universal language of the European elite.


title: Louis XIV

text: Louis' detractors have argued that his considerable foreign, military and domestic expenditure impoverished and bankrupted France. His supporters, however, distinguish the state, which was impoverished, from France, which was not. As supporting evidence, they cite the literature of the time, such as the social commentary in Montesquieu's "Persian Letters".


title: Louis XIV

text: Alternatively, Louis' critics attribute the social upheaval culminating in the French Revolution to his failure to reform French institutions while the monarchy was still secure. Other scholars counter that there was little reason to reform institutions that largely worked well under Louis. They also maintain that events occurring almost 80 years after his death were not reasonably foreseeable to Louis and that in any case, his successors had sufficient time to initiate reforms of their own.


title: Louis XIV

text: Louis has often been criticised for his vanity. The memoirist Saint-Simon, who claimed that Louis slighted him, criticised him thus: There was nothing he liked so much as flattery, or, to put it more plainly, adulation; the coarser and clumsier it was, the more he relished it. For his part, Voltaire saw Louis' vanity as the cause for his bellicosity:It is certain that he passionately wanted glory, rather than the conquests themselves. In the acquisition of Alsace and half of Flanders, and of all of Franche-Comté, what he really liked was the name he made for himself.


title: Louis XIV

text: Nonetheless, Louis has also received praise. The anti-Bourbon Napoleon described him not only as "a great king", but also as "the only King of France worthy of the name". Leibniz, the German Protestant philosopher, commended him as "one of the greatest kings that ever was". And Lord Acton admired him as "by far the ablest man who was born in modern times on the steps of a throne". The historian and philosopher Voltaire wrote: "His name can never be pronounced without respect and without summoning the image of an eternally memorable age". Voltaire's history, "The Age of Louis XIV", named Louis' reign as not only one of the four great ages in which reason and culture flourished, but the greatest ever.


title: Louis XIV

text: In 1848, at Nuneham House, a piece of Louis' mummified heart, taken from his tomb and kept in a silver locket by Lord Harcourt, Archbishop of York, was shown to the Dean of Westminster, William Buckland, who ate it.


title: Louis XIV

text: The well-known "I am the state" (""L'état, c'est moi."") was reported from at least the late 18th century. It was widely repeated but also denounced as apocryphal by the early 19th century.


title: Louis XIV

text: He did say, "Every time I appoint someone to a vacant position, I make a hundred unhappy and one ungrateful." Louis is recorded by numerous eyewitnesses as having said on his deathbed: "" ("I depart, but the State shall always remain.")


title: Louis XIV

text: On 5 April 1693, Louis also founded the Royal and Military Order of Saint Louis (), a military order of chivalry. He named it after Louis IX and intended it as a reward for outstanding officers. It is notable as the first decoration that could be granted to non-nobles and is roughly the forerunner of the "Légion d'honneur", with which it shares the red ribbon (though the "Légion d'honneur" is awarded to military personnel and civilians alike).


title: Louis XIV

text: Patrilineal descent is the principle behind membership in royal houses, as it can be traced back through the generations - which means that if King Louis were to choose an historically accurate house name it would be Robertian, as all his male-line ancestors have been of that house.


title: Louis XIV

text: Louis' patriline is the line from which he is descended father to son. It follows the Bourbon, Kings of France, and the Counts of Paris and Worms. This line can be traced back more than 1,200 years from Robert of Hesbaye to the present day, through Kings of France & Navarre, Spain and Two-Sicilies, Dukes of Parma and Grand-Dukes of Luxembourg, Princes of Orléans and Emperors of Brazil. It is one of the oldest in Europe.


title: Louis XIV

text: This is an incomplete list of Louis XIV's illegitimate children. He reputedly had more, but the difficulty in fully documenting all such births restricts the list only to the better-known and/or legitimised.


title: Colin Farrell

text: Colin James Farrell (; born 31 May 1976) is an Irish actor. He is known as a leading man in film and television projects across various genres in both blockbuster and independent films. He has received numerous accolades including a Golden Globe Award and the Venice Film Festival's Volpi Cup for Best Actor. In 2020, he was listed at No. 5 on "The Irish Times" list of Ireland's greatest film actors.


title: Colin Farrell

text: He first appeared in the BBC drama series "Ballykissangel" (1998), then made his film debut in the drama film "The War Zone" (1999), and was discovered by Hollywood upon taking the lead role in the war drama film "Tigerland" (2000). He continued acting in Steven Spielberg's sci-fi thriller "Minority Report" (2002) and as the supervillain Bullseye in the film "Daredevil" (2003). Farrell portrayed Alexander the Great in the biopic "Alexander" (2004) and starred in Terrence Malick's "The New World" (2005), Michael Mann's "Miami Vice" (2006), and Woody Allen's "Cassandra's Dream" (2007).


title: Colin Farrell

text: Farrell won acclaim for his role in Martin McDonagh’s comedy film "In Bruges" (2008) earning him the Golden Globe Award. He next starred in "Pride and Glory" (2008), the irreverent comedy "Horrible Bosses" (2011), the sci-fi "Total Recall", the black comedy "Seven Psychopaths" (both 2012), the drama "Saving Mr. Banks" (2013), the romance "Winter's Tale" (2014), the dark comedies "The Lobster" (2015) and "The Killing of a Sacred Deer" (2017), the gothic thriller "The Beguiled" (2017), noir heist "Widows" (2018), the children's film "Dumbo" (2019), and the science fiction drama "After Yang" (2022).


title: Colin Farrell

text: He then gained further stardom portraying the auror Percival Graves / Gellert Grindelwald in the "Harry Potter" prequel film "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" (2016), as well as crime boss Oswald "Oz" Cobblepot / The Penguin in the 2022 superhero film "The Batman", a role which he will reprise in a spin-off self-titled solo series for HBO Max. He's also known for his leading role as Detective Ray Velcoro in the second season of HBO's "True Detective" (2015). In 2022, Farrell reunited with McDonagh in "The Banshees of Inisherin" for which he earned the Volpi Cup for Best Actor.


title: Colin Farrell

text: Colin James Farrell was born in the Castleknock suburb of Dublin on 31 May 1976, the son of Rita (née Monaghan) and Eamon Farrell. His father played football for Shamrock Rovers FC and ran a health food shop. His uncle, Tommy Farrell, also played for Shamrock Rovers. He has an older brother named Eamon Jr. and two sisters named Claudine (who now works as his personal assistant) and Catherine. He was educated at St. Brigid's National School, followed by the exclusive all-boys private school Castleknock College, and then Gormanston College in County Meath. He unsuccessfully auditioned for the boy band Boyzone around this time. He was inspired to try acting when Henry Thomas' performance in "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" (1982) moved him to tears. With his brother's encouragement, he attended the Gaiety School of Acting, but dropped out when he was cast as Danny Byrne in the BBC drama "Ballykissangel". While travelling in Sydney at the age of 18, Farrell became a suspect in an attempted murder case. The police sketch looked remarkably like him and he had even described blacking out during the night in question; his only alibi was a journal kept by his friend, which explained that the two had been taking MDMA on the other side of town that night.


title: Colin Farrell

text: Farrell had roles in television shows and films, including "Ballykissangel" and "Falling for a Dancer" in 1998 and 1999. He made his feature film debut in English actor Tim Roth's directorial debut "The War Zone", a drama about an incident of child abuse, starring Ray Winstone and Tilda Swinton as parents of a girl Farrell's character (Nick) dates. Farrell also appeared in "Ordinary Decent Criminal" with Kevin Spacey and Linda Fiorentino, a film loosely based on the life of Martin Cahill. In 2000, Farrell was cast in the lead role of Private Roland Bozz in "Tigerland", an under-released film directed by American Joel Schumacher. He reportedly got the part on the basis of his charm. Emanuel Levy of "Variety" said that Farrell "shines as the subversive yet basically decent lad whose cynicism may be the only sane reaction to a situation". Michael Holden of "The Guardian" wrote that Farrell was "too much the hero" to fit the classic rebel archetype properly, but he did not mind. "Tigerland" earned $139,500.


title: Colin Farrell

text: Farrell's next American films, "American Outlaws" (2001) and "Hart's War" (2002), were not commercially successful. His 2002–2003 films, including "Phone Booth", "The Recruit" and "S.W.A.T." (all thrillers, with the former two his first starring roles), were well received by critics and successful at the box office. Of "Phone Booth", Ebert wrote that it is "Farrell's to win or lose, since he's onscreen most of the time, and he shows energy and intensity". Philip French of "The Observer" praised Farrell's performance. In "S.W.A.T.," Farrell starred in an ensemble cast including Samuel L. Jackson, Michelle Rodriguez, Olivier Martinez and Jeremy Renner; Renner became a friend. Alan Morrison of "Empire" wrote, "Farrell can usually be relied upon to bring a spark to the bonfire. That's also true of [this movie]." Elvis Mitchell of the "New York Times" criticised Farrell's accent, writing that he "employ[ed] a wobbly American accent that makes him sound like an international criminal a step ahead of the authorities". Ebert and "The New York Times" A.O. Scott disagreed on Farrell's effectiveness in "The Recruit"; Ebert noted Farrell's likability, but Scott felt that Farrell "spends his time in a caffeinated frenzy, trying to maintain his leading-man sang-froid while registering panic, stress and confusion". "Phone Booth" earned $46.6 million, "S.W.A.T." $116.9 million and "The Recruit" $52.8 million at the box office.


title: Colin Farrell

text: Farrell's supporting roles include an ambitious Justice Department agent opposite Tom Cruise, a potential criminal in "Minority Report" (2002), and the villain Bullseye in "Daredevil" (2003). Matt Damon was originally offered the "Minority Report" role, turning it down to appear in "Ocean's Eleven". Farrell said "he had no problem" being the producer's fallback after Damon declined. Bullseye is an assassin, proud of his accuracy. Farrell was signed to the role in December 2001, although he was considered for the lead role of Matt Murdock (Daredevil) until Ben Affleck signed. Farrell was encouraged to keep his Irish accent, since this version of Bullseye is from Ireland. He read Frank Miller's Daredevil comics to understand Bullseye "because the expression on the character's faces in the comic books, and just the way they move sometimes, and the exaggerations of the character I'm playing... he's so over-the-top that you do draw from that. But it's not exactly a character you can do method acting for...you know, running around New York killing people with paper clips". That year, he was voted sixth World's "Sexiest Man" by "Company" magazine.


title: Colin Farrell

text: In late 2003 Farrell starred as a criminal who plots a bank robbery with Cillian Murphy in the dark comedy "Intermission", which held the record for highest-grossing Irish independent film in Irish box-office history for three years and remains a cult classic there. In 2004, he appeared in several other independent films receiving limited theatrical release in most countries, including "A Home at the End of the World" (adapted from Michael Cunningham's "A Home at the End of the World"). Roger Ebert praised Farrell, saying that he was "astonishing in the movie, not least because the character is such a departure from everything he has done before". Mick LaSalle of the "San Francisco Chronicle" differed, saying that Farrell "is keen on making good...The effort is there, but it's a performance you end up rooting for rather than enjoying, because there's no way to just relax and watch".


title: Colin Farrell

text: Farrell played the title role of Alexander the Great in Oliver Stone's 2004 biographical film "Alexander", which, while receiving some favourable reviews internationally, was poorly received in the United States. Its portrayal of the conqueror as bisexual was controversial; the film was criticised by some historians for its treatment of the ancient Persians, although others praised it for its accuracy. An ancient-history scholar at the University of Nebraska wrote:


title: Colin Farrell

text: Farrell's next film was 2005's Academy Award-nominated "The New World", his second historical epic. He played the lead role of Captain John Smith, the founder of 17th-century colonial Jamestown, Virginia who falls in love with the Native American princess Pocahontas (Q'Orianka Kilcher). Director Terrence Malick went out of his way to keep Farrell and Kilcher apart until they were filmed together. Although it was released in only 811 theatres worldwide and had a relatively low box-office gross, the film received a large number of positive reviews. In one of four reviews in "The Guardian", John Patterson described it as a "bottomless movie, almost unspeakably beautiful and formally harmonious". "The New World" was followed by "Ask the Dust", a period romance set in Los Angeles based on a John Fante novel and co-starring Salma Hayek. Reviews were mixed; Manohla Dargis of "The New York Times" favourably described Farrell's work, but Peter Bradshaw of "The Guardian" found "something a little forced in both lead performances". With a limited theatrical release, it was not a financial success.


title: Colin Farrell

text: Farrell was more successful in 2006 with his role opposite Jamie Foxx in Michael Mann's action crime drama, "Miami Vice". The film grossed $164 million worldwide on a budget of $135 million, and "TimeOut New York" ranked it among the top 50 movies of the decade. (The DVD, released the same year, also managed to sell over a million copies (equivalent to $7.91 million in pirated versions) in its first week alone., and, as of 11 February 2007, had grossed over $36.45 million in rentals. A. O. Scott criticised Farrell's work: "When he's not on screen, you don't miss him, and when he is, you find yourself, before long, looking at someone or something else." Conversely, Peter Travers of "Rolling Stone" was enthusiastic. Farrell also reportedly took a slight pay cut to make friend and recent Oscar winner Jamie Foxx happy: His salary was initially larger than Foxx's.


title: Colin Farrell

text: Farrell next appeared in Woody Allen's "Cassandra's Dream", which premiered in 2007 and was distributed in the US in early 2008. Reviews were mixed, with Maitland McDonagh of "TV Guide" writing that Allen's work was "shallow and unconvincing from beginning to end" and Mick LaSalle of the "San Francisco Chronicle" saying that although "it's not as good as "Match Point" or "Crimes and Misdemeanors"...taken on its own, it's a fairly impressive piece, a directorially vigorous, well-acted, tightly constructed movie". LaSalle praised Farrell: "Allen is notorious for not giving his actors explicit instructions, and yet somehow this worked wonders for Farrell, who has never seemed so naked, so clear and so unencumbered as he does here." Manohla Dargis concurred in the "New York Times", adding that she thought Farrell was well-matched with co-star Ewan McGregor.


title: Colin Farrell

text: Farrell's next film, Martin McDonagh's first full-length feature "In Bruges", opened the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. While "The New Yorker" and "TimeOut London"s film critics found co-star Brendan Gleeson's performance the stronger of the two, Bradshaw of "The Guardian" found Farrell (as hitman Ray) "absolutely superb: moody and funny, lethally sexy, sometimes heartbreakingly sad and vulnerable like a little boy". "Time" magazine described the film as "the prettiest bloodbath of 2008", and Farrell won his first Golden Globe Award.


title: Colin Farrell

text: Shortly thereafter he appeared in "Kicking It", a documentary following six homeless men from Kenya, Russia, Afghanistan, Ireland, Spain and the US as they attempt to qualify for the Homeless World Cup. Farrell appeared on screen and provided the narration, donating his earnings to a homeless shelter in Ireland. The film was released simultaneously in theatres and on television, airing on ESPN2 in a very short window before its DVD release. Farrell received positive reviews for his involvement in the true story.


title: Colin Farrell

text: Later in 2008 Farrell was brother-in-law to Edward Norton's character in "Pride and Glory", a police drama directed by American Gavin O'Connor. Roger Ebert disliked the film and A. O. Scott said that Farrell "once again indulges his blustery mixture of menace and charm, overdoing both," but Gregory Kirschling of "Entertainment Weekly" liked Farrell's work.


title: Colin Farrell

text: On 11 January 2009, Farrell won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for "In Bruges", in which he co-starred with Brendan Gleeson. That year he also appeared in Terry Gilliam's film "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus", starring Christopher Plummer and Andrew Garfield. Farrell was one of three actors (with Johnny Depp and Jude Law), who helped to complete Heath Ledger's role when Ledger died before filming ended. They played "Imaginarium" versions of Ledger's character Tony, donating their earnings to Ledger's daughter Matilda.


title: Colin Farrell

text: Farrell also starred that year in "Triage", directed by Oscar-winning Bosnian screenwriter and director Danis Tanović, about the life of a war correspondent. He lost 30 pounds for the role. Farrell's work was described as "dedicated" by "Variety"s Todd McCarthy, and Julian Sancton of "Vanity Fair" wrote that the film was "a hell of a lot more insightful than other movies that deal with a similar topic". However, "Triage" was not widely distributed due to the marketing challenges posed by its difficult topics (including PTSD). That year, Farrell played a supporting role (as Tommy Sweet) in "Crazy Heart" with Jeff Bridges.


title: Colin Farrell

text: Another 2009 release was "Ondine", a fantasy-drama directed by Neil Jordan starring Farrell as a fisherman with a handicapped daughter. Shot in the village of Castletownbere on Ireland's southwest coast, it featured cinematography by longtime Wong Kar-wai collaborator Christopher Doyle. Mary Pols of "Time" magazine called the role "tailor-made for Farrell", saying that Farrell gave a "beautifully confident performance". Todd McCarthy of "Variety" singled Farrell out, noting that he worked well as an ensemble actor "graciously allowing [child star Alison Barry] to steal every scene she's in".


title: Colin Farrell

text: The next year, Farrell starred with Keira Knightley in the crime romance "London Boulevard". The film, American William Monahan's debut as director after writing screenplays for "The Departed" and "Body of Lies", was panned by critics. Peter Bradshaw of the "Guardian" wrote that the film "uses up all its energy, wit and ideas in the first 20 or so minutes, before collapsing into a flurry of boring violence". Leslie Felperin of "Variety" described it as "like a fancy, retro-styled pocket watch that someone accidentally broke and tried to reassemble with only a vague idea of clockwork". Felperin thought the stars' work was frail, with Farrell "mostly taciturn and vacuous."


title: Colin Farrell

text: Farrell starred in the 2011 comedy "Horrible Bosses", directed by Seth Gordon, with Jennifer Aniston, Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, Jason Sudeikis and his <nowiki>"</nowiki>Miami Vice<nowiki>"</nowiki> co-star Jamie Foxx. The film focuses on a trio of employees who plot to murder their tyrannical superiors. The "London Observer"s Mark Kermode wrote that although the film would have benefited from a tighter script, Farrell and Foxx had juicy roles which they "riff with panache". Michael Phillips of the "Los Angeles Times" wrote that Farrell brought "massive, slobby relish" to his role as Sudeikis' cocaine-fiend boss.


title: Colin Farrell

text: Later that year, Farrell played the main antagonist in the "Fright Night" remake, joining Anton Yelchin, David Tennant and Toni Collette in the story of a charismatic vampire who moves next door to a high-school student and his single mother. The film was released by DreamWorks, with Craig Gillespie (of "Lars and the Real Girl") directing a script by "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" writer Marti Noxon. Sukhdev Sandhu of "The Telegraph" wrote that Farrell "proves his comedy credentials once more...utterly seductive as the plushly eyebrowed carpenter-cum-bloodsucker", while "The New York Times" A.O. Scott thought that Farrell played his role with "a wink and a snarl and a feline purr". Logan Hill of "New York" magazine, on the other hand, was confused by Farrell's performance: "Sure, [it] may not make much sense, but neither do centuries-old vampires living in Nevadan subdivisions. So he goes for it."


title: Colin Farrell

text: Farrell starred with Kate Beckinsale in Columbia Pictures' "Total Recall", a 2012 remake of the 1990 film with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Filmed from May to September 2011 in Toronto and directed by Len Wiseman, the film was a new sci-fi take about a sleeper agent. Co-star Jessica Biel appreciated Farrell's skills, calling him "surprising and exciting. He just has the ability to be trying different things all the time." Roger Ebert and "The New York Times" said that although they believed Farrell the better actor, Schwarzenegger in the original was "more of a movie presence and better suited for the role".


title: Colin Farrell

text: Farrell's second film with McDonagh, "Seven Psychopaths", premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and was released in October 2012. He starred as creatively blocked writer Marty in a black comedy with Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson and Christopher Walken. The film broke even at the box office, with generally good reviews, including David Rooney of "The Hollywood Reporter" writing that Farrell "serves as an excellent foil for Rockwell" and he "is in subdued mode... his performance largely defined by the endless expressivity of his eyebrows." That month, Farrell appeared on the cover of the magazine "Details".


title: Colin Farrell

text: March 2013 saw the release of "Dead Man Down", a thriller directed by Niels Arden Oplev reuniting Farrell with Terrence Howard for the first time since "Hart's War" ten years earlier. Noomi Rapace, star of Oplev's "The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo", starred as a facially scarred woman who blackmails Farrell's character into killing the man who disfigured her in a car crash. Reviews were mixed, with "Empire" magazine calling the film "a pleasingly intricate double (or is it triple?) revenge plot anchored by excellent acting" and "The Hollywood Reporter" saying that "[J.H.] Wyman's script and the measured pace don't lend themselves to the necessary escalating tension that would have resulted in a more rewarding climax." "The New York Times" Manohla Dargis called the film a failure, but said of Farrell that "his sensitive, hardworking eyebrows help keep it from becoming a full-bore lampoon." Joe Neumaier of the "New York Daily News" also disliked the film; it contained "a lot to roll your eyes over" and, while Farrell was commendable, he was "as stoic as a statue".


title: Colin Farrell

text: In 2014, Farrell starred in a film adaptation of Mark Helprin's "Winter's Tale". The film was written and directed by Akiva Goldsman and based on Helprin's 1983 novel, and co-starred Jessica Brown Findlay, Russell Crowe, and Will Smith. Farrell won the lead role over younger actors Garrett Hedlund, Tom Hiddleston and Aaron Taylor-Johnson. Although the film generally received negative reviews due to the overly romantic nature of the film, writers such as "The Village Voice"s Stephanie Zacharek had nothing but praise for Farrell. She described him as "an extraordinary appealing actor" who "has always made a terrific bad boy, but ... seems to be settling into some very serious, responsible-adult roles." Mick LaSalle of the "San Francisco Chronicle" agreed, writing that Farrell "holds the movie together" and is part of "the most beautiful [love scene] so far of 2014."


title: Colin Farrell

text: His role as P. L. Travers' alcoholic father in "Saving Mr. Banks" received contrasting reviews, with Scott Foundras of "Variety" calling it "excellent" and Leslie Felperin of "The Hollywood Reporter" deeming it "his best work in some time"; conversely, Peter Bradshaw of "The Guardian" described it as "bland" and "uninspired", while Robbie Collin of "The Telegraph" found Farrell miscast in the role.


title: Colin Farrell

text: Farrell starred in Liv Ullmann's adaptation of August Strindberg's "Miss Julie" opposite Jessica Chastain and Samantha Morton. His turn as John, the serving man to Chastain's character's father, was described by Stephen Holden of "The New York Times" as the "strongest" of the three performances, though Ullmann's direction was deemed too flat by most reviewers. He starred in the second season of the TV series "True Detective" as Ray Velcoro, alongside Vince Vaughn, Taylor Kitsch, and Rachel McAdams. The first two episodes were directed by Justin Lin. He worked with a dialect coach to adopt the nonstandard Californian accent for his character, which he found challenging.


title: Colin Farrell

text: Farrell starred in "The Lobster", a romantic science fiction thriller which was released in 2015 and directed by Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos in his English-language debut. Its script was awarded the ARTE International Prize for Best CineMart 2013 Project at the 42nd Rotterdam International Film Festival. Set in a dystopian near-future in which finding a partner is a matter of life and death, the film tells an unconventional love story. The film also stars Rachel Weisz, Ben Whishaw, Olivia Colman, Léa Seydoux and John C. Reilly.


title: Colin Farrell

text: In 2016, Farrell starred in the "Harry Potter" spin-off film "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them"; a traced version of a licensed promotional photo of Farrell from the film was subsequently used for the character Nefarian Serpine on the tenth anniversary cover of 2007's "Skulduggery Pleasant", the first book in the series of the same name. In 2017, he had leading roles in the films "The Beguiled", "The Killing of a Sacred Deer", and "Roman J. Israel, Esq." In 2018, he co-starred in Steve McQueen's thriller "Widows", and then starred in Tim Burton's 2019 live-action fantasy "Dumbo". He portrayed Oswald "Oz" Cobblepot / Penguin in Matt Reeves' 2022 film "The Batman" and will continue to portray the character in a spin-off self-titled solo series on HBO Max.


title: Colin Farrell

text: In 2022, Farrell co-starred in the film "Thirteen Lives", which chronicles the 2018 Tham Luang cave rescue of a Thai boys' soccer team that was trapped 2.5 miles inside the cave for eighteen days as a result of a flash-flood. The British cave divers Rick Stanton and John Volanthen participated in the rescue operation and retrieved the boys. During this production, Farrell and the other cast members did their own stunts and diving. In an interview about the film, Farrell admitted to suffering significant anxiety from the underwater work.


title: Colin Farrell

text: That same year, Farrell reunited with Martin McDonagh and Brendan Gleeson for "The Banshees of Inisherin", which earned Farrell a Volpi Cup for Best Actor from the 79th Venice Film Festival.


title: Colin Farrell

text: In 2007, Farrell joined other celebrities as a spokesperson for the Special Olympics World Games in Shanghai. He also lent his support to the anti-bullying campaign Stand Up! organised by the Irish LGBT youth organisation BeLonG To in March 2012. He had appeared on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" two years earlier to increase awareness of the subject. In 2015, he became an official Ambassador of the Homeless World Cup, which uses street football to inspire homeless people to change their lives.


title: Colin Farrell

text: Farrell met English actress and singer Amelia Warner at the premiere of "Quills" in 2000. They dated from July to November 2001. There was unproven speculation that they married. Farrell said of the relationship that they were "too fast, too young". He has had relationships with several women including American singer Britney Spears, American model Nicole Narain, and actresses Elizabeth Taylor, Angelina Jolie, Maeve Quinlan, and Demi Moore. He has a son named James Padraig (born in Los Angeles in 2003) with American model Kim Bordenave. In October 2007, he said that James has Angelman syndrome, a rare genetic disorder characterised by intellectual and developmental delay, lack of speech and an excitable demeanour.


title: Colin Farrell

text: From 2007 to 2008, Farrell dated Irish medical student Muireann McDonnell. Farrell and British-American writer Emma Forrest dated for over a year, an experience she discussed in depth in her memoir "Your Voice in My Head" (which mostly focused on her relationship with her therapist, who died unexpectedly). According to Forrest, she and Farrell planned to have a child together before he ended the relationship. In October 2009, Farrell fathered his second son, Henry Tadeusz, with Polish actress Alicja Bachleda-Curuś (his "Ondine" co-star). Their relationship ended in mid-2010.


title: Colin Farrell

text: In December 2005, Farrell checked into a rehabilitation centre for addictions to recreational drugs and painkillers. He commented on the topic in an interview on "Late Show with David Letterman" after leaving rehab, and continued to do so in the years following. He said, "There was an energy that was created, a character that was created, that no doubt benefited me. And then there was a stage where it all began to crumble around me."


title: Colin Farrell

text: In January 2006, Farrell filed a lawsuit against his ex-girlfriend, American model Nicole Narain, and the Internet Commerce Group (ICG) for the unauthorised public distribution of a 13-minute sex tape they had made in 2003. He was offered $5 million for its rights. While ICG tried to release it, Narain said that she would work with Farrell to ensure that the tape remained private; Farrell said she tried to release it to damage his acting career and "make money out of it", which Narain denied. On 16 April 2006, they reached a confidential settlement; Farrell's lawsuit against ICG continued with a trial date of 21 July 2006, and was eventually settled amicably.


title: Colin Farrell

text: On 20 July 2006, as Farrell was being interviewed on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno", a telephone sex worker named Dessarae Bradford evaded security, walked on stage, confronted Farrell, and threw a self-published book-length exposé of him on Jay Leno's desk. As Farrell escorted her off the stage and handed her over to NBC security, she shouted: "I'll see you in court!" After being held by police in Burbank, California, Bradford was released. The following day, Farrell obtained a restraining order against her and the incident was edited out of the broadcast. Bradford had twice attempted to sue Farrell for abusive messages, but the lawsuits were dismissed due to a lack of evidence. She failed a lie detector test on an Ion Television programme when attempting to prove her claims.


title: Encyclopedia

text: An encyclopedia (American English), or encyclopædia (British English) is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles or entries that are arranged alphabetically by article name or by thematic categories, or else are hyperlinked and searchable. Encyclopedia entries are longer and more detailed than those in most dictionaries. Generally speaking, encyclopedia articles focus on "factual information" concerning the subject named in the article's title; this is unlike dictionary entries, which focus on linguistic information about words, such as their etymology, meaning, pronunciation, use, and grammatical forms.


title: Encyclopedia

text: Encyclopedias have existed for around 2,000 years and have evolved considerably during that time as regards language (written in a major international or a vernacular language), size (few or many volumes), intent (presentation of a global or a limited range of knowledge), cultural perspective (authoritative, ideological, didactic, utilitarian), authorship (qualifications, style), readership (education level, background, interests, capabilities), and the technologies available for their production and distribution (hand-written manuscripts, small or large print runs, Internet). As a valued source of reliable information compiled by experts, printed versions found a prominent place in libraries, schools and other educational institutions.


title: Encyclopedia

text: The appearance of digital and open-source versions in the 21st century, such as Wikipedia, has vastly expanded the accessibility, authorship, readership, and variety of encyclopedia entries.


title: Encyclopedia

text: The word "encyclopedia" ("encyclo"|"pedia") comes from the Koine Greek , transliterated , meaning 'general education' from (), meaning 'circular, recurrent, required regularly, general' and (), meaning 'education, rearing of a child'; together, the phrase literally translates as 'complete instruction' or 'complete knowledge'. However, the two separate words were reduced to a single word due to a scribal error by copyists of a Latin manuscript edition of Quintillian in 1470. The copyists took this phrase to be a single Greek word, "enkyklopaedia", with the same meaning, and this spurious Greek word became the New Latin word "encyclopaedia", which in turn came into English. Because of this compounded word, fifteenth-century readers and since have often, and incorrectly, thought that the Roman authors Quintillian and Pliny described an ancient genre.


title: Encyclopedia

text: The modern encyclopedia was developed from the dictionary in the 18th century. Historically, both encyclopedias and dictionaries have been researched and written by well-educated, well-informed content experts, but they are significantly different in structure. A dictionary is a linguistic work which primarily focuses on alphabetical listing of words and their definitions. Synonymous words and those related by the subject matter are to be found scattered around the dictionary, giving no obvious place for in-depth treatment. Thus, a dictionary typically provides limited information, analysis or background for the word defined. While it may offer a definition, it may leave the reader lacking in understanding the meaning, significance or limitations of a term, and how the term relates to a broader field of knowledge.


title: Encyclopedia

text: To address those needs, an encyclopedia article is typically not limited to simple definitions, and is not limited to defining an individual word, but provides a more extensive meaning for a "subject or discipline". In addition to defining and listing synonymous terms for the topic, the article is able to treat the topic's more extensive meaning in more depth and convey the most relevant accumulated knowledge on that subject. An encyclopedia article also often includes many maps and illustrations, as well as bibliography and statistics. An encyclopedia is, theoretically, not written in order to convince, although one of its goals is indeed to convince its reader of its own veracity.


title: Encyclopedia

text: There are four major elements that define an encyclopedia: its subject matter, its scope, its method of organization, and its method of production:


title: Encyclopedia

text: Some works entitled "dictionaries" are actually similar to encyclopedias, especially those concerned with a particular field (such as the "Dictionary of the Middle Ages", the "Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships", and "Black's Law Dictionary"). The "Macquarie Dictionary," Australia's national dictionary, became an encyclopedic dictionary after its first edition in recognition of the use of proper nouns in common communication, and the words derived from such proper nouns.


title: Encyclopedia

text: There are some broad differences between encyclopedias and dictionaries. Most noticeably, encyclopedia articles are longer, fuller and more thorough than entries in most general-purpose dictionaries. There are differences in content as well. Generally speaking, dictionaries provide linguistic information about words themselves, while encyclopedias focus more on the thing for which those words stand. Thus, while dictionary entries are inextricably fixed to the word described, encyclopedia articles can be given a different entry name. As such, dictionary entries are not fully translatable into other languages, but encyclopedia articles can be.


title: Encyclopedia

text: In practice, however, the distinction is not concrete, as there is no clear-cut difference between factual, "encyclopedic" information and linguistic information such as appears in dictionaries. Thus encyclopedias may contain material that is also found in dictionaries, and vice versa. In particular, dictionary entries often contain factual information about the thing named by the word.


title: Encyclopedia

text: Encyclopedias have progressed from the beginning of history in written form, through medieval and modern times in print, and most recently, displayed on computer and distributed via computer networks, including the Internet.


title: Encyclopedia

text: The earliest encyclopedic work to have survived to modern times is the "Naturalis Historia" of Pliny the Elder, a Roman statesman living in the 1st century AD. He compiled a work of 37 chapters covering natural history, architecture, medicine, geography, geology, and all aspects of the world around him. This work became very popular in Antiquity, was one of the first classical manuscripts to be printed in 1470, and has remained popular ever since as a source of information on the Roman world, and especially Roman art, Roman technology and Roman engineering.


title: Encyclopedia

text: The Spanish scholar Isidore of Seville was the first Christian writer to try to compile a "summa" of universal knowledge, the "Etymologiae" (c. 600–625), also known by classicists as the "Origines" (abbreviated "Orig".). This encyclopedia—the first such Christian epitome—formed a huge compilation of 448 chapters in 20 volumes based on hundreds of classical sources, including "Natural Historia". Of Etymologiae in its time it was said "quaecunque fere sciri debentur", "practically everything that it is necessary to know". Among the areas covered were: grammar, rhetoric, mathematics, geometry, music, astronomy, medicine, law, the Catholic Church and heretical sects, pagan philosophers, languages, cities, animals and birds, the physical world, geography, public buildings, roads, metals, rocks, agriculture, ships, clothes, food, and tools.


title: Encyclopedia

text: Another Christian encyclopedia was the "Institutiones divinarum et saecularium litterarum" of Cassiodorus (543-560) dedicated to the Christian Divinity and to the seven liberal arts. The encyclopedia of Suda, a massive 10th-century Byzantine encyclopedia, had 30,000 entries, many drawing from ancient sources that have since been lost, and often derived from medieval Christian compilers. The text was arranged alphabetically with some slight deviations from common vowel order and place in the Greek alphabet.


title: Encyclopedia

text: From India, the Siribhoovalaya (Kannada: ಸಿರಿಭೂವಲಯ), dated between 800 A.D. to 15th century, is a work of kannada literature written by Kumudendu Muni, a Jain monk. It is unique because rather than employing alphabets, it is composed entirely in Kannada numerals. Many philosophies which existed in the Jain classics are eloquently and skillfully interpreted in the work.


title: Encyclopedia

text: The enormous encyclopedic work in China of the "Four Great Books of Song", compiled by the 11th century during the early Song dynasty (960–1279), was a massive literary undertaking for the time. The last encyclopedia of the four, the "Prime Tortoise of the Record Bureau", amounted to 9.4 million Chinese characters in 1,000 written volumes.


title: Encyclopedia

text: There were many great encyclopedists throughout Chinese history, including the scientist and statesman Shen Kuo (1031–1095) with his "Dream Pool Essays" of 1088, the statesman, inventor, and agronomist Wang Zhen (active 1290–1333) with his "Nong Shu" of 1313, and the written "Tiangong Kaiwu" of Song Yingxing (1587–1666), the latter of whom was termed the "Diderot of China" by British historian Joseph Needham.


title: Encyclopedia

text: Before the advent of the printing press, encyclopedic works were all hand copied and thus rarely available, beyond wealthy patrons or monastic men of learning: they were expensive, and usually written for those extending knowledge rather than those using it.


title: Encyclopedia

text: During the Renaissance, the creation of printing allowed a wider diffusion of encyclopedias and every scholar could have his or her own copy. The "De expetendis et fugiendis rebus" by Giorgio Valla was posthumously printed in 1501 by Aldo Manuzio in Venice. This work followed the traditional scheme of liberal arts. However, Valla added the translation of ancient Greek works on mathematics (firstly by Archimedes), newly discovered and translated. The "Margarita Philosophica" by Gregor Reisch, printed in 1503, was a complete encyclopedia explaining the seven liberal arts.


title: Encyclopedia

text: Financial, commercial, legal, and intellectual factors changed the size of encyclopedias. Middle classes had more time to read and encyclopedias helped them to learn more. Publishers wanted to increase their output so some countries like Germany started selling books missing alphabetical sections, to publish faster. Also, publishers could not afford all the resources by themselves, so multiple publishers would come together with their resources to create better encyclopedias. Later, rivalry grew, causing copyright to occur due to weak underdeveloped laws.


title: Encyclopedia

text: John Harris is often credited with introducing the now-familiar alphabetic format in 1704 with his English "Lexicon Technicum: Or, A Universal English Dictionary of Arts and Sciences: Explaining not only the Terms of Art, but the Arts Themselves" – to give its full title. Organized alphabetically, its content does indeed contain explanation not merely of the terms used in the arts and sciences, but of the arts and sciences themselves. Sir Isaac Newton contributed his only published work on chemistry to the second volume of 1710.


title: Encyclopedia

text: The "Encyclopædia Britannica", had a modest beginning in Scotland: the first edition, issued between 1768 and 1771, had just three hastily completed volumes – A–B, C–L, and M–Z – with a total of 2,391 pages. By 1797, when the third edition was completed, it had been expanded to 18 volumes addressing a full range of topics, with articles contributed by a range of authorities on their subjects.


title: Encyclopedia

text: The "Encyclopædia Britannica" appeared in various editions throughout the nineteenth century, and the growth of popular education and the Mechanics' Institutes, spearheaded by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge led to the production of the "Penny Cyclopaedia", as its title suggests issued in weekly numbers at a penny each like a newspaper.


title: Encyclopedia

text: In the early 20th century, the "Encyclopædia Britannica" reached its eleventh edition, and inexpensive encyclopedias such as "Harmsworth's Universal Encyclopaedia" and "Everyman's Encyclopaedia" were common.


title: Encyclopedia

text: The German-language "Conversations-Lexikon" was published at Leipzig from 1796 to 1808, in 6 volumes. Paralleling other 18th century encyclopedias, its scope was expanded beyond that of earlier publications, in an effort at comprehensiveness. It was, however, intended not for scholarly use but to provide results of research and discovery in a simple and popular form without extensive detail. This format, a contrast to the "Encyclopædia Britannica", was widely imitated by later 19th century encyclopedias in Britain, the United States, France, Spain, Italy and other countries. Of the influential late-18th century and early-19th century encyclopedias, the "Conversations-Lexikon" is perhaps most similar in form to today's encyclopedias.


title: Encyclopedia

text: In the United States, the 1950s and 1960s saw the introduction of several large popular encyclopedias, often sold on installment plans. The best known of these were "World Book" and "Funk and Wagnalls". As many as 90% were sold door to door. Jack Lynch says in his book "You Could Look It Up" that encyclopedia salespeople were so common that they became the butt of jokes. He describes their sales pitch saying, "They were selling not books but a lifestyle, a future, a promise of social mobility." A 1961 "World Book" ad said, "You are holding your family's future in your hands right now," while showing a feminine hand holding an order form.


title: Encyclopedia

text: By the late 20th century, encyclopedias were being published on CD-ROMs for use with personal computers. Microsoft's "Encarta", launched in 1993, was a landmark example as it had no printed equivalent. Articles were supplemented with video and audio files as well as numerous high-quality images. After sixteen years, Microsoft discontinued the Encarta line of products in 2009.


title: Encyclopedia

text: Digital encyclopedias enable "Encyclopedia Services" (e.g. ) to facilitate programatic access to the content.


title: Encyclopedia

text: The concept of a free encyclopedia began with the Interpedia proposal on Usenet in 1993, which outlined an Internet-based online encyclopedia to which anyone could submit content and that would be freely accessible. Early projects in this vein included Everything2 and Open Site. In 1999, Richard Stallman proposed the GNUPedia, an online encyclopedia which, similar to the GNU operating system, would be a "generic" resource. The concept was very similar to Interpedia, but more in line with Stallman's GNU philosophy.


title: Encyclopedia

text: It was not until Nupedia and later Wikipedia that a stable free encyclopedia project was able to be established on the Internet.


title: Encyclopedia

text: The English Wikipedia, which was started in 2001, became the world's largest encyclopedia in 2004 at the 300,000 article stage. By late 2005, Wikipedia had produced over two million articles in more than 80 languages with content licensed under the copyleft GNU Free Documentation License. As of August 2009, Wikipedia had over 3 million articles in English and well over 10 million combined in over 250 languages. Wikipedia currently has articles in English.


title: Encyclopedia

text: Since 2003, other free encyclopedias like the Chinese-language Baidu Baike and Hudong, as well as English language encyclopedias such as Citizendium and Knol have appeared, the latter of which has been discontinued.


title: Encyclopedia

text: In January 1995, Project Gutenberg started to publish the ASCII text of the "Encyclopædia Britannica", 11th edition (1911), but disagreement about the method halted the work after the first volume. For trademark reasons this has been published as the "Gutenberg Encyclopedia". Project Gutenberg later restarted work on digitising and proofreading this encyclopedia. Project Gutenberg has published volumes in alphabetic order the most recent publication is "Volume 17 Slice 8: Matter–Mecklenburg" published on 7 April 2013. The latest "Britannica" was digitized by its publishers, and sold first as a CD-ROM, and later as an online service.


title: Encyclopedia

text: In 2001, ASCII text of all 28 volumes was published on "Encyclopædia Britannica" Eleventh Edition by source; a copyright claim was added to the materials included. The website no longer exists, but the contents are available from the Internet Archive.


title: Encyclopedia

text: Other digitization projects have made progress in other titles. One example is "Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897)" digitized by the Christian Classics Ethereal Library.


title: Encyclopedia

text: A successful digitization of an encyclopedia was the Bartleby Project's online adaptation of the "Columbia Encyclopedia", Sixth Edition, in early 2000 and is updated periodically.


title: Encyclopedia

text: Other websites provide online encyclopedias, some of which are also available on Wikisource, but which may be more complete than those on Wikisource, or maybe different editions (see List of online encyclopedias).


title: Encyclopedia

text: Another related branch of activity is the creation of new, free content on a volunteer basis. In 1991, the participants of the Usenet newsgroup started a project to produce a real version of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", a fictional encyclopedia used in the works of Douglas Adams. It became known as Project Galactic Guide. Although it originally aimed to contain only real, factual articles, the policy was changed to allow and encourage semi-real and unreal articles as well. Project Galactic Guide contains over 1700 articles, but no new articles have been added since 2000; this is probably partly due to the founding of h2g2, a more official project along similar lines.


title: Encyclopedia

text: The 1993 Interpedia proposal was planned as an encyclopedia on the Internet to which everyone could contribute materials. The project never left the planning stage and was overtaken by a key branch of old printed encyclopedias.


title: Encyclopedia

text: Another early online encyclopedia was called the "Global Encyclopedia". In November 1995 a review of it was presented by James Rettig (Assistant Dean of University Libraries for Reference and Information Services) College of William & Mary at the 15th Annual Charleston Conference on library acquisitions and related issues. He said of the "Global Encyclopedia":


title: Encyclopedia

text: Wikipedia is a free content, multilingual online encyclopedia written and maintained by a community of volunteer contributors through a model of open collaboration. It is the largest and most-read reference work in history. Wikipedia originally developed from another encyclopedia project called Nupedia.


title: Encyclopedia

text: A CD-ROM encyclopedia is an encyclopedia delivered as reference software on a CD-ROM disc for use on a personal computer. This was the usual way computer users accessed encyclopedic knowledge from the 1980s and 1990s. Later DVD discs replaced CD-ROMs and from mid-2000s internet encyclopedias became dominant and replaced disc-based software encyclopedias. Some examples of CD-ROM encyclopedia are "Encarta", Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia, and "Britannica".


title: Encyclopedia

text: CD-ROM encyclopedias were usually a macOS or Microsoft Windows (3.0, 3.1 or 95/98) application on a CD-ROM disc. The user would execute the encyclopedia's software program to see a menu that allowed them to start browsing the encyclopedia's articles, and most encyclopedias also supported a way to search the contents of the encyclopedia. The article text was usually hyperlinked and also included photographs, audio clips (for example in articles about historical speeches or musical instruments), and video clips. In the CD-ROM age the video clips had usually a low resolution, often 160x120 or 320x240 pixels. Such encyclopedias which made use of photos, audio and video were also called multimedia encyclopedias. However, because of the online encyclopedia, CD-ROM encyclopedias have been declared obsolete.


title: Canelo Álvarez

text: Santos Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez Barragán (; born 18 July 1990) is a Mexican professional boxer. He has won multiple world championships in four weight classes from light middleweight to light heavyweight, including unified titles in three of those weight classes and lineal titles in two. Álvarez is the first and only boxer in history to become undisputed champion at super middleweight, having held the WBA (Super), WBC and "Ring" magazine titles since 2020, and the IBF and WBO titles since 2021.


title: Canelo Álvarez

text: Álvarez is known as an excellent counterpuncher, being able to exploit openings in his opponents' guards while avoiding punches with head and body movement. He is also known as a formidable body puncher. As of May 2022, Álvarez is ranked as the world's best active boxer, pound for pound, by BoxRec and the Boxing Writers Association of America; fourth by ESPN; fifth by the TBRB; and sixth by "The Ring". He is also ranked as the world's best active super middleweight by BoxRec, "The Ring", TBRB, and ESPN.


title: Canelo Álvarez

text: In an interview, Álvarez explained that he was born on the outskirts of Guadalajara, Jalisco, but his family is originally from Los Reyes, Michoacán. At the age of five, his family moved to their current home of Juanacatlán, Jalisco. Growing up on his family's farm, he learned horseback riding, which he continues today. Álvarez is the youngest of eight children, seven of them boys; all of his brothers also became professional boxers. Among his brothers are welterweight boxers Ramón Álvarez, Ricardo Álvarez and former WBA interim world champion, Rigoberto Álvarez.


title: Canelo Álvarez

text: "Canelo" in Spanish is the masculine word for cinnamon, which is a common nickname for people with red hair. His mother, Ana Maria, also has red hair. In Mexico, it is common for people to associate red hair with the Irish soldiers who fought for Mexico in the Saint Patrick's Battalion during the Mexican–American War. Speaking about his ancestry, Álvarez once said, "There might have been an Irish grandfather somewhere back in my past."


title: Canelo Álvarez

text: He was bullied at an early age when he would be called "Jícama con Chile", which translates as jicama with chilli flakes – a popular snack in Mexico.


title: Canelo Álvarez

text: Álvarez started boxing when he was around 13 years old, after watching his older brother Rigoberto debut as a professional boxer. In 2004, he won the silver medal at the Junior Mexican National Championships, held in Sinaloa. He became the 2005 Junior Mexican National Boxing Champion in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, at the age of 15. His amateur record was 44–2 with 12 knockouts.


title: Canelo Álvarez

text: Álvarez turned professional at 15, shortly after his championship at the Junior Nationals, because his trainers at the time, father-and-son team Chepo and Eddy Reynoso, were unable to find suitable junior opponents for him. In his first 19 months as a professional, he knocked out eleven of his 13 documented opponents, all of whom were significantly older. However, the elder Reynoso stated in 2013 that Álvarez had fought ten more times in that span, winning all ten by knockout (KO), but that these fights (all in small venues in the Mexican state of Nayarit) were so poorly documented that it was not worth the trouble to seek to have the record corrected. This means that his actual record is 67–2–2 with 49 knockouts. His weight fluctuated in his three years as a professional including two documented fights within the light welterweight limit of 140 lbs before he settled in the welterweight division at 147 lbs.


title: Canelo Álvarez

text: Álvarez's third official bout of his career was a win over future IBF lightweight champion Miguel Vázquez on 20 January 2006, in his home town of Guadalajara, Jalisco. On 28 June 2008, Álvarez defeated Vázquez again in a rematch. He also made world history on that fight card when he and all six of his brothers fought on the same night, with Canelo being the youngest. The only downside was that three of them failed to win their pro debuts. The other four more experienced brothers won. On 6 March 2010, he got a crushing third-round KO over Brian Camechis in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas. Álvarez then defeated José Cotto on the undercard of Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Shane Mosley to retain his WBC-NABF welterweight title.


title: Canelo Álvarez

text: His sixth-round technical knockout (TKO) win over Luciano Leonel Cuello for the WBC Silver light middleweight title was held at the Vicente Fernández Arena. During the post-fight interview, Mexican singer Vicente Fernández gave Álvarez a horse. He was also given a horse by the mayor of Tepic, where Álvarez sometimes trains.


title: Canelo Álvarez

text: He next faced the former WBC welterweight champion Carlos Baldomir at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, on the Shane Mosley vs. Sergio Mora undercard. Baldomir stated in a pre-fight interview that he wanted the winner of Mora vs. Mosley, as he said "after I knock out El Canelo." Baldomir weighed in at 153.4 lbs for the bout, that was contracted for 151 lbs. In California, if a fighter is overweight he is penalized 20% of his purse and that percent is given to the other fighter. However, Álvarez declined to take the extra $12,000 from Baldomir. In the sixth round, Álvarez landed a crushing blow that knocked Baldomir out cold. With the victory, Álvarez became just the second boxer ever to stop Carlos Baldomir and the first boxer ever to knock him out. Álvarez then successfully defended his light middleweight title by unanimous decision against former world champion Lovemore N'dou in Veracruz. It was a competitive fight despite the wide margins on the official scorecards of 119–109, 120–108, and 120–108.


title: Canelo Álvarez

text: Álvarez was in line as mandatory challenger for the winner of the vacant WBC light middleweight title bout between Manny Pacquiao and Antonio Margarito, however, Pacquiao who was the victor, wrote to the WBC stating he had no intention of defending the title and it was declared vacant. On 5 March 2011, Álvarez defeated European welterweight champion Matthew Hatton via unanimous decision, for the vacant WBC light middleweight belt. The bout was televised on HBO and took place at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. Álvarez was docked a point in the seventh round, which was uniformly scored 9–9, for hitting after the break. All three ringside judges scored the bout 119–108 in favor of Álvarez, who landed 47% of his 626 punches, including 53% of his power shots. Hatton connected with just 25% of his 546 total blows in a fight that averaged 1.4 million viewers on HBO.


title: Canelo Álvarez

text: Álvarez successfully defended his newly awarded WBC title against #4 ranked "Ring" light middleweight and current European light middleweight champion Ryan Rhodes. Álvarez defeated Rhodes via TKO in the twelfth round on 18 June 2011, in Guadalajara, Jalisco. The fight averaged 1.6 million viewers on HBO.


title: Canelo Álvarez

text: On 17 September 2011, Álvarez successfully defended that same WBC title against The Contender competitor Alfonso Gómez at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, winning via TKO in the sixth round. Gómez won a majority of the first five rounds after Álvarez knocked him down in the first round. Álvarez was looking for one shot and got it in the sixth round when he backed Gómez up with a right hand. He then followed up with a flurry to get the referee to jump in and stop the fight.


title: Canelo Álvarez

text: Álvarez defeated Kermit Cintrón via TKO in the fifth round. Álvarez spent the first three rounds feeling out his opponent Cintrón, a former welterweight champion, before punishing the Puerto Rican with body shots and straight right hands in the fourth round. He knocked Cintrón down once and had him in trouble at the end of the round, but Cintrón was saved by the bell. In the fifth round, Cintrón came out and caught Álvarez with some combinations, but Álvarez eventually overpowered him with several powerful straight right hands and the referee stepped in and stopped it. The fight averaged 1.5 million viewers on HBO: Boxing After Dark.


title: Canelo Álvarez

text: Richard Schaefer announced that Álvarez's next bout would co-feature on the undercard of Miguel Cotto's clash with Floyd Mayweather Jr. at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. On 11 February 2012, Shane Mosley was announced as Álvarez's next opponent in May for his WBC light middleweight title. Álvarez defeated Mosley via unanimous decision after twelve rounds.


title: Canelo Álvarez

text: Álvarez was originally set to fight top ten "Ring" light middleweight and former welterweight champion Paul Williams on 15 September 2012. However, on 27 May 2012, a motorcycle accident in the U.S. state of Georgia paralyzed Williams from the waist down, ending his boxing career. Álvarez's possible opponents for his September bout were James Kirkland, Austin Trout, Delvin Rodriguez and most notably, Victor Ortiz.


title: Canelo Álvarez

text: Álvarez was scheduled to defend his title against former welterweight titlist Victor Ortiz in the main event of a Showtime pay-per-view (PPV) card dubbed 'Knockout Kings' at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. However, on 23 June, Ortiz was unable to defeat underdog Josesito López in what was supposed to be a "tune-up" fight at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, losing due to referee stoppage (broken jaw) and cancelling his bout with Álvarez as a result.


title: Canelo Álvarez

text: Due to this upset, López was instead penciled in to face Canelo at the MGM Grand on 15 September, for Álvarez's WBC light middleweight title. Álvarez won the fight via fifth-round TKO after dominating López from start to finish, staying undefeated and increasing his record of 41–0–1. The fight averaged 1.04 million on Showtime. Canelo earned $2 million for the fight and López a smaller amount of $212,500.


title: Canelo Álvarez

text: His next fight took place on 20 April 2013, at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas against Austin Trout. The fight was supposed to take place during Cinco de Mayo weekend as the co-main event to Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Robert Guerrero; however, due to a contract disagreement between Álvarez and Mayweather regarding their potential fight on 14 September 2013, Álvarez opted to headline his own card instead.


title: Canelo Álvarez

text: In front of 39,247 fans, Álvarez successfully defended his WBC light middleweight title and won both the WBA (Regular) and vacant "Ring" light middleweight titles. During the first few rounds, Trout seemed to have a good game plan. However, Álvarez's power took over after the third round, eventually scoring a knockdown in the seventh round to give Trout the first knockdown of his career. Álvarez set up the knockdown with a pawing left jab, followed by the straight right hand. The fight was closer than expected, but Álvarez still managed to dominate Trout throughout the fight with impressive head movement and shocking power. All three judges' scorecards were in favor of Álvarez with a fair margin 115–112 from Filipino judge Rey Danseco, 116–111 from Texas' judge Oren Shellenberger, and 118–109 from South African official Stanley Christodoulou. Although the last scorecard 118–109 created controversy, the majority of sport analysts had Álvarez winning by at least two points. CompuBox stats showed that Trout was the busier fighter, landing 154 of 769 punches thrown (20%) and Álvarez was the more accurate puncher, landing 124 of his 431 thrown (29%). Immediately after the bout, Trout stated that he hadn't underestimated Álvarez but that he trained to fight a completely different fighter.


title: Canelo Álvarez

text: Álvarez, "Ring" magazine's #1 ranked light middleweight and the unified WBA (Regular) and WBC champion, fought against "Ring" magazine's #1 pound-for-pound fighter, WBA (Super) light middleweight champion, WBC and "Ring" magazine welterweight champion, Floyd Mayweather Jr., on 14 September 2013. Mayweather held a world title at welterweight (147 lbs), but he also still owned a light middleweight title (154 lbs), which he won by outpointing Miguel Cotto in May 2012. He was moving back up in weight to face Álvarez with their belts on the line, although the fight was contested at a catchweight of 152 lbs. The titles disputed for the bout were Álvarez's WBC and "Ring" light middleweight titles and Mayweather's WBA (Super) light middleweight title. On fight night, Mayweather reportedly weighed 150 lbs and Álvarez came in at 165 lbs.


title: Canelo Álvarez

text: In front of a sold-out crowd of 16,746 at the MGM Garden, Mayweather defeated Álvarez via majority decision. Judge C. J. Ross scored the fight 114–114, a draw. Judge Dave Moretti had it 116–112 and Craig Metcalfe scored it 117–111. Judge Ross retired after this fight. Speaking of the controversial scorecard, Mayweather said, "I can't control what the judges do." CompuBox stats showed Mayweather's dominance in the fight. He landed 232 of 505 punches (46%) while Álvarez connected on 117 of 526 thrown (22%). Mayweather earned a guaranteed $41.5 million to Álvarez's $5 million.


title: Canelo Álvarez

text: On 9 January 2014, Golden Boy chief executive Richard Schaefer confirmed a deal had been made for a fight between Álvarez and 31 year old Mexican boxer Alfredo Angulo (22–3, 18 KOs) to take place on 8 March 2014, on Showtime PPV at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. In March, ESPN reported the fight would take place at a catchweight of 155 lbs, due to Álvarez not being able to make the light middleweight limit of 154 lbs. For the PPV fight, Álvarez agreed to pay $100,000 of his minimum $1.25 million purse to Angulo, which would raise his purse $850,000. Also in the negotiations, Álvarez agreed to weigh no more than 168 lbs on fight night. This was Álvarez's first of five fights which took place at the 155-pound catchweight. On fight night, Álvarez weighed 174 lbs on Showtime's scale and Angulo weighed 170 lbs. In front of 14,610 at the MGM, Álvarez came out strong, throwing combinations. In a fairly lopsided beating, Álvarez scored a tenth-round stoppage over Angulo punctuated by a lead left uppercut. The end of the fight began in round six, when Angulo's left eye started swelling. When the referee waived the fight off, the crowd was displeased and booed. At the time of stoppage, two judges had it 89–82 and the third judge had it 88–83, all in favor of Álvarez.


title: Canelo Álvarez

text: Angulo stated post-fight how he was unhappy with the stoppage, "I told Tony he did the wrong job tonight. The referee tells us to take care of ourselves at all times. I can take care of myself. My plan was to work harder in the final four or three rounds. I had good preparation for this fight." His trainer Virgil Hunter was also unhappy with referee Tony Weeks, "I'm very upset. I told the referee and the doctor that if Canelo put two or three shots together that I would stop the fight. He landed one punch. Everyone knows Alfredo was coming on strong, everyone knows that."