title: FC Girondins de Bordeaux

text: Bordeaux was founded on 1 October 1881 as a multi-sports club and is one of the most successful football clubs in France. The club has won six Division 1/Ligue 1 titles, the last in 2009. Bordeaux have also won four Coupe de France titles, three Coupe de la Ligue titles, and three Trophée des champions titles as well. Bordeaux also reached the UEFA Cup final in 1996. From a year to its inception, the club's stadium was the Stade Chaban-Delmas, though since 2015, Bordeaux's home ground has been the Matmut Atlantique.


title: FC Girondins de Bordeaux

text: The club took its name "Girondins" from the demonym for people from the region, and was founded on 1 October 1881 as a gymnastics and shooting club. The club, chaired by André Chavois, later added sports such as rowing, equestrian, and swimming, among others. It was not until 1910 when football was officially introduced to the club following strong urging from several members within the club, most notably club president Raymond Brard, though it was only available on a trial basis. The experiment with football lasted only a year before returning almost a decade later in 1919. The club contested its first official match in 1920 defeating Section Burdigalienne 12–0.


title: FC Girondins de Bordeaux

text: Bordeaux achieved professional status in football on 2 July 1936, partly due to the club's merger with fellow "Bordelais" outfit Girondins Guyenne Sport, which resulted in the club that exists today. Bordeaux's rise to professionalism came about alongside the French Football Federation's plea to increase professionalism in French football, which prior to 1932, had been non-existent. The club was inserted into the second division of French football and made its debut appearance during the 1937–38 season. The club's first manager was Spaniard Benito Díaz. Diaz brought fellow Spanish players Santiago Urtizberea and Jaime Mancisidor to the team with the latter serving as captain. The club's most prominent Frenchmen on the team were homegrown attacker Henri Arnaudeau and goalkeeper André Gérard. Bordeaux played its first official match on 23 May 1937 defeating Rhône-Alpes-based FC Scionzier 2–1 at the Stade de Colombes. The club's first ever league match was contested on 22 August losing away to Toulouse 3–2. Bordeaux recorded its first league win against Nîmes. Unfortunately for the club, the team finished 6th in the Southern region of the division. Bordeaux's disappointing finish inserted the club into the relegation playoff portion of the league where the team finished a respectable 3rd. A year later, Bordeaux moved into a new home, the Stade Chaban-Delmas, which had previously been known as, simply Parc Lescure. The facility was built specifically for the 1938 FIFA World Cup and, following the competition's completion, was designated to Bordeaux. The club had formerly played its home matches at the Stade Galin, which today is used as a training ground.


title: FC Girondins de Bordeaux

text: On 15 October 1940, Bordeaux merged with local club AS Port and took on one of the club's most prestigious traditions, the scapular. Bordeaux ASP, which the club was now known, adorned the scapular during its run to the 1941 edition of the Coupe de France final. The match, played in occupied France at the Stade Municipal in Saint-Ouen, saw Bordeaux defeat SC Fives 2–0 with Urtizberea netting both goals. The Coupe de France triumph was the club's first major honour. Following the liberation of France, Bordeaux returned to league play and earned promotion to the first division following its 2nd-place finish during the 1948–49 season. After the season, André Gérard, now manager of the club, signed Dutchman Bertus de Harder. Led by the three-headed monster of De Harder, Édouard Kargu, and Camille Libar, Bordeaux captured its first-ever league championship, in just the club's first season in the first division, winning by six points over second place Lille. The league success led to Bordeaux being selected to participate in the second edition of the Latin Cup. In the competition, Bordeaux reached the final drawing 3–3 with Portuguese outfit Benfica. The draw forced a second match with Benfica claiming victory following an extra time goal after over two hours and 25 minutes of play.


title: FC Girondins de Bordeaux

text: Bordeaux maintained its title-winning aspirations finishing runners-up to Nice two seasons after winning its first title. The club also performed well in cup competitions reaching the Coupe de France final in 1952 and 1955. In 1952, Bordeaux suffered defeat to the team it finished runner-up to the same year, Nice, following a thrilling match in which eight goals were scored with five of them coming in the first 40 minutes. Bordeaux drew the match at 3–3 following a 55th-minute goal from Henri Baillot, but Nice countered minutes later with two goals in a span of four minutes to go up 5–3, which was the final result. In 1955, Bordeaux were trounced 5–2 by Lille who went up 4–0 within 35 minutes. The resulting struggles in the cup competitions led to struggles domestically with the club suffering relegation in the 1955–56 season. The club returned to the first division for the 1959–60 season, but failed to make an impact falling back to Division 2 after finishing last in the standings with 21 points.


title: FC Girondins de Bordeaux

text: Bordeaux returned to its former selves in the 1960s under new manager and former player Salvador Artigas. Under the helm of Artigas, Bordeaux returned to the first division and finished in a respectable fourth place for the 1962–63 season. The following season, Bordeaux returned to the Coupe de France final where the club faced off against Lyon. Bordeaux, once again, were defeated 2–0 courtesy of two goals from the Argentine Nestor Combin. The club's runner-up finish resulted in the team qualifying for the 1964–65 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. The appearance was brief with the club losing 4–3 on aggregate to German club Borussia Dortmund. Four seasons later, Bordeaux again reached the final of the Coupe de France, the club's seventh appearance overall. The team faced Saint-Étienne and, again failed to match the achievement reached in 1941 losing 2–1. The following season, Bordeaux earned another appearance in the final, but again, failed to win the trophy losing 2–0 to Marseille. The team suffered an extreme decline during the 1970s, despite the arrival of Alain Giresse. The club played under seven different managers during the decade and consistently finished at the bottom half of the table. In 1979, the club was sold to the influential and ambitious real estate mogul Claude Bez, who positioned himself as president of the club. In the summer of 1983, Girondins de Bordeaux organised a centenary tournament; Bordeaux won a 2–0 victory over Barcelona in the semi-finals of this tournament, and in the final, the club was defeated by VfB Stuttgart.


title: FC Girondins de Bordeaux

text: Under the helm of Claude Bez, who injected millions into the club, Bordeaux flourished winning three league championships, two Coupe de France titles, and also performed well in European competitions. During Bez's run presiding over the team, he recruited several French internationals such as Bernard Lacombe, Jean Tigana, René Girard, Jean-Christophe Thouvenel, and Thierry Tusseau. Bez also brought in established manager Aimé Jacquet. Led by 1970s mainstays Giresse and Gernot Rohr, Bordeaux captured its first league championship since 1950 in the 1983–84 season finishing equal on points with Monaco, however, due to having a better head-to-head record, Bordeaux were declared champions. The next season, Bordeaux again won the league claiming the title by four points over second place Nantes. In Europe, Bordeaux played in the 1984–85 European Cup and reached the semi-finals, defeating Spanish club Athletic Bilbao, Romanian club Dinamo București, and Soviet outfit Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk before losing to Italian club Juventus. In the Coupe de France, Bordeaux finally achieved cup glory defeating Marseille 2–1 in the 1986 edition of the final with Tigana and Giresse recording both goals. The Coupe de France trophy was the club's first since 1941 after eight agonising attempts in finals. The following year the club responded by winning the trophy again; in a re-match with Marseille, Bordeaux won its second consecutive cup courtesy of goals from Philippe Fargeon and Zlatko Vujović. Bordeaux then capped off the 1986–87 Division 1 season by winning its fourth league title and achieving the double as well.


title: FC Girondins de Bordeaux

text: In 1989, Bordeaux ended the decade with a consecutive runners-up medal in their 1989 Ligue 1 campaign and getting up towards the semi-final in a strong European Cup run that season.


title: FC Girondins de Bordeaux

text: Due to administrative problems, the club was relegated just two years thereafter. In 1992, however, "Les Girondins" won that year's Division 2 title, thus being elevated to the top tier of French football. In the emergence of young and exciting players such as playmaker Zinedine Zidane, striker Christophe Dugarry and left back Bixente Lizarazu, the club ascended even higher to win the UEFA Intertoto Cup in 1995. With this talented trio, the club defeated FC Rotor Volgograd (the 1995 King's Cup Winner), Real Betis, Milan and Slavia Prague in the second, third, quarter- and semi-finals respectively to reach the UEFA Cup final of 1996. Bordeaux witnessed even further glory only three years later, winning their fifth title in that of the 1999 Ligue 1 with winger Sylvain Wiltord winning the Golden Boot of that season with 22 goals.


title: FC Girondins de Bordeaux

text: During the 1999–2000 season, the club played in the new UEFA Champions League for the first time. In two seasons time Bordeaux won another piece of silverware, beating Lorient 3–0 in the 2002 Coupe de la Ligue final. "Le club au scapulaire" then two seasons later defeated Club Brugge 4–1 on aggregate in the fourth round to reach the 2004 UEFA Cup quarter-finals, where the club fell to eventual winners Valencia. Bordeaux got to another final in 2007 where there were eventually victorious in winning the Coupe de la Ligue of that year. Bordeaux then achieved further honours in winning the Ligue 1 and Coupe de la Ligue titles of the 2008–09 French footballing season thus achieving the first ever double in the club's history. In 2013, Bordeaux won the Coupe de France defeating Evian 3–2 in the final. In the 2013–14 Ligue 1 season, Bordeaux finished 7th in the table. In 2015, Bordeaux appointed Willy Sagnol but in 2016 Sagnol was terminated after only winning one match in the first eight games of the season and was replaced by Ulrich Rame. On 27 May 2016, Rame was replaced by Jocelyn Gourvennec. On 20 January 2018, Gourvennec was terminated and was replaced by Gus Poyet. Poyet guided Bordeaux to a 6th-placed finish at the end of the season.


title: FC Girondins de Bordeaux

text: In July 2018, General American Capital Partners's CEO Joseph DaGrosa pursued the purchase of the French professional football team for €70 million after 19 years of M6's ownership.


title: FC Girondins de Bordeaux

text: On 18 August 2018, Poyet was suspended by Bordeaux after labelling the situation as "embarrassing" when Gaëtan Laborde was sold to Montpellier without his knowledge or consent. On 5 September 2018, Ricardo Gomes was appointed as "General Manager" — he did not possess the necessary coaching badges to be officially appointed the first-team coach.


title: FC Girondins de Bordeaux

text: On 23 April 2021, citing decreased revenue due to the COVID-19 pandemic and loss of income when Mediapro, TV rights holder, went bankrupt and missed payments last year, the club was placed in administration when American owners King Street stated they would no longer support the club financially. On 22 June 2021, Bordeaux announced that Gérard López acquired the club. In the 2021–22 Ligue 1, Bordeaux finished last in the league table and were relegated to the Ligue 2, for the first time since the 1990–91 season, when they were administratively relegated due to financial difficulties. On 14 June 2022, the DNCG administratively relegated Bordeaux to the Championnat National due to financial issues. The club confirmed it will appeal the decision, citing it as 'brutal'. On 27 July 2022, Bordeaux won its appeal and was officially maintained in Ligue 2 for the 2022–23 season.


title: FC Girondins de Bordeaux

text: Bordeaux have two main rivalries, firstly the Derby de la Garonne with Toulouse FC, so named because Bordeaux and Toulouse are the two major clubs that play in cities in south-western France, both of which are on the river Garonne. The consistency and competitiveness of the rivalry developed following Toulouse's return to Ligue 1 after being administratively relegated to the Championnat National in 2001. Les Girondins also contest the with their other main rival FC Nantes, with the name stemming from the two cities' proximity to the Atlantic Ocean. The history of this rivalry also transcends to over 50 years and 90 derby games played between the two clubs altogether. Bordeaux also held a 44-year-old record against another big rival, Marseille. From October 1977 to January 2022, Marseille did not win away at Bordeaux's home ground.


title: FC Girondins de Bordeaux

text: Since July 2020, the equipment manufacturer of the Girondins de Bordeaux is Adidas. The club's main sponsors are the restaurant chain Bistro Régent, the online betting company Betclic and the car dealership SEAT Cupra.


title: FC Girondins de Bordeaux

text: Other sponsors are UNMI, Abatilles, Carlsberg, Mumm, Coca-Cola, La Bordelaise de Lunetterie, TBM, Bordeaux City Council, Gironde General Council, New Aquitaine Region.


title: FC Girondins de Bordeaux

text: In its history, Bordeaux have had 45 coaches. The first was the Spaniard Benito Díaz. Díaz was the first Bordeaux coach to achieve an honour when, in 1941, the club won the Coupe de France. The first Bordeaux coach to win the league was André Gérard. Gérard led the team to the league crown in 1950. He also has the honour of being the club's longest-serving coach having spent a decade with the club from 1947 to 1957. Gérard is followed by Aimé Jacquet who spent nine seasons with the club in the 1980s. Under Jacquet, Bordeaux won three league titles and two Coupe de France titles.


title: FC Girondins de Bordeaux

text: FC Girondins de Bordeaux first competitive European match was in the 1968–69 European Cup Winners' Cup, beating 1. FC Köln 2–1 before ultimately losing 2–4 on aggregate. Since then, the club has participated in 30 UEFA competitions, its peak being the co-champions of the 1995 UEFA Intertoto Cup and the final game of the 1995–96 UEFA Cup.


title: FC Girondins de Bordeaux

text: From 14 August 2008 to 30 October 2018, the M6 Group carried a network about the club's activity known as Girondins TV. It carried pre-recorded matches during the season, reserve team games, training session rundowns, and a daily talk show.


title: Therizinosaurus

text: Therizinosaurus (; meaning 'scythe lizard') is a genus of very large therizinosaurid that lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous period in what is now the Nemegt Formation around 70 million years ago. It contains a single species, Therizinosaurus cheloniformis. The first remains of "Therizinosaurus" were found in 1948 by a Mongolian field expedition at the Gobi Desert and later described by Evgeny Maleev in 1954. The genus is only known from a few bones, including gigantic manual unguals (claw bones), from which it gets its name, and additional findings comprising fore and hindlimb elements that have been discovered during the 1960s–1980s.


title: Therizinosaurus

text: "Therizinosaurus" was a colossal therizinosaurid that could grow up to long and tall, and weigh possibly over . Like other therizinosaurids, it would have been a slow-moving, long-necked, high browser equipped with a rhamphotheca (horny beak) and a wide torso for food processing. Its forelimbs were particularly robust and had three fingers that bore unguals which, unlike other relatives, were very stiffened, elongated, and only had significant curvatures at the tips. "Therizinosaurus" had the longest known manual unguals of any land animal, reaching above in length. Its hindlimbs ended in four functionally weight-bearing toes differing from other theropod groups in which the first toe was reduced to a dewclaw and also resembling the unrelated sauropodomorphs.


title: Therizinosaurus

text: It was one of the last and the largest representative of its unique group, the Therizinosauria (formerly known as Segnosauria; the segnosaurs). During and after its original description in 1954, "Therizinosaurus" had rather complex relationships due to the lack of complete specimens and relatives at the time. Maleev thought the remains of "Therizinosaurus" to belong to a large turtle-like reptile, and also named a separate family for the genus: Therizinosauridae. Later on, with the discovery of more complete relatives, "Therizinosaurus" and kin were thought to represent some kind of Late Cretaceous sauropodomorphs or transitional ornithischians, even though at some point it was suggested that it may have been a theropod. After years of taxonomic debate, nevertheless, they are now placed in one of the major dinosaur clades, Theropoda, specifically as maniraptorans. "Therizinosaurus" is widely recovered within Therizinosauridae by most analyses.


title: Therizinosaurus

text: The unusual arms and body anatomy (extrapolated after relatives) of "Therizinosaurus" have been cited as an example of convergent evolution with chalicotheriines and other primarily herbivorous mammals, suggesting similar feeding habits. The elongated hand claws of "Therizinosaurus" were more useful when pulling vegetation within reach rather than being used for active attack or defense because of their fragility, however, they may have had some role for intimidation. Its arms also were particularly resistant to stress, which suggests a robust use of these limbs. "Therizinosaurus" was a very tall animal, likely having a reduced competition over the foliage in its habitat and outmatching predators like "Tarbosaurus".


title: Therizinosaurus

text: In 1948, several Mongolian Paleontological expeditions organized by the USSR Academy of Sciences were conducted in the Nemegt Formation of the Gobi Desert, Southwestern Mongolia, with the main objective of new fossils findings. The expeditions unearthed numerous dinosaur and turtle fossil remains from the stratotype locality Nemegt (also known as Nemegt Valley), but the most notable elements collected were three partial manual unguals (claw bones) of considerable size. This set of unguals was found on a subdivision of the Nemegt locality designated as Quarry V near the skeleton of a large theropod, but also in association with other elements including a metacarpal fragment and several ribs fragments. It was labelled under the specimen number PIN 551-483 and later on, these fossils were described by the Russian paleontologist Evgeny Maleev in 1954 who used them to scientifically name the new genus and type species "Therizinosaurus cheloniformis", becoming the holotype specimen. The generic name, "Therizinosaurus", is derived from the Greek (, meaning scythe, reap or cut) and (, meaning lizard) in reference to the enormous manual unguals, and the specific name, "cheloniformis", is taken from the Greek (, meaning turtle) and Latin formis as the remains were thought to belong to a turtle-like reptile. Maleev also coined a separate family for this new and enigmatic taxon: Therizinosauridae. Since little was known of "Therizinosaurus" at the time of the original description, Maleev thought PIN 551-483 belonged to a large, long turtle-like reptile that relied on its giant hand claws to harvest seaweed.


title: Therizinosaurus

text: Though it was not fully understood to what general kind of animal these fossils belonged, in 1970, the Russian paleontologist Anatoly K. Rozhdestvensky was one of the first authors to suggest that "Therizinosaurus" was a theropod and not a turtle. He made comparisons between "Chilantaisaurus" and the holotype unguals of "Therizinosaurus" to propose that the appendages actually came from a carnosaurian dinosaur, thereby interpreting "Therizinosaurus" as a theropod. Rozhdestvensky also illustrated the three holotypic manual unguals and re-identified the metacarpal fragment as a metatarsal bone, and based on the unusual shape of both metatarsal and ribs fragments he listed them as sauropod remains. These theropodan affinities were also followed by the Polish paleontologist Halszka Osmólska and co-author Ewa Roniewicz in 1970 during their naming and description of "Deinocheirus"—another large and enigmatic theropod from the formation that was initially known from partial arms. Similar to Rozhdestvensky, they suggested that the holotype unguals were more likely to have belonged to a carnosaurian theropod, rather than a large marine turtle.


title: Therizinosaurus

text: Further expeditions in the Nemegt Formation unearthed more fossils of "Therizinosaurus". In 1968 prior to Rozhdestvensky, Osmólska and Roniewicz statements, the upper portion of a manual ungual was found in the Altan Uul locality and labeled as MPC-D 100/17 (formerly IGM or GIN). In 1972, another fragmented ungual (specimen MPC-D 100/16) was discovered at the Upper White Beds of the Hermiin Tsav locality, only preserving its lower portion. During the year 1973, a much more complete, larger, and articulated specimen was collected also from Hermiin Tsav. This specimen was labelled as MPC-D 100/15 and consists of both left and right arms including the scapulocoracoids, both humeri (upper arm bones), right ulna with radius and left ulna, two right carpals, the right metacarpus including a complete digit Il, and some ribs with gastralia (belly ribs). As common with fossils, some elements were not entirely preserved such as the scapulocoracoids with broken ends, and the left arm is less complete than the right one. All of these specimens were first described and referred to "Therizinosaurus" by the Mongolian paleontologist Rinchen Barsbold in 1976. In this new monograph, he pointed out that the rib fragments in MPC-D 100/15 were more slender than the ones from the holotype, and identified MPC-D 100/16 and 100/17 as pertaining to digits I and III, respectively. It was clear to Barsbold that MPC-D 100/15 represented "Therizinosaurus" as the ungual in this specimen shared the elongation and flattened morphology of all previous specimens. He concluded that "Therizinosaurus" was a theropod taxon since MPC-D 100/15 matched multiple theropodan characters.


title: Therizinosaurus

text: Also during the year 1973, the specimen MPC-D 100/45 was discovered by the Joint Soviet-Mongolian Paleontological Expedition at the Hermiin Tsav locality. Unlike the previous findings, MPC-D 100/45 is represented by a right hindlimb composed of a very fragmented femur with the lower end of the tibia, astragalus, calcaneum, tarsal IV, a functional tetradacyl feet (four-toed) compromising four partial metatarsals, partially preserved digits I and III, and nearly complete digits II and IV. These newer remains were described by the also Mongolian paleontologist Altangerel Perle in 1982. He regarded the referral of "Therizinosaurus" and Therizinosauridae to Chelonia (turtles order) to be unlikely, and hypothesized "Therizinosaurus" and "Segnosaurus"—at the time of this description regarded as a theropod dinosaur—to be particularly similar based on their respective scapulocoracoid morphology, only differing in size. Perle referred MPC-D 100/45 to "Therizinosaurus" given that this specimen was found near the location of MPC-D 100/15 and was virtually similar to the described pes for "Segnosaurus". In 1990, Barsbold and Teresa Maryanska agreed with Perle in that the hindlimb material from Hermiin Tsav he described in 1982 was therizinosaurian (then called segnosaurians) given that the metatarsus was stocky and the astragalus had a laterally arched ascending process (bony extension), but cast doubt with his referral of it to "Therizinosaurus" and the segnosaurian identity for this taxon since it was only known from the pectoral girdle and other forelimb elements, making direct comparisons between specimens impossible. They considered this specimen to represent a Late Cretaceous representative of the Segnosauria, but not "Therizinosaurus".


title: Therizinosaurus

text: In 2010 however, the North American paleontologist Lindsay E. Zanno in her large taxonomic reevaluation of Therizinosauria considered the referral of MPC-D 100/45 to "Therizinosaurus" to be likely based on the rationale that it was collected in the same stratigraphic context (Nemegt Formation) as the holotype, and shared the robust and four-toed morphology of other therizinosaurids such as "Segnosaurus". She also excluded the rib material from the holotype as it was re-identified by Rozhdestvensky to likely have come from a sauropod dinosaur, and not "Therizinosaurus" itself.


title: Therizinosaurus

text: For maniraptoran standards, "Therizinosaurus" obtained enormous sizes, estimated to have reached in length with estimated heights from and ponderous weights from to possibly over . These dimensions make "Therizinosaurus" the largest therizinosaur known and the largest known maniraptoran. Along with the contemporaneous ornithomimosaur "Deinocheirus", it was the largest maniraptoriform. Though the body remains of "Therizinosaurus" are relatively incomplete, inferences can be made about its physical characteristics based on more complete and related therizinosaurids. Like other members of its family, "Therizinosaurus" had a proportionally small skull bearing a rhamphotheca (horny beak) atop its long neck; bipedal gaits; a large belly for foliage processing; and sparse feathering. Other traits that were likely present in "Therizinosaurus" include a heavily pneumatized (air-filled) vertebral column and a robustly-built, (backwards oriented) .


title: Therizinosaurus

text: In 2010, Senter and James used hindlimb length equations to predict the total length of the hindlimbs in "Therizinosaurus" and "Deinocheirus". They concluded that an average "Therizinosaurus" may have had approximately long legs. More recently, Mike Taylor and Matt Wedel suggested that the whole neck would be 2.9 times the size of the humerus, which was , resulting in a long neck based on comparisons with the series of "Nanshiungosaurus". The most distinctive feature of "Therizinosaurus" was the presence of gigantic unguals on each of the three digits of its hands. These were common among therizinosaurs but particularly large and stiffened in "Therizinosaurus", and they are considered as the longest known from any terrestrial animal.


title: Therizinosaurus

text: The arm of "Therizinosaurus" covered in total length (humerus, radius and second metacarpal with phalanges lengths). The measured long with a stocky and flattened dorsal blade, wide acromial process (bony extension) and a very widened ventral surface. Near the anterior edge of the scapular widening and near the suture (bone joint), a foramen was located; it likely functioned as a channel for blood vessels and nerves when alive. The posterior edge of the scapula was robust and the was lightly built, likely fused into a cartilaginous system with its periphery in life. The measured in length, it had a broad and convex lateral surface that formed a slightly inclined concavity near of the scapulocoracoid suture. This concavity bent down towards the scapular widening. Near the scapulocoracoid suture, this edge turned very thin and possibly into cartilage along with the periphery of the coracoid in life, as the case of the scapular edge. A large foramen was also present on the coracoid. The was broad and deep, slightly pointing to the outer lateral side. It had robust and convex crest-like borders. The supraglenoid thickness was developed in a convex crest-shaped form, it was divided across the top of the scapulocoracoid suture. The attachment for the biceps muscle was prominently developed by a large tubercle with a stocky top, indicating powerful muscles in life.


title: Therizinosaurus

text: The was robustly built, measuring long. It had a broad upper end. The (deltoid muscle attachment) was particularly long and thick, with its top located approximately 1/3 from the upper end. The length of the crest was no less than 2/3 the length of the whole bone element. The lower end of the humerus was very expanded and flared. The condyles were developed onto the anterior side of the lower expansion while the epicondyles were very broad and projected over the limits of the articular areas. The measured and most of its length was occupied by its straight shaft. The ulnar process was very wide. The upper articular area was divided into inner and outer lateral sides. The lateral side had a triangular-shaped border and was slightly concave; it was limited in a top view by the depression for the upper articulation of the radius. The inner side formed a semilunar-shaped depression that covered the lunar-shaped condyle of the humerus. The was long and slightly S-curved. Its upper end was flattened in a lateral direction, very wide, and the distal end was highly robust.


title: Therizinosaurus

text: The first lower measured tall and wide and had two articulation surfaces on its lowermost end. The upper surface of this carpal was divided by a broad depression that formed the articulation of the carpus. On its inner side, it had a triangular-shaped outline that attached to the upper surface of metacarpal I, occupying a little bit less than the lateral side, which articulates to metacarpal II. These areas were separated by an oblique bony projection. The second lower carpal was smaller than the first one, measuring tall and wide. Its lower surface was flattened and the articular surface of the carpus extended from the first carpal to the second carpal over the articulation of the two bones.


title: Therizinosaurus

text: The I was long and compared to the others it was more stockier. Its lateral side was broad, especially on the uppermost area; the inner border was thin and narrow. The upper articulation was configured into three parts. The lower articular surface was somewhat asymmetric and bent to the inner side from the left one, along with a wide and deep opening. The total length of this metacarpal was larger than 2/3 the length of metacarpal III, which may have been a unique trait of "Therizinosaurus". The metacarpal II measured in length and was the most elongated and robust metacarpal. It had an inclined, square-shaped, and flattened upper articulation. The articulation on the lower head had very symmetrical condyles, being divided by a broad, deep depression. The lateral connecting openings were poorly developed. The metacarpal III covered in length and had a very thin shaft compared to the other metacarpals. Its upper articulation was divided into three parts. The lower articular head was asymmetrical with deep and broad openings. As in metacarpal II, the lateral connecting openings were poorly developed.


title: Therizinosaurus

text: Only the second of the manus is known in "Therizinosaurus". It consisted of two and a large . The first and second phalanges were somewhat equal in shape and length ( and , respectively), and shared the robust and stocky structure. The upper articular facets were very symmetrical and had a crest—particularly taller in the first phalanx. The top border of this crest was very pointed and thick; it likely served as the site for attachment of the extensor tendons in life. The lower heads were nearly symmetrical, but the central depression was considerably wider and deeper in the first phalanx. The manual unguals of "Therizinosaurus" were especially enormous and long, estimated to have covered approximately in length. Unlike other therizinosaurs they were very straight, side to side flattened, and had sharp curvatures only at the tips, a unique feature of "Therizinosaurus". The lower tubercle, where the flexor tendons attached to the ungual, was thick and robust, indicating a large pad in life. The articulation surface that connected the preceding phalanx was slightly concave and divided into two by a central ridge.


title: Therizinosaurus

text: "Therizinosaurus" had a rather stocky and robust that was very wide on its lower end. The was robust and short (almost sauropodomorph-like), and composed of five . The first four were functional and terminated in weight-bearing digits, hence having a tetradactyl (four-toed) condition. The last or fifth metatarsal was highly reduced bone located at the lateral side of the metatarsus and had no functional significance. Unlike most other theropods groups, the first pedal digit was—though shorter than the others—functional and weight-bearing. The second and third were equally long while the fourth was smaller and somewhat thinner. The pedal unguals were side to side flattened and likely sharp. The morphology of the feet of "Therizinosaurus" and other therizinosaurids was unique, as the general theropod formula includes tridactyl (three-toed) feet in which the first toe was reduced to a dewclaw and held off the ground.


title: Therizinosaurus

text: Maleev originally classified "Therizinosaurus" as a giant marine turtle and the genus was assigned by him to a separate family, Therizinosauridae given how enigmatic the specimen was. The fossils remained with uncertainty among the scientific community; however, in 1970 Rozhdestvensky was one of the first paleontologists to suggest that "Therizinosaurus" was actually a theropod dinosaur instead of a turtle. He also suggested that the supposed ribs of the holotype were likely from a different dinosaur, possibly a sauropodomorph. In 1976 Barsbold concluded that "Therizinosaurus" was a theropod because MPC-D 100/15 matched numerous theropodan characters, and that Therizinosauridae and Deinocheiridae were probably synonyms. With the discovery and description of "Segnosaurus", in 1979 Perle named a new family of dinosaurs, the "Segnosauridae". He tentatively placed the family within Theropoda given the similarities of the mandible and dentition to other members. A year later, the new genus "Erlikosaurus" was named by Barsbold and Perle in 1980. They named a new infraorder called the Segnosauria, composed of "Erlikosaurus" and "Segnosaurus". They also noted that while aberrant and having ornithischian-like pelves, segnosaurs featured similar traits to other theropods. With the discovery of the referred hindlimb to "Therizinosaurus" in 1982 by Perle, he concluded that "Segnosaurus" was very similar to the latter based on the morphology and they possibly belonged to a single, if not the same, group. In 1983, Barsbold named a new genus of segnosaur, "Enigmosaurus". He analyzed the pelvis of the new genus and pointed out that segnosaurids were so different from other theropods that they could be outside the group or represent a different lineage of theropod dinosaurs. Later on the same year, he intensified the exclusion of segnosaurs from being theropods by noting that their pelves resembled those of sauropod dinosaurs.


title: Therizinosaurus

text: Consequently, the assignment of segnosaurs started to shift towards sauropodomorphs. In 1984, Gregory S. Paul claimed that segnosaurs, rather than being theropods, were indeed sauropodomorphs that successfully managed to remain in the Cretaceous period. He based the idea on anatomical traits such as the skull and similar configuration. He maintained his position in 1988 by placing the Segnosauria into the now obsolete Phytodinosauria, and was one of the first to suggest a segnosaur assignment for the enigmatic "Therizinosaurus". Other prominent paleontologists like Jacques Gauthier or Paul Sereno supported this vision. In 1990, Barsbold and Teresa Maryanska agreed in that the hindlimb material from Hermiin Tsav referred to "Therizinosaurus" in 1982 was segnosaurian since it matched several traits, but considered it unlikely to belong to the genus and species as there was no overlapping material among specimens. Barsbold and Maryanska also disagreed with previous researchers who classified "Deinocheirus" as a segnosaur. In the same year, David B. Norman considered "Therizinosaurus" to be a theropod of uncertain classification.


title: Therizinosaurus

text: However, with the unexpected discovery and description of "Alxasaurus" in 1993, the widely accepted sauropodomorph affinities of segnosaurs were questioned by paleontologists Dale Russell and Dong Zhiming. This new genus was far more complete than any other segnosaur and multiple anatomical features indicated that it was related to "Therizinosaurus". With this, they identified the Therizinosauridae along with the Segnosauridae to be the same group, the former name having taxonomic priority. Due to some primitive characters present in "Alxasaurus" they coined a new taxonomic rank, the Therizinosauroidea, containing the new taxon and Therizinosauridae. All of the new information provided data on the affinities of the new-named therizinosauroids. Russell and Dong concluded that they were theropods with unusual features. In 1994, Clark and colleagues redescribed the very complete skull of "Erlikosaurus" and even more theropod traits were found this time. They also validated the synonymy of the Segnosauridae with Therizinosauridae and considered therizinosauroids as maniraptoran dinosaurs. In 1997, Rusell coined the infraorder Therizinosauria in order to contain all segnosaurs. This new infraorder was composed of Therizinosauroidea and the more advanced Therizinosauridae. Consequently, Segnosauria became a synonym of Therizinosauria. Though some uncertainties remained, a small and feathered therizinosauroid from China was described in 1999 by Xu Xing and colleagues: the new genus "Beipiaosaurus". It confirmed the placement of therizinosaurs among theropods and also their taxonomic place on the Coelurosauria. The discovery also indicated that feathers were highly distributed among theropod dinosaurs.


title: Therizinosaurus

text: In 2010, Lindsay Zanno revised the taxonomy of therizinosaurs in extensive detail. She found that many parts on therizinosaur holotype and referred specimens were lost or damaged, and sparse specimens with no overlapping elements were disadvantages when concluding the relationships of the members. Zanno accepted the referral of the specimen IGM 100/45 to "Therizinosaurus" since it matches multiple therizinosaurid traits, but decided not to include the specimen in her taxonomic analysis due to the lack of comparative forelimb remains. She also excluded the supposed ribs that were present on the holotype since they likely came from a different animal and not "Therizinosaurus". In 2019, Hartman and colleagues also performed a large phylogenetic analysis of Therizinosauria based on the characters provided by Zanno in her revision. They found similar results to Zanno regarding the family Therizinosauridae but this time with the inclusion of more taxa and specimens. The cladogram below shows the placement of "Therizinosaurus" within Therizinosauria according to Hartman and colleagues in 2019:


title: Therizinosaurus

text: In 1993 Dale A. Russell and Donald E. Russell analyzed "Therizinosaurus" and "Chalicotherium," and noted similarities in their respective body plan, even though they form part of different groups. Both genera had large, well-developed, and relatively strong arms; the pelvic girdle was robust and suited for a sitting behavior; and the hindlimb (particularly the foot) structure was robust and shortened. They considered these adaptations to represent an example of convergent evolution—a condition where organisms evolve similar traits without necessarily being related—between extinct mammal and dinosaur genera. Moreover, the body plan is somewhat exhibited by the modern-day gorillas. Because the animals with this type of body plan are known to represent herbivores, the authors suggested this lifestyle for "Therizinosaurus". Russell and Russell reconstructed the feeding behavior of "Therizinosaurus" as being able to sit while consuming foliage from large shrubs and trees. The plant material would have been harvested with its hands and this action was likely favored by its elongated neck which prevented the use of large amounts of force and effort. As its arms were long enough to have touched the ground during certain stances, they could have helped the dinosaur to rise from a prone position. If browsing in a bipedal stance, "Therizinosaurus" may have been able to reach even higher vegetation supported by its short and robust feet. Whereas "Chalicotherium" was more suited to hook branches, "Therizinosaurus" was better at pushing large clumps of foliage because of its long claws. It is also possible that "Therizinosaurus" was less capable of great precision in its movements than was "Chalicotherium", due to the latter having more developed brain, dental and muscular capacities.


title: Therizinosaurus

text: Anthony R. Fiorillo and colleagues in 2018 suggested that "Therizinosaurus" had a reduced bite force that may have been useful for cropping vegetation or foraging, based on relative therizinosaurids such as "Erlikosaurus" and "Segnosaurus". As the bite force started to decrease from primitive to derived therizinosaurians, "Therizinosaurus", being a derived member, would have been subject to the evolutionary relationship.


title: Therizinosaurus

text: When the genus was first described by Maleev in 1954, he considered that the unusually large claws were used to harvest seaweed. This was however, based on the assumption of a giant marine turtle. In 1970, Rozhdestvensky re-examined the claws and suggested a possible function specialized in opening termite mounds or a frugivore diet. Barsbold in 1976 suggested that the unusual claws of "Therizinosaurus" may have been employed to impale or dig up loose terrain, however, he pointed out their notorious fragility upon impact. In 1995, Lev A. Nessov suggested the elongated claws were used for defense against predators and juveniles could have used their claws for arboreal locomotion, in a similar way to the modern-day sloths or hoatzin chicks.


title: Therizinosaurus

text: In 2014, Lautenschlager tested the function of various therizinosaur hand claws—including "Therizinosaurus"—through digital simulations. Three different functional scenarios were simulated for each claw morphology with a force of 400 N applied in each scenario: scratch/digging; hook-and-pull; and piercing. Though the stocky claws of "Alxasaurus" resulted in low-stress magnitudes, the stress was greater with the curvature and elongation of the claws in "Falcarius", "Nothronychus" and "Therizinosaurus". Some of the highest stress, deformation, and strain magnitudes were obtained in the scratch/digging scenario, the hook-and-pull scenario, in contrast, resulted in lower magnitudes, and lesser ones were found in the piercing scenario. Particularly, the overall stress was most pronounced in the unusual claws of "Therizinosaurus", which may represent an exceptional case of elongation specialization. Lautenschlager noted the more strongly curved and elongate claws of some therizinosaurian taxa were poorly functional in a scratch/digging fashion, indicating this as the most unlikely function. Though fossorial (digging) behavior has been reported in several dinosaur species, the large body size largely rules out the possibility of burrow digging in therizinosaurs. Nevertheless, an overall digging action would have been done with the foot claws because, since as in other maniraptorans, feathers on the arms would have interfered with this function. Instead of being used for fossorial behavior, it is more likely that "Therizinosaurus" make use of its hands in a hook-and-pull fashion to pull or grasp vegetation within reach. This herbivorous behavior would make therizinosaurs mostly similar to the extant anteaters and the extinct ground sloths. Lautenschlager could neither confirm nor disregard that the hand claws could have been used for defense, intraspecific competition, stabilization by grasping tree trunks during high browsing, sexual dimorphism, or gripping mates during mating given the lack of more specimens. He clarified that there is no evidence that the long claws of "Therizinosaurus" would have been used in active defense or attack, however, it is possible that these appendages could have had some role when facing a threat, such as intimidation.


title: Therizinosaurus

text: Scott A. Lee and Zachary Richards in 2018 based on bending resistance measurements of several dinosaur humeri, found the humeri of carnosaur, therizinosaur, and tyrannosaur dinosaurs to be relatively resilient to stress. This increased ability to withstand stress supports the idea that "Therizinosaurus" and other therizinosaurians used their arms in a robust fashion that generated significant forces. They also suggested that the prominent claws of some members could have been used as a defense against predators and other various functions. Unlike the generally light and agile ornithomimosaurs who avoided predation with speed, "Therizinosaurus" and relatives relied on arms and claws to face threats (and were generally slow-runners to begin with).


title: Therizinosaurus

text: The remains of "Therizinosaurus" have been found in the well-known Nemegt Formation of the Gobi Desert. Although this formation has never been dated radiometrically because of the discontinuity of exposures and absence of datable volcanic rock facies, the vertebrate fossil assemblage suggests an early Maastrichtian stage possibly between 70 million and 68 million years ago. The Nemegt Formation is separated into three informal members. The lower member is mainly composed by fluvial sediments, while middle and upper members consist of alluvial plain, paludal, lacustrine, and fluvial sedimentation.


title: Therizinosaurus

text: The environments that "Therizinosaurus" inhabited have been determined by the sedimentation across the formation, the δ13C level preserved on the tooth enamel of many herbivorous dinosaurs and the numerous petrified wood across the formation. They consisted of large meandering and braided rivers with extensive woodlands composed of large, enclosed, canopy-like forests of Araucarias that supported diverse herbivorous dinosaurs like "Therizinosaurus". The climate of the formation was relatively temperate (mean annual temperatures between 7.6 and 8.7 °C), characterized by monsoons with cold, dry winters and hot, rainy summers with the addition of mean annual precipitations between 775 mmm and 835 mmm, a precipitation that was subject to prominent seasonal fluctuations. The wet environments of the Nemegt Formation may have acted as an oasis-like area that attracted oviraptorids from arid neighbour localities such as the Barun Goyot Formation, as evidenced on the presence of "Nemegtomaia" in both regions. It has been previously suggested that the Nemegt Formation may have been similar to the modern-day Okavango Delta, which is also composed of mesic (well-watered) surroundings.


title: Therizinosaurus

text: The paleofauna of the Nemegt Formation was diverse and rich, composed of other dinosaurs such as the alvarezsaurs "Mononykus" and "Nemegtonykus"; deinonychosaurs "Adasaurus" and "Zanabazar"; ornithomimosaurs "Anserimimus" and "Gallimimus"; oviraptorosaurs "Avimimus", "Rinchenia" and "Elmisaurus"; tyrannosaurids "Alioramus" and possibly "Bagaraatan"; ankylosaurids "Saichania" and "Tarchia"; and pachycephalosaurids "Homalocephale" and "Prenocephale". The Nemegt megafauna included the ornithomimosaur "Deinocheirus"; hadrosaurids "Barsboldia" and "Saurolophus"; titanosaurs "Nemegtosaurus" and "Opisthocoelicaudia"; and the apex predator "Tarbosaurus". Additional paleofauna includes birds like "Judinornis" or "Teviornis"; abundant freshwater ostracods at numerous localities; fish; terrestrial and aquatic turtles such as "Mongolochelys" and "Nemegtemys"; and the crocodylomorph "Paralligator".


title: Therizinosaurus

text: As the sediments in which "Therizinosaurus" remains have been found are fluvial-based, it is suggested that it may have preferred to forage on riparian areas. "Therizinosaurus" due to its prominent height and high-browsing lifestyle, was one of the tallest dinosaurs in the Nemegt Formation paleofauna. It probably had no significant competition with other herbivores over the foliage, however, a niche partitioning with the titanosaurs—also long-necked dinosaurs—of the formation could have occurred. If "Therizinosaurus" was a grazer, on the other hand, it would have competed with contemporary grazers such as "Saurolophus". Although small predators like dromaeosaurids and troodontids did not represent a threat to "Therizinosaurus", the only other predator rivaling in size was "Tarbosaurus". Because of the greater height of "Therizinosaurus", a large "Tarbosaurus" may have been not able to bite any higher than the thighs or belly of an adult standing "Therizinosaurus". The elongated claws may have been useful for self-defense or to intimidate the predator during this situation. It is also possible that "Therizinosaurus" competed for other various resources with "Deinocheirus", "Saurolophus", "Nemegtosaurus" and "Opisthocoelicaudia".


title: Varalaxmi Sarathkumar

text: Varalaxmi Sarathkumar (born 5 March 1985) is an Indian actress who appears in Tamil and Telugu films, in addition to Kannada and Malayalam films. She made her debut with the Tamil film "Podaa Podi" (2012).


title: Varalaxmi Sarathkumar

text: Varalaxmi was born to actor Sarathkumar and Chaya on 5 March 1985. Her stepmother is actress Raadhika.


title: Varalaxmi Sarathkumar

text: Varalaxmi did her schooling at St. Michael's Academy, Chennai. She is a graduate in Microbiology from Hindustan Arts and Science college, Chennai with a Masters in Business Management from the University of Edinburgh. She honed her acting skills at Anupam Kher’s Acting School in Mumbai, before becoming a professional actress.


title: Varalaxmi Sarathkumar

text: Varalaxmi auditioned for Shankar's "Boys" (2003) and was selected to play the lead role, before her father requested her to turn down the opportunity. Likewise, she also missed out on opportunities to act in Balaji Sakthivel's "Kaadhal" (2004) and Venkat Prabhu's "Saroja" (2008).


title: Varalaxmi Sarathkumar

text: Varalaxmi signed on to star in Vignesh Shivan's romantic drama film "Podaa Podi" (2012) during June 2008, citing that the opportunity to portray a London-based dancer had excited her. The film went through a protracted development, taking four years to make, before being released in October 2012. Co-starring Silambarasan, Varalaxmi won critical acclaim for her performance. Rediff.com noted she was the "scene stealer" and added "she comes across as a genuine, warm person, able and willing to accept those around her for themselves, and rattles off her dialogues with such spontaneity and charm that she wins you over right away". Likewise, a critic from Sify.com wrote she "is the big surprise here as she makes a promising debut and brings alive her character with not just those smart lines, but with the kind of confidence and candour". The film also performed moderately at the box office, and performed particularly well in the multiplexes. Soon after the film's release, Varalaxmi worked on Sundar C's masala film "Madha Gaja Raja", alongside Vishal, but the film remains unreleased owing to financial troubles.


title: Varalaxmi Sarathkumar

text: Her second release was the Kannada film "Maanikya" (2014), alongside actor Sudeep, and the film went on to become amongst the most profitable Kannada films of the year. In 2014, she began filming for Bala's "Tharai Thappattai" (2016), where she had to lose ten kilograms to portray a karakattam dancer.


title: Varalaxmi Sarathkumar

text: In 2016, she announced on Twitter that she has been cast alongside Mammootty in the Malayalam film "Kasaba". In her tweet, the actress said that the big opportunity to work alongside Mammootty came to her apparently due to her performance in the Tamil film "Tharai Thappattai". Varalaxmi was also committed to starring in "Aakasha Mittaayee", the Malayalam remake of the Tamil film "Appa" but left, citing the behaviour of its producers who she called "mannerless". In 2017, Varalaxmi appears successively with, "Vikram Vedha", "Nibunan", "Vismaya", "Sathya", "Kaattu" and "Masterpiece". Varalaxmi turned as Host for a TV show titled "Unnai Arindhaal" (2018) which will be aired on every Sunday in Jaya TV. She played antagonist role in "Sandakozhi 2" (2018) and "Sarkar" (2018). She worked on her first Telugu film, "Tenali Ramakrishna BA. BL" (2019). She has played an investigative thriller "Danny" (2020) in which Varalaxmi Sarathkumar tries out the role of a cop. The makers have chosen to bestow the title "Makkal Selvi" on Varalaxmi in the title credits and all the promotional materials of the film.


title: Charles XII of Sweden

text: Charles XII, sometimes Carl XII () or Carolus Rex (17 June 1682 – 30 November 1718 O.S.), was King of Sweden (including current Finland) from 1697 to 1718. He belonged to the House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken, a branch line of the House of Wittelsbach. Charles was the only surviving son of Charles XI and Ulrika Eleonora the Elder. He assumed power, after a seven-month caretaker government, at the age of fifteen.


title: Charles XII of Sweden

text: In 1700, a triple alliance of Denmark–Norway, Saxony–Poland–Lithuania and Russia launched a threefold attack on the Swedish protectorate of Holstein-Gottorp and provinces of Livonia and Ingria, aiming to draw advantage as the Swedish Empire was unaligned and ruled by a young and inexperienced king, thus initiating the Great Northern War. Leading the Swedish army against the alliance, Charles won multiple victories despite being usually significantly outnumbered. A major victory over a Russian army some three times the size in 1700, at the Battle of Narva, compelled Peter the Great to sue for peace, an offer that Charles subsequently rejected. By 1706, Charles, now 24 years old, had forced all of his foes into submission including, in that year, a decisively devastating victory by Swedish forces under general Carl Gustav Rehnskiöld over a combined army of Saxony and Russia at the Battle of Fraustadt. Russia was now the sole remaining hostile power.


title: Charles XII of Sweden

text: Charles's subsequent march on Moscow met with initial success as victory followed victory, the most significant of which was the Battle of Holowczyn where the smaller Swedish army routed a Russian army twice the size. The campaign ended with disaster when the Swedish army suffered heavy losses to a Russian force more than twice its size at Poltava. Charles had been incapacitated by a wound prior to the battle, rendering him unable to take command. The defeat was followed by the Surrender at Perevolochna. Charles spent the following years in exile in the Ottoman Empire before returning to lead an assault on Norway, trying to evict the Danish king from the war once more in order to aim all his forces at the Russians. Two campaigns met with frustration and ultimate failure, concluding with his death at the Siege of Fredriksten in 1718. At the time, most of the Swedish Empire was under foreign military occupation, though Sweden itself was still free. This situation was later formalized, albeit moderated in the subsequent Treaty of Nystad. The result was the end of the Swedish Empire, and also of its effectively organized absolute monarchy and war machine, commencing a parliamentary government unique for continental Europe, which would last for half a century until royal autocracy was restored by Gustav III.


title: Charles XII of Sweden

text: Charles was an exceptionally skilled military leader and tactician as well as an able politician, credited with introducing important tax and legal reforms. As for his famous reluctance towards peace efforts, he is quoted by Voltaire as saying upon the outbreak of the war: "I have resolved never to start an unjust war but never to end a legitimate one except by defeating my enemies". With the war consuming more than half his life and nearly all his reign, he never married and fathered no children. He was succeeded by his sister Ulrika Eleonora, who in turn was coerced to hand over all substantial powers to the Riksdag of the Estates and opted to surrender the throne to her husband, who became King Frederick I of Sweden.


title: Charles XII of Sweden

text: Charles, like all kings, was styled by a royal title, which combined all his titles into one single phrase. This was:


title: Charles XII of Sweden

text: "We Charles, by the Grace of God King of Sweden, the Goths and the Vends, Grand Duke of Finland, Duke of Scania, Estonia, Livonia and Karelia, Lord of Ingria, Duke of Bremen, Verden and Pomerania, Prince of Rügen and Lord of Wismar, and also Count Palatine by the Rhine, Duke in Bavaria, Count of Zweibrücken–Kleeburg, as well as Duke of Jülich, Cleve and Berg, Count of Veldenz, Spanheim and Ravensberg and Lord of Ravenstein".


title: Charles XII of Sweden

text: The fact that Charles was crowned as Charles XII does not mean that he was the 12th king of Sweden by that name. Swedish kings Erik XIV (1560–1568) and Charles IX (1604–1611) gave themselves numerals after studying a mythological history of Sweden. He was actually the 6th King Charles. The non-mathematical numbering tradition continues with the current King of Sweden, Carl XVI Gustaf, being counted as the equivalent of "Charles XVI".


title: Charles XII of Sweden

text: Around 1700, the monarchs of Denmark–Norway, Saxony (ruled by elector August II of Poland, who was also the king of Poland-Lithuania) and Russia united in an alliance against Sweden, largely through the efforts of Johann Reinhold Patkul, a Livonian nobleman who turned traitor when the "great reduction" of Charles XI in 1680 stripped much of the nobility of lands and properties. In late 1699, Charles sent a minor detachment to reinforce his brother-in-law Duke Frederick IV of Holstein-Gottorp, who was attacked by Danish forces the following year. A Saxon army simultaneously invaded Swedish Livonia, and in February 1700 surrounded Riga, the most populous city of the Swedish Empire. Russia also declared war (August 1700), but stopped short of an attack on Swedish Ingria until September 1700.


title: Charles XII of Sweden

text: Charles's first campaign was against Denmark–Norway, ruled by his cousin Frederick IV of Denmark. For this campaign Charles secured the support of England and the Netherlands, both maritime powers concerned with Denmark's threats too close to the Sound. Leading a force of 8,000 and 43 ships in an invasion of Zealand, Charles rapidly compelled the Danes to submit to the Peace of Travendal in August 1700, which indemnified Holstein.


title: Charles XII of Sweden

text: Having forced Denmark–Norway to make peace within months, King Charles turned his attention upon the two other powerful neighbors, King August II (cousin to both Charles XII and Frederick IV of Denmark–Norway) and Peter the Great of Russia, who also had entered the war against him, ironically on the same day that Denmark came to terms.


title: Charles XII of Sweden

text: Russia had opened their part of the war by invading the Swedish-held territories of Livonia and Estonia. Charles countered this by attacking the Russian besiegers at the Battle of Narva (November 1700). The Russians outnumbered the Swedish army of ten thousand men by almost four to one. Charles attacked under cover of a blizzard, effectively split the Russian army in two and won the battle. Many of Peter's troops who fled the battlefield drowned in the Narva River. The total number of Russian fatalities reached about 10,000 at the end of the battle, while the Swedish forces lost 667 men.


title: Charles XII of Sweden

text: Charles did not pursue the Russian army. Instead, he turned against Poland-Lithuania, which was formally neutral at this point, thereby disregarding Polish negotiation proposals supported by the Swedish parliament. Charles defeated the Polish king Augustus II and his Saxon allies at the Battle of Kliszow in 1702 and captured many cities of the Commonwealth. After the deposition of Augustus as king of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Charles XII put Stanisław Leszczyński as his puppet on the Polish throne (1704).


title: Charles XII of Sweden

text: While Charles won several decisive battles in the Commonwealth, and ultimately secured the coronation of his ally Stanisław Leszczyński and the surrender of Saxony, the Russian Tsar Peter the Great embarked on a military reform plan that improved the Russian army, using the effectively organized Swedes and other European armies as role models. Russian forces managed to penetrate Ingria, where they established a new city, Saint Petersburg. Charles planned an invasion of the Russian heartland, allying himself with Ivan Mazepa, Hetman of the Ukrainian Cossacks. The size of the invading Swedish army was peeled off as Charles left Leszczyński with some 24,000 German and Polish troops, departing eastwards from Saxony in late 1707 with some 35,000 men, adding a further 12,500 under Adam Ludwig Lewenhaupt marching from Livonia. Charles left the homeland with a defense force of approximately 28,800 men, with a further 14,000 in Swedish Finland, as well as other garrisons in the Baltic and German provinces.


title: Charles XII of Sweden

text: After securing his "favorite" victory in the Battle of Holowczyn, despite being outnumbered over three to one by the new Russian army, Charles opted to march eastwards on Moscow rather than try to seize Saint Petersburg, founded from the Swedish town of Nyenskans five years earlier. Peter the Great managed, however, to ambush Lewenhaupt's army at Lesnaya before Charles could combine his forces, thus losing valuable supplies, artillery and half of Lewenhaupt's men. Charles' Polish ally, Stanisław Leszczyński, was facing internal problems of his own. Charles expected the support of a massive Cossack rebellion led by Mazepa in Ukraine, with estimates suggesting Mazepa was able to muster about 40,000 troops. However, the Russians subjugated the rebellion and destroyed its capital, Baturin, before the arrival of the Swedish troops. The harsh climate took its toll as well, because Charles marched his troops to winter camp in Ukraine.


title: Charles XII of Sweden

text: By the time of the decisive Battle of Poltava, in July 1709, Charles had been wounded, one-third of his infantry was dead, and his supply train had been destroyed. The king was incapacitated by a gunshot wound to the foot and was unable to lead the Swedish forces. With the numbers of Charles' army reduced to some 23,000, with many wounded or involved on the siege of Poltava, his general Carl Gustav Rehnskiöld had a clearly inferior force to face the fortified and modernized army of Tsar Peter, with some 45,000 men. The Swedish assault ended in disaster, and the king fled south to the Ottoman Empire with a small entourage, and set up camp at Bender with some 1,000 of his "Caroleans" ("Karoliner" in Swedish). The remainder of the army surrendered days later at Perevolochna under Lewenhaupt's command, most of them (including Lewenhaupt himself) spending the rest of their days in Russian captivity.


title: Charles XII of Sweden

text: The Swedish defeat at Poltava marked the downfall of the Swedish Empire, as well as the founding of the Russian Empire.


title: Charles XII of Sweden

text: The Ottomans initially welcomed the Swedish king, where he went to Abdurrahman Pasha, the commander of the Özü Castle, as he was about to fall into the hands of the Russian army, and he was able to take refuge in the castle at the last moment. Afterwards, he settled in Bender at the invitation of its governor, Yusuf Pasha.


title: Charles XII of Sweden

text: In the meantime, Charles sent Stanislaw Poniatowski and as his messengers to Constantinople. They managed to indirectly contact with Gülnuş Sultan, mother of Sultan Ahmed III, who became intrigued by Charles, in which she took an interest in his cause, and even corresponded with him in Bender.


title: Charles XII of Sweden

text: His expenses during his long stay in the Ottoman Empire were covered by the Ottoman state budget, as part of the fixed assets ("Demirbaş" in Turkish), hence his nickname "Demirbaş Şarl" (Fixed Asset Charles) in Turkey.


title: Charles XII of Sweden

text: Eventually, a small village named Karlstad (Varnița) had to be built near Bender to accommodate the ever-growing Swedish population there.


title: Charles XII of Sweden

text: Gülnuş Sultan convinced her son to declare war against Russia, as she thought that Charles was a man worth taking a risk for. Later on, the Ottomans and Russians signed the Treaty of the Pruth and Treaty of Adrianople to end the hostilities between them. The treaties dissatisfied pro-war party, supported by King Charles and Stanislaw Poniatowski who failed to reignite the conflict.


title: Charles XII of Sweden

text: However, the sultan Ahmed III's subjects in the empire eventually got tired of Charles' scheming. His entourage also accumulated huge amounts of debts with Bender merchants. Eventually, "crowds" of townspeople attacked the Swedish colony at Bender and Charles had to defend himself against the mobs and the Ottoman Janissaries involved. This uprising was called "kalabalık" (Turkish for crowd) which afterwards found a place in Swedish lexicon referring to a ruckus. The Janissaries did not shoot Charles during the skirmish at Bender, but captured him and put him under house-arrest at Dimetoka (nowadays Didimoticho) and Constantinople. During his semi-imprisonment the King played chess and studied the Ottoman Navy and the naval architecture of the Ottoman galleons. His sketches and designs eventually led to the famous Swedish war ships Jarramas (Yaramaz) and Jilderim (Yıldırım).


title: Charles XII of Sweden

text: Meanwhile, Russia and Poland regained and expanded their borders. Great Britain, an adversary of Sweden, defected from its alliance obligations while Prussia attacked Swedish holdings in Germany. Russia occupied Finland (the Greater Wrath 1713–1721). After defeats of the Swedish army, consisting mainly of Finnish troops in the Battle of Pälkäne 1713 and the Battle of Storkyro 1714, the military, administration and clergymen escaped from Finland, which fell under Russian military regime.


title: Charles XII of Sweden

text: During his five-year stay in the Ottoman Empire, Charles XII corresponded with his sister (and eventual successor), Ulrika Eleonora. According to Mrs. Ragnhild Marie Hatton, a Norwegian-British historian, in some of those letters Charles expressed his desire for a peace treaty which would be defensible in the future Swedish generations' eyes. However, he emphasized that only a greater respect for Sweden in Europe would enable him to achieve such a peace treaty. Meanwhile, the Swedish Council of State (government) and Estates/Diet (Parliament) tried to keep the beleaguered Sweden somehow organized and independent. Eventually, in the autumn of 1714, their warning letter reached him. In it, those executive and legislative bodies told the absentee King that unless he quickly returned to Sweden, they would independently conclude an achievable peace treaty with Russia, Poland and Denmark. This stark admonition prompted Charles to rush back to Sweden.


title: Charles XII of Sweden

text: Charles traveled back to Sweden with a group of Ottomans, soldiers such as escorts and businessmen to whom he promised to repay his debts during his stay in the Ottoman Empire, but they had to wait several years before that happened. According to the prevailing church law in Sweden at that time, all who lived in the country, but were not members of the Swedish state church, would be baptized. In order for the Jewish and Muslim creditors to avoid this, Charles wrote a "free letter" so that they could practice their religions without being punished. The soldiers chose to remain in Sweden instead of difficult trips home. They were called "Askersson" (the word "asker" in Turkish means soldier).


title: Charles XII of Sweden

text: Charles agreed to leave Constantinople and returned to Swedish Pomerania. He made the journey on horseback, riding across Europe in just fifteen days. He traveled across the Habsburg Kingdom of Hungary to Vienna and arrived at Stralsund. A medal with Charles on horseback, his long hair flying in the wind, was struck in 1714 to commemorate the speedy ride. It reads "Was sorget Ihr doch? Gott und Ich leben noch. (What worries you so? God and I live still.)."


title: Charles XII of Sweden

text: After five years away, Charles arrived in Sweden to find his homeland at war with Russia, Saxony, Hannover, Great Britain and Denmark. Sweden's western enemies attacked southern and western Sweden while Russian forces traveled across Finland to attack the Stockholm district. For the first time, Sweden found itself in a defensive war. Charles' plan was to attack Denmark by striking at her possessions in Norway. It was hoped that by cutting Denmark's Norwegian supply lines the Danes would be compelled to withdraw their forces from Swedish Scania.


title: Charles XII of Sweden

text: Charles invaded Norway in 1716 with a combined force of 7,000 men. He occupied the capital of Christiania, (modern Oslo), and laid siege to the Akershus fortress there. Due to a lack of heavy siege cannons he was unable to dislodge the Norwegian forces inside. After suffering significant losses of men and materiel, Charles was forced to retreat from the capital on 29 April. In the following mid-May, Charles invaded again, this time striking the border town of Fredrikshald, now Halden, in an attempt to capture the fortress of Fredriksten. The attacking Swedes came under heavy cannon fire from the fortress and were forced to withdraw when the Norwegians set the town of Fredrikshald on fire. Swedish casualties in Fredrikshald were estimated at 500 men. While the siege at Fredrikshald was underway, the Swedish supply fleet was attacked and defeated by Tordenskjold in the Battle of Dynekilen.


title: Charles XII of Sweden

text: In 1718, Charles once more invaded Norway. With a main force of 40,000 men, he again laid siege to the fortress of Fredriksten overlooking the town of Fredrikshald. Charles was shot in the head and killed during the siege, while he was inspecting trenches. The invasion was abandoned, and Charles' body was returned to Sweden. A second force, under Carl Gustaf Armfeldt, marched against Trondheim with 10,000 men but was forced to retreat. In the march that ensued, many of the 5,800 remaining men perished in a severe winter storm.


title: Charles XII of Sweden

text: While in the trenches close to the perimeter of the fortress on 11 December (30 November Old Style), 1718, Charles was struck in the head by a projectile and killed. The shot struck the left side of his skull and exited from the right. He died instantly.


title: Charles XII of Sweden

text: The definitive circumstances around Charles's death remain unclear. Despite multiple investigations of the battlefield, Charles's skull and his clothes, it is not known where and when he was hit, or whether the shot came from the ranks of the enemy or from his own men. There are several hypotheses as to how Charles died, though none have strong enough evidence to be deemed true. Although there were many people around the king at the time of his death, there were no known witnesses to the actual moment he was hit. A likely explanation has been that Charles was killed by Dano-Norwegians as he was within reach of their guns. There are two possibilities that are usually cited: that he was killed by a musket shot, or that he was killed by grapeshot from the nearby fortress.


title: Charles XII of Sweden

text: More theories claim he was assassinated: One is that the killer was a Swedish compatriot and asserts that enemy guns were not firing at the time Charles was struck. Suspects in this claim range from a nearby soldier tired of the siege and wanting to put an end to the war, to an assassin hired by Charles's own brother-in-law, who profited from the event by subsequently taking the throne himself as Frederick I of Sweden, that person being Frederick's aide-de-camp, André Sicre. Sicre confessed during what was claimed to be a state of delirium brought on by fever but later recanted. It has also been suspected that a plot to kill Charles may have been put in place by a group of wealthy Swedes who would benefit from the blocking of a 17% wealth tax that Charles intended to introduce. In the Varberg Fortress museum there is a display with a lead filled brass button – Swedish – that is claimed by some to be the projectile that killed the king.


title: Charles XII of Sweden

text: Another odd account of Charles's death comes from Finnish writer Carl Nordling, who states that the king's surgeon, Melchior Neumann, dreamed the king had told him that he was not shot from the fortress but from "one who came creeping".


title: Charles XII of Sweden

text: Charles's body has been exhumed on three occasions to ascertain the cause of death; in 1746, 1859 and 1917. The 1859 exhumation found that the wound was in accordance with a shot from the Norwegian fort. In 1917, his head was photographed and x-rayed. Peter Englund asserted in his essay "On the death of Charles XII and other murders" that the mortal wound sustained by the King, with a smaller exit wound than entry wound, would be consistent with being hit by a bullet with a speed not exceeding 150 m/s, concluding that Charles was killed by stray grapeshot from the nearby fortress. A 2022 study also found that iron grapeshot was likely to have killed the king, citing evidence from ballistic experiments as well as the absence of lead fragments in Charles's skull.


title: Charles XII of Sweden

text: Academic research from University of Oulu and University of Helsinki concluded that Charles XII was likely killed by an enemy projectile.


title: Charles XII of Sweden

text: Charles was succeeded to the Swedish throne by his sister, Ulrika Eleonora. As his duchy of Palatine Zweibrücken required a male heir, Charles was succeeded as ruler there by his cousin Gustav Leopold. Georg Heinrich von Görtz, Charles' minister, was beheaded in 1719.


title: Charles XII of Sweden

text: Charles never married and fathered no children of whom historians are aware. In his youth, he was particularly encouraged to find a suitable spouse in order to secure the succession, but he would frequently avoid the subject of sex and marriage. Possible candidates included Princess Sophia Hedwig of Denmark, Louisa Maria Stuart and Princess Maria Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp – but of the latter he pleaded that he could never wed someone "as ugly as Satan and with such a devilish big mouth". Instead, he made it clear that he would marry only someone of his own choice, and for love rather than dynastic pressures. His lack of mistresses may have been due to a strong religious faith. Charles himself suggested in conversation with Axel Löwen that he actively resisted any match until peace could be secured and was in some sense "married" to the military life. But that he was "chaste" occasioned speculation in his lifetime. Rumours that he was a hermaphrodite were quelled in 1917 when his coffin was opened and he was shown to have suffered no physical irregularities.


title: Charles XII of Sweden

text: In his conversations with Löwen, he also stated that he did not lack taste for beautiful women, but that he held in his sexual desires for fear that they would get out of control if unchecked, and that if he committed to something like that, it would be forever. Some historians suggest that he resisted a marriage with Denmark which could have caused a family rift between those who dynastically favoured Holstein-Gottorp. Historians such as Blanning and Montefiore believe he was in fact homosexual. Certainly a letter from Reuterholm suggested that Charles had indicated a closeness to the Elector Prince of Saxony, Maximilian Emanuel of Württemberg-Winnental, whom Charles described as "very pretty". But writing in the 1960s, Hatton argues that Württemberg was very much heterosexual and the relationship is just as likely to have been that of teacher-pupil – suggesting instead that Charles simply had an interest in the opposite sex never consummated.


title: Charles XII of Sweden

text: Exceptional for abstaining from alcohol and sex, he felt most comfortable during warfare. Contemporaries report of his seemingly inhuman tolerance for pain and his utter lack of emotion. His brilliant campaigning and startling victories brought his country to the pinnacle of her prestige and power, although the Great Northern War resulted in Sweden's defeat and the end of the empire within years of his own death.


title: Charles XII of Sweden

text: Charles's death marked the end of autocratic kingship in Sweden, and the subsequent Age of Liberty saw a shift of power from the monarch to the parliament of the estates. Historians of the late 18th and early 19th centuries viewed Charles' death as the result of an aristocratic plot, and Gustav IV Adolf, the king who refused to settle with Napoleon Bonaparte, "identified himself with Charles as a type of righteous man struggling with iniquity" (Roberts). Throughout the 19th century's romantic nationalism Charles XII was viewed as a national hero. He was idealized as a heroic, virtuous young warrior king, and his fight against Peter the Great was associated with the contemporary Swedish-Russian enmity. Examples of the romantic hero idolatry of Charles XII in several genres are Esaias Tegnér's song "Kung Karl, den unge hjälte" (1818), Johan Peter Molin's statue in Stockholm's Kungsträdgården (unveiled on 30 November 1868, the 150th anniversary of Charles's death) and Gustaf Cederström's painting "Karl XII:s likfärd" ("Funeral procession of Charles XII", 1878). The date of Charles's death was chosen by a student association in Lund for annual torch marches beginning in 1853.


title: Charles XII of Sweden

text: In his 1901 play "Karl XII", August Strindberg broke with the heroization practice by showing an introverted Charles XII in conflict with his impoverished subjects. In the so-called Strindberg feud (1910–1912), his response to the "Swedish cult of Charles XII" (Steene) was that Charles had been "Sweden's ruin, the great offender, a ruffian, the rowdies' idol, a counterfeiter." Verner von Heidenstam however, one of his opponents in the feud, in his book "Karolinerna" instead "emphasized the heroic steadfastness of the Swedish people in the somber years of trial during the long-drawn-out campaigns of Karl XII" (Scott).


title: Charles XII of Sweden

text: In the 1930s, the Swedish Nazis held celebrations on the date of Charles XII's death, and shortly before the outbreak of World War II, Adolf Hitler received from Sweden a sculpture of the king at his birthday. In the late 20th century, Swedish nationalists and neo-Nazis had again used 30 November as a date for their ceremonies, however these were regularly interrupted by larger counter-demonstrations and were abandoned.


title: Charles XII of Sweden

text: Apart from being a monarch, the King's interests included mathematics, and anything that would be beneficial to his warlike purposes. He is credited with having invented an octal numeral system, as well as a more elaborate one with the base 64, which he considered more suitable for war purposes because all the boxes used for materials such as gunpowder were cubic. According to a report by contemporary scientist Emanuel Swedenborg, the King had sketched a model of his thoughts on a piece of paper and handed it to him at their meeting in Lund in 1716. The paper was reportedly still in existence a hundred years later but has since been lost.


title: Charles XII of Sweden

text: Charles fascinated many in his time. In 1731, Voltaire wrote a biography of Charles XII, "History of Charles XII". Voltaire portrays the Swedish king in a positive light, against the brutal nature of Peter the Great. The English man of letters Samuel Johnson wrote of Charles in his poem "The Vanity of Human Wishes":


title: Charles XII of Sweden

text: Swedish author Frans G. Bengtsson and Professor Ragnhild Hatton have written biographies of Charles XII of Sweden.


title: Charles XII of Sweden

text: He is referred to in the anime Legend of the Galactic Heroes as the Swedish Meteor; whose similarity to Reinhard von Lohengramm may portend the dynasty dying out without a successor.


title: Charles XII of Sweden

text: The 1925 Swedish film "Charles XII" is a two-part silent epic starring Gösta Ekman the Elder portraying his reign.


title: Charles XII of Sweden

text: Charles XII appears in the absurdist comedy "A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence" (2014), in which his army passes a modern-day cafe on their way to, and retreating from, the Battle of Poltava. He is played by Viktor Gyllenberg.


title: Charles XII of Sweden

text: The Swedish power metal band Sabaton wrote an album named after him, which includes several songs about his life.


title: Inverness

text: Inverness (; from the , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness"; ) is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands. Historically it served as the county town of the county of Inverness-shire. Inverness lies near two important battle sites: the 11th-century battle of Blàr nam Fèinne against Norway which took place on the Aird, and the 18th century Battle of Culloden which took place on Culloden Moor. It is the northernmost city in the United Kingdom and lies within the Great Glen (Gleann Mòr) at its northeastern extremity where the River Ness enters the Beauly Firth. At the latest, a settlement was established by the 6th century with the first royal charter being granted by Dabíd mac Maíl Choluim (King David I) in the 12th century. Inverness and Inverness-shire are closely linked to various influential clans, including Clan Mackintosh, Clan Fraser and Clan MacKenzie.


title: Inverness

text: The population of Inverness grew from 40,969 in 2001 to 46,969 in 2012, according to "World Population Review". The Greater Inverness area, including Culloden and Westhill, had a population of 56,969 in 2012. In 2016, it had a population of 63,320. Inverness is one of Europe's fastest growing cities, with a quarter of the Highland population living in or around it, and is ranked fifth out of 189 British cities for its quality of life, the highest of any Scottish city. Inverness is twinned with one German city, Augsburg, and two French towns, La Baule and Saint-Valery-en-Caux.


title: Inverness

text: In 2014, a survey by a property website described Inverness as the happiest place in Scotland and the second-happiest in the UK. Inverness was again found to be the happiest place in Scotland by a new study conducted in 2015.


title: Inverness

text: Much of what is known about Inverness's prehistory comes from archeological work that takes place before construction/development work as part of the planning process.


title: Inverness

text: Between 2009-2010, archaeological work in advance of the creation of flood defences to the south of the city at Knocknagael Farm by GUARD archaeology discovered an archaeological site that showed humans had been living in the Inverness area from at least 6500 BC, the Late Mesolithic period. That same site showed people living/working in the area from the mid-7th millennium BC into the Late Iron Age (1st millennium AD) with most activity taking place in the Early Neolithic (4th millennium BC). The archaeologists also found a piece of flint from Yorkshire that showed that people in Inverness may have been trading with Yorkshire during the Neolithic.


title: Inverness

text: Between 1996-1997, CFA Archaeology (then part of the University of Edinburgh) undertook excavations of crop marks in the west of Inverness in advance of the construction of a retail and business park. A Bronze Age cemetery was discovered in 1996 and in 1997 the archaeologists found the remains of a Bronze Age settlement and a Iron Age settlement, with an ironsmith. It is one the earliest examples of Iron Smithing in Scotland. The Iron Age settlement had Roman brooches from the AD 1st-2nd centuries, indicating trade with the Roman Empire. Similarly, the Bronze Age site showed signs of metal production: finds included ceramic piece-moulds designed for the casting of Late Bronze Age leaf-shaped swords. A 93 oz (2.9 kg) silver chain dating to AD 500–800 was found just to the south of Torvean in 1983.


title: Inverness

text: Inverness was one of the chief strongholds of the Picts, and in AD 569 was visited by St Columba with the intention of converting the Pictish king Brude, who is supposed to have resided in the vitrified fort on Craig Phadrig, on the western edge of the city. A church or a monk's cell is thought to have been established by early Celtic monks on St Michael's Mount, a mound close to the river, now the site of the Old High Church and graveyard.


title: Inverness

text: The first royal charter being granted by Dabíd mac Maíl Choluim (King David I) in the 12th century. The Gaelic king Mac Bethad Mac Findláich (MacBeth) whose 11th-century killing of King Duncan was immortalised in Shakespeare's largely fictionalised play "Macbeth", held a castle within the city where he ruled as Mormaer of Moray and Ross.


title: Inverness

text: Inverness Castle is said to have been built by Máel Coluim III (Malcolm III) of Scotland, after he had razed to the ground the castle in which Mac Bethad mac Findláich had, according to much later tradition, murdered Máel Coluim's father Donnchad (Duncan I), and which stood on a hill around 1 km to the north-east.


title: Inverness

text: The strategic location of Inverness has led to many conflicts in the area. Reputedly there was a battle in the early 11th century between Malcolm III and Thorfinn the Mighty at Blar Nam Feinne, to the southwest of the city.


title: Inverness

text: Inverness had four traditional fairs, including Legavrik or "Leth-Gheamhradh", meaning midwinter, and Faoilleach. William the Lion (d. 1214) granted Inverness four charters, by one of which it was created a royal burgh. Of the Dominican friary founded by Alexander III in 1233, only one pillar and a worn knight's effigy survive in a secluded graveyard near the town centre.


title: Inverness

text: Medieval Inverness suffered regular raids from the Western Isles, particularly by the MacDonald Lords of the Isles in the 15th century. In 1187 one Domhnall Bán (Donald Ban) led islanders in a battle at Torvean against men from Inverness Castle led by the governor's son, Donnchadh Mac An Toisich (Duncan Mackintosh). Both leaders were killed in the battle, and Donald Ban is said to have been buried in a large cairn near the river, close to where the silver chain was found. Local tradition says that the citizens fought off the Clan Donald in 1340 at the Battle of Blairnacoi on Drumderfit Hill, north of Inverness across the Beauly Firth. On his way to the Battle of Harlaw in 1411, Donald of Islay harried the city, and sixteen years later James I held a parliament in the castle to which the northern chieftains were summoned, of whom three were arrested for defying the king's command. Clan Munro defeated Clan Mackintosh in 1454 at the Battle of Clachnaharry just west of the city. Clan Donald and their allies stormed the castle during the Raid on Ross in 1491.


title: Inverness

text: In 1562, during the progress undertaken to suppress Huntly's insurrection, Mary, Queen of Scots, was denied admittance into Inverness Castle by the governor, who belonged to the earl's faction, and whom she afterwards caused to be hanged. The Clan Munro and Clan Fraser of Lovat took the castle for her. The house in which she lived meanwhile stood in Bridge Street until the 1970s, when it was demolished to make way for the second Bridge Street development.


title: Inverness

text: Beyond the then northern limits of the town, Oliver Cromwell built a citadel capable of accommodating 1,000 men, but with the exception of a portion of the ramparts it was demolished at the Restoration. The only surviving modern remnant is a clock tower.


title: Inverness

text: Inverness played a role in the Jacobite rising of 1689. In early May, it was besieged by a contingent of Jacobites led by MacDonell of Keppoch. The town was actually rescued by Viscount Dundee, the overall Jacobite commander, when he arrived with the main Jacobite army, although he required Inverness to profess loyalty to King James VII.


title: Inverness

text: In 1715 the Jacobites occupied the royal fortress as a barracks. In 1727 the government built the first Fort George here, but in 1746 it surrendered to the Jacobites and they blew it up. Culloden Moor lies nearby, and was the site of the Battle of Culloden in 1746, which ended the Jacobite rising of 1745–46.


title: Inverness

text: In 1783, the year that saw the end of the American Revolution and the beginning of the Highland Clearances in Inverness-shire, Cionneach MacCionnich (1758-1837), a poet from Clan MacKenzie who was born at Castle Leather near Inverness, composed the Gaelic poem "The Lament of the North". In the poem, MacCionnich mocks the Highland gentry for becoming absentee landlords, evicting their tenants en masse in favor of sheep, and of "spending their wealth uselessly", in London. He accuses King George III of England both of tyranny and of steering the ship of state into shipwreck. MacCionnich also argues that truth is on the side of George Washington and the Continental Army and that the Scottish Gaels would do well to emigrate to the New World before the King and the landlords take every farthing they have left.


title: Inverness

text: On 7 September 1921, the first British Cabinet meeting to be held outside London took place in the Inverness Town House, when David Lloyd George, on holiday in Gairloch, called an emergency meeting to discuss the situation in Ireland. The Inverness Formula composed at this meeting was the basis of the Anglo-Irish Treaty.


title: Inverness

text: Inverness has experienced rapid economic growth in the 21st century - between 1998 and 2008, Inverness and the rest of the central Highlands showed the largest growth of average economic productivity per person in Scotland and the second-greatest growth in the United Kingdom as a whole, with an increase of 86%.


title: Inverness

text: It was awarded the Nicholson Trophy (class 2 category) for the best town with between 20,000 and 50,000 inhabitants at Britain in Bloom contest in 1975.


title: Inverness

text: Inverness and its immediate hinterland have a large number of originally Gaelic place names, as the area was solidly Gaelic-speaking until the late 19th century.


title: Inverness

text: Several springs which were traditionally thought to have healing qualities exist around Inverness. "Fuaran Dearg", which translates as the "Red Spring", is a chalybeate spring located near Dochgarroch. "Fuaran a' Chladaich "("The Spring on the Beach") near Bunchrew was once accessed by a causeway from the shore. Although submerged at high tide it continues to bubble and was traditionally known for treating cholera. "Fuaran Allt an Ionnlaid" ("Well of the Washing Burn") at Clachnaharry, where the Marquis of Montrose was allowed to drink while on his way from his capture in Sutherland to his execution in Edinburgh, was known for treating skin conditions. Also at Clachnaharry, "Fuaran Priseag" ("The Precious Well") was said to have been blessed by Saint Kessock and could treat weak and sore eyes, as well as expelling evil and shielding curses if a silver coin was offered. "Tobar na h-Oige" ("Well of the Young") is located near Culloden and was known for curing all ailments. "Fuaran a' Chragan Bhreag" ("Well of the Speckled Rock") is located near Craig Dundain and "Fuaran na Capaich" ("The Keppoch Well") is located near Culloden.


title: Inverness

text: Although a Gaelic name itself, "Craig Phadraig" is alternatively known as "Làrach an Taigh Mhóir", or "the place of the Great house". "Several Gaelic place names are now largely obsolete due to the feature being removed or forgotten. "Drochaid an Easain Duibh" ("Bridge by the Small Dark Waterfall"), referred to in the tale "Aonghas Mòr Thom na h-Iubhraich agus na Sìthichean" ("Great Angus of Tomnahurich and the Fairies") has not yet been located within Inverness and "Slag nam Mèirleach" (meaning "Robbers' hollow"), adjacent to Dores Road in Holm is no longer in use. Until the late 19th century, four mussel beds existed on the delta mouth of the River Ness: "Scalp Phàdraig Mhòir" ("Scalp of Great Patrick"), "Rònach" ("Place of the Seals"), "Cridhe an Uisge" ("The Water Heart") and "Scalp nan Caorach" ("Scalp of the Sheep") – these mussel beds were all removed to allow better access for fishing boats and ships.


title: Inverness

text: "Allt Muineach" (The Thicket River) now runs underground between Culcabock Roundabout and Millburn Roundabout. "An Loch Gorm" (The Turquoise Loch), a small sea loch which was situated beside Morrisons supermarket, was filled in during the 19th century and lives on only in the name of Lochgorm Warehouse. Abban Street stems from the word "àban", a word of local Gaelic dialect meaning a small channel of water.


title: Inverness

text: In the colonial period, a Gaelic-speaking settlement named New Inverness was established in McIntosh County, Georgia, by settlers from in and around Inverness. The name was also given by expatriates to settlements in Quebec, Nova Scotia, Montana, Florida, Illinois, and California. The name Inverness is also given to a feature on Miranda, a moon of the planet Uranus, as well as a 2637 m tall mountain in British Columbia, Canada. Inverness is also known by its nicknames "Inversnecky" or "The Sneck", with its inhabitants traditionally known as "Clann Na Cloiche" ("Children of the Stone" in Gaelic) owing to the importance of the Clach Na Cudainn stone in the city's history.


title: Inverness

text: The National Records of Scotland define Inverness as the urban area west of the A9. To produce a greater Inverness figure including the villages of Balloch, Culloden, Smithton, and Westhill, it is necessary to aggregate NRS figures for each locality.


title: Inverness

text: Inverness is situated at the mouth of the River Ness (which flows from nearby Loch Ness) and at the south-western extremity of the Moray Firth. The city lies at the end of the Great Glen with Loch Ness, Loch Ashie and Loch Duntelchaig to the west. Inverness's Caledonian Canal also runs through the Great Glen, connecting Loch Ness, Loch Oich, and Loch Lochy.


title: Inverness

text: The Ness Islands, a publicly owned park, consists of two wooded islands connected by footbridges and has been used as a place of recreation since the 1840s. Craig Phadraig, once an ancient Gaelic and Pictish hillfort, is a hill which offers hikes on a clear pathway through the wooded terrain.


title: Inverness

text: Inverness lies on the Great Glen Fault. There are minor earthquakes, usually unnoticed by locals, about every 3 years. The last earthquake to affect Inverness was in 1934.


title: Inverness

text: Like most of the United Kingdom, Inverness has an oceanic climate (Köppen: "Cfb"). The climate here is cooler than in more southerly parts of Britain. The highest temperature recorded was in July 2006 and June 2018, and the lowest temperature recorded was in January 2010. Typically, the warmest day of the year rises to around and the coldest night falls to around . The climate in this area is characterised by relatively small differences between annual high and low temperatures, as well as adequate rainfall year-round.


title: Inverness

text: Raigmore Hospital is the main hospital in Inverness and the entire Highland region. The present hospital opened in 1970, replacing wartime wards dating from 1941.


title: Inverness

text: Raigmore is a teaching hospital for the universities of Aberdeen and Stirling. A Centre for Health Science (CfHS) is located behind the hospital. This is funded by Highlands and Islands Enterprise, the Scottish Government and Johnson & Johnson. Phase I of this opened in early 2007, with phase II and phase III housing The Diabetes Institute opening in 2009. The University of Stirling moved its nursing and midwifery teaching operations from Raigmore Hospital to the CfHS. The University of the Highlands and Islands also has strong links with the Centre through its Faculty of Health.


title: Inverness

text: Most of the traditional industries such as distilling have been replaced by high-tech businesses, such as the design and manufacture of diabetes diagnostic kits (by LifeScan). Highlands and Islands Enterprise has principally funded the Centre for Health Science to attract more businesses in the medical and medical devices business to the area. Inverness is home to Scottish Natural Heritage following that body's relocation from Edinburgh under the auspices of the Scottish Government's decentralisation strategy. SNH provides a large number of jobs in the area.


title: Inverness

text: Inverness City Centre lies on the east bank of the river and is linked to the west side of the town by three road bridges – Ness Bridge, Friars Bridge and the Black (or Waterloo) Bridge – and by one of the town's suspension foot bridges, the Greig Street Bridge. The traditional city centre was a triangle bounded by High Street, Church Street and Academy Street, within which Union Street and Queensgate are cross streets parallel to High Street. Between Union Street and Queensgate is the Victorian Market, which contains a large number of small shops. The main Inverness railway station is almost directly opposite the Academy Street entrance to the Market. From the 1970s, the Eastgate Shopping Centre was developed to the east of High Street, with a substantial extension being completed in 2003.


title: Inverness

text: The city has a number of different education providers. Inverness is catered for by about a dozen primary schools including Bun-sgoil Ghàidhlig Inbhir Nis, a specialised institution situated at Slackbuie. There are five secondary schools: Inverness High School, Inverness Royal Academy, Charleston Academy, Millburn Academy, and Culloden Academy. Additionally there is Inverness College UHI which offers further and higher education courses to those of school leaving age and above. The city also has a new Centre for Health Sciences adjacent to Raigmore Hospital.