title: City of Brussels

text: The Quays Quarter (, ) is that of the old Port of Brussels, which played for a long time the role of "belly" of the city. The boats coming from the Scheldt river penetrated through the former Rivage Gate, at the site of present-day /, to join one of the canals, whose docks were each reserved for one type of goods. Filled in the 19th century, at the opening of Brussels' new port, the canals were replaced by wide boulevards, the two sides of which retain in their names the memory of their former function: the / ("Brick Wharf"), the / ("Firewood Wharf"), the / ("Quarry Stone Wharf"), the / ("Hay Wharf"), etc., or references to the neighbourhood's commercial activities: the / ("Warehouse Street"), the / ("Traders Street"), the / ("Pig Market Street") and the / ("Trade Wharf"). Along the quaysides, numerous bourgeois houses, once belonging to wealthy merchants, have preserved the entrances to the warehouses. On the /, one can still cross food wholesalers, supplied nowadays by trucks, which have replaced the boats. The neighbourhood also includes the beguinage of Brussels, with the Church of St. John the Baptist and the remarkable "Grand Hospice Pachéco".


title: City of Brussels

text: Few of the buildings in the Marais–Jacqmain Quarter (, ) have escaped 20th-century demolition, from the / to the Rue Neuve/Nieuwstraat. They have been replaced by the State Administrative City, press printers, banking facilities, and commercial galleries. The current trend is to restore the neighbourhood's social mix by redeveloping former office buildings into housing. Despite the long-time grim aspect of the district, the Meyboom tradition has been maintained for centuries, and the former Art Nouveau "Magasins Waucquez" by Victor Horta have been preserved and house, since 1993, the Belgian Comic Strip Center. Another preserved islet is the 18th-century neoclassical Place des Martyrs/Martelaarsplein, which has gradually been renovated. The victims of the Belgian Revolution of 1830 are buried there in an open crypt with a memorial. Nearby is the Rue Neuve, one of the main commercial streets in Belgium, with its two sides, more than long, nearly entirely occupied by shops; the Boulevard Adolphe Max/Adolphe Maxlaan, a traditional 19th-century artery; and the / (where the National Theatre of Belgium has been installed since 2004) close to the Place de Brouckère/De Brouckèreplein. The latter, a very busy square in the city centre, is dominated at its southern end by two block-style building towers, but for the rest, it has totally (Hotel Metropole and its neighbour the Hotel Atlanta) or partially (UGC cinema) preserved its old facades.


title: City of Brussels

text: The Freedom Quarter (, ) is situated between the Belgian Parliament and the Rue Royale/Koningsstraat, not far from the crossroads with the Small Ring, and has as its focal point the Congress Column, built in memory of the National Congress of 1830–31, the founder of democratic liberties in Belgium, under which also lies the tomb of the Unknown Soldier with an eternal flame. Not far from there is the Hotel Astoria, dating from 1911, which is currently being renovated and enlarged, and will be reopened in the coming years. In the 19th century, the district was known as / and was inhabited in majority by working-class people. The authorities' desire to clean up the squalid parts of the city led to the expulsion of the population and the neighbourhood's complete destruction. A new bourgeois district was developed during the last quarter of the century. The choice was made to commemorate Belgian Independence: the / ("Liberty Square"), the / ("Barricades' Square"), the / ("Revolution Street"), the / ("Congress Street"), etc. The four streets overlooking the Place de la Liberté bear the names of the four constitutional liberties, symbolised by the four allegorical bronze female sculptures surrounding the Congress Column: Freedom of the Press, Worship, Association and Education. This eclectic urban complex is one of the best preserved of the Pentagon today.


title: City of Brussels

text: The European Quarter (, ) is located to the east of the Pentagon, around the Place du Luxembourg/Luxemburgplein and the Robert Schuman Roundabout, and includes the smaller Leopold Quarter (, ). The European Parliament was built near the Place du Luxembourg, on the site of the former Leopold Quarter railway station, and of which only the central building overlooking the square remains, having been replaced by the underground Brussels-Luxembourg railway station. The European Commission, housed in the Berlaymont building, is located on the Schuman Roundabout, not far from the Cinquantenaire Park. Across the street stands the Justus Lipsius building and the Europa building (part of the "Residence Palace"), serving as the seat of the European Council and the Council of the EU. In Leopold Park, the House of European History (HEH) initiates visitors to the social history of the European continent. There is a visitor centre in the main European Parliament building, known as the "Parliamentarium", and another smaller one in the Justus Lipsius building for the European Council. It is accessible on certain days, by appointment. Many of the attractions in the European Quarter are free to visit.


title: City of Brussels

text: The Squares Quarter (, ) is the northern spur of the European Quarter, located between Saint-Josse-ten-Noode and the Leopold Quarter. The district is bounded by the / to the north, the / and the / to the east, the / and the / to the south, as well as the Small Ring to the west. The toponym refers to the many squares in the area, in particular the /, the /, the / and the /. The area between the Small Ring and the Square Marie-Louise is sometimes considered to be part of the Leopold Quarter.


title: City of Brussels

text: Laeken is a former municipality in the north of the Brussels-Capital Region, annexed by the City of Brussels in 1921. Laeken is home to, among others, the Royal Domain of Laeken, the Palace of Laeken, the Royal Greenhouses of Laeken (1873), the Church of Our Lady of Laeken (whose crypt contains the tombs of the Belgian Royal Family) and Laeken Cemetery, known for its wealth of monuments and sculptures. On the territory of Laeken also lies the Heysel/Heizel Plateau, where were held the World's Fairs of 1935 and 1958 and which includes the King Baudouin Stadium, Bruparck (with the Atomium, Mini-Europe miniature park and Kinepolis cinema), the Centenary Palace, home to the Brussels Exhibition Centre (Brussels Expo), and the Port of Brussels, next to which the "Monument to Work" by Constantin Meunier was erected. On its southern part, it holds the former Tour & Taxis industrial site, which was annexed to the City of Brussels in 1897, twenty-four years before the rest of the municipality.


title: City of Brussels

text: Sometimes also known as the Pagoda district, the Japanese Tower district or De Wand district, Mutsaard (also spelled Mutsaert), is an old hamlet and a historic district located between Laeken and Neder-over-Heembeek and centred around the /. The district was part of the former municipality of Laeken (postcode: 1020) but also a piece of Neder-over-Heembeek, annexed by Laeken in 1897. It is separated from the rest of Laeken by the Royal Domain and is the site of the Museums of the Far East. The district also extends a little on the neighbouring Flemish municipalities of Vilvoorde and Grimbergen.


title: City of Brussels

text: Neder-Over-Heembeek is a former municipality incorporated in the City of Brussels in 1921, at the same time as Laeken and Haren. It has the distinction of having the oldest place name in the Brussels-Capital Region, as it was mentioned in an ordinance as early as the 7th century. This is where the Queen Astrid Military Hospital, which is the National Burns and Poisons Centre, as well as recruitment services of the Belgian Armed Forces are located.


title: City of Brussels

text: Like Laeken and Neder-Over-Heembeek, the former municipality of Haren was annexed by the municipality (City) of Brussels in 1921, which allowed the extension of the Schaerbeek railway station north of its territory. But it is the presence, southwest of the town, of an airfield, created by the Germans during the First World War, and where the Belgian national airline Sabena was born, which precipitated the annexation of Haren. For almost fifty years, Haren has been home to NATO's headquarters. It is also the location of many other administrations and companies, such as the headquarters of Eurocontrol.


title: City of Brussels

text: As in every other Belgian municipality, the City of Brussels is headed by a mayor, who should not be confused with the Minister-President of the Brussels-Capital Region or the Governor of Brussels-Capital. The current city council was elected in the October 2018 elections. The current mayor of the City of Brussels is Philippe Close a member of PS, who is in coalition on the municipal council with Ecolo - Groen, DéFI and Forward.


title: City of Brussels

text: There are many museums in and around Brussels' city centre. On the first Sunday of every month, free entry is granted to many of Brussels' museums.


title: City of Brussels

text: The Underwear Museum opened in 2009, and was initially in the City of Brussels. In 2016 it moved to Lessines, Hainaut, Wallonia.


title: City of Brussels

text: Brussels is well known for its food. Brussels sprouts were named after the city. Like most of Belgium, "moules-frites", waffles (gaufres), chocolate, French fries, and beer are common there. It is home to one 2-starred and four 1-starred Michelin restaurants.


title: Holy Spirit in Christianity

text: For the majority of Christian denominations, the Holy Spirit, or Holy Ghost, is believed to be the third person of the Trinity, a Triune God manifested as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, each entity itself being God. Nontrinitarian Christians, who reject the doctrine of the Trinity, differ significantly from mainstream Christianity in their beliefs about the Holy Spirit. In Christian theology, pneumatology is the study of the Holy Spirit. Due to Christianity's historical relationship with Judaism, theologians often identify the Holy Spirit with the concept of the "Ruach Hakodesh" in Jewish scripture, on the theory that Jesus was expanding upon these Jewish concepts. Similar names, and ideas, include the "Ruach Elohim" (Spirit of God), "Ruach YHWH" (Spirit of Yahweh), and the "Ruach Hakodesh" (Holy Spirit). In the New Testament it is identified with the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of Truth, the Paraclete and the Holy Spirit.


title: Holy Spirit in Christianity

text: The New Testament details a close relationship between the Holy Spirit and Jesus during his earthly life and ministry. The Gospels of Matthew and Luke and the Nicene Creed state that Jesus was "conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary". The Holy Spirit descended on Jesus like a dove during his baptism, and in his Farewell Discourse after the Last Supper Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit to his disciples after his departure.


title: Holy Spirit in Christianity

text: The Holy Spirit is referred to as "the Lord, the Giver of Life" in the Nicene Creed, which summarises several key beliefs held by many Christian denominations. The participation of the Holy Spirit in the tripartite nature of conversion is apparent in Jesus' final post-resurrection instruction to his disciples at the end of the Gospel of Matthew, "Make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." Since the first century, Christians have also called upon God with the trinitarian formula "Father, Son and Holy Spirit" in prayer, absolution and benediction. In the book of the Acts of the Apostles the arrival of the Holy Spirit happens fifty days after the resurrection of the Christ, and is celebrated in Christendom with the feast of Pentecost.


title: Holy Spirit in Christianity

text: The Koine Greek word "pneûma" (, pneuma) is found around 385 times in the New Testament, with some scholars differing by three to nine occurrences. "Pneuma" appears 105 times in the four canonical gospels, 69 times in the Acts of the Apostles, 161 times in the Pauline epistles, and 50 times elsewhere. These usages vary: in 133 cases it refers to "spirit" and in 153 cases to "spiritual". Around 93 times, the reference is to the Holy Spirit, sometimes under the name "pneuma" and sometimes explicitly as the "pneûma tò Hagion" (). (In a few cases it is also simply used generically to mean "wind" or "life".) It was generally translated into the Vulgate as "Spiritus" and "".


title: Holy Spirit in Christianity

text: The English terms "Holy Ghost" and "Holy Spirit" are complete synonyms: one derives from the Old English "gast" and the other from the Latin loanword "". Like "pneuma", they both refer to the breath, to its animating power, and to the soul. The Old English term is shared by all other Germanic languages (compare, e.g., the German "Geist") and it is older; the King James Bible typically uses "Holy Ghost". Beginning in the 20th century, translations overwhelmingly prefer "Holy Spirit", partly because the general English term "ghost" has increasingly come to refer only to the spirit of a dead person.


title: Holy Spirit in Christianity

text: What the Hebrew Bible calls "Spirit of God" and "Spirit of Elohim" is called in the Talmud and Midrash "Holy Spirit" ("ruacḥ ha-kodesh"). Although the expression "Holy Spirit" occurs in Ps. 51:11 and in Isa. 63:10–11, it had not yet acquired quite the same meaning which was attached to it in rabbinical literature: in the latter it is equivalent to the expression "Spirit of the Lord". In Gen.1:2 God's spirit hovered over the form of lifeless matter, thereby making the Creation possible. Although the "ruach ha-kodesh" may be named instead of God, it was conceived of as being something distinct; and, like everything earthly that comes from heaven, the "ruach ha-kodesh" is composed of light and fire. The most characteristic sign of the presence of the "ruach ha-kodesh" is the gift of prophecy. The use of the word "ruach" (Hebrew: "breath", or "wind") in the phrase "ruach ha-kodesh" seems to suggest that Judaic authorities believed the Holy Spirit was a kind of communication medium like the wind. The spirit talks sometimes with a masculine and sometimes with a feminine voice; the word "ruacḥ" is both masculine and feminine.


title: Holy Spirit in Christianity

text: The term Holy Spirit appears at least 90 times in the New Testament. The sacredness of the Holy Spirit to Christians is affirmed in all three Synoptic Gospels, which proclaim that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is the unforgivable sin. The participation of the Holy Spirit in the Trinity is suggested in Jesus' final post-Resurrection instruction to his disciples at the end of the Gospel of Matthew (28:19): "Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit".


title: Holy Spirit in Christianity

text: The Holy Spirit is mentioned by all three authors of the synoptic Gospels. Most of the references are by the author of the Gospel of Luke; this emphasis is continued by the same author in the Book of Acts.


title: Holy Spirit in Christianity

text: The Holy Spirit does not simply appear for the first time at Pentecost after the resurrection of Jesus, but is present in the Gospel of Luke (in 1–2) prior to the birth of Jesus. In Luke 1:15, John the Baptist was said to be "filled with the Holy Spirit" prior to birth, and the Holy Spirit came upon the Virgin Mary in Luke 1:35. In Luke 3:16, John the Baptist stated that Jesus baptized not with water but with the Holy Spirit; and the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus during his baptism in the Jordan River. In Luke 11:13, Jesus provided assurances that God the Father would "give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him".


title: Holy Spirit in Christianity

text: Mark 13:11 specifically refers to the power of the Holy Spirit to act and speak through the disciples of Jesus in time of need: "Be not anxious beforehand what ye shall speak: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye; for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Spirit." Matthew 10:20 refers to the same act of speaking through the disciples, but uses the term "Spirit of your Father".


title: Holy Spirit in Christianity

text: The Acts of the Apostles has sometimes been called the "Book of the Holy Spirit" or the "Acts of the Holy Spirit". Of the seventy or so occurrences of the word "Pneuma" in Acts, fifty-five refer to the Holy Spirit.


title: Holy Spirit in Christianity

text: From the start, in Acts 1:2, the reader is reminded that the ministry of Jesus, while he was on earth, was carried out through the power of the Holy Spirit and that the "acts of the apostles" continue the acts of Jesus and are also facilitated by the Holy Spirit. Acts presents the Holy Spirit as the "life principle" of the early Church and provides five separate and dramatic instances of its outpouring on believers in Acts 2:1–4, 4:28–31, 8:15–17, 10:44, and 19:6.


title: Holy Spirit in Christianity

text: References to the Holy Spirit appear throughout Acts, for example Acts 1:5 and 8 stating towards the beginning, "For John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized in the Holy Spirit. ...Ye shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit is come upon you", referring to the fulfillment of the prophecy of John the Baptist in Luke 3:16, "he shall baptize you in the Holy Spirit".


title: Holy Spirit in Christianity

text: Three separate terms, namely "Holy Spirit", "Spirit of Truth" and "Paraclete" are used in the Johannine writings. The "Spirit of Truth" is used in John 14:17, 15:26, and 16:13. The First Epistle of John then contrasts this with the "spirit of error" in 1 John 4:6. 1 John 4:1–6 provides the separation between spirits "that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God" and those who in error refuse it – an indication of their being evil spirits.


title: Holy Spirit in Christianity

text: In John 14:26, Jesus states: "But the Comforter, [even] the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things". The identity of the "Comforter" has been the subject of debate among theologians, who have proposed multiple theories on the matter.


title: Holy Spirit in Christianity

text: The Holy Spirit plays a key role in the Pauline epistles; and the Apostle Paul's pneumatology is closely connected to his theology and Christology, to the point of being almost inseparable from them.


title: Holy Spirit in Christianity

text: The First Epistle to the Thessalonians, which was likely the first of Paul's letters, introduces a characterization of the Holy Spirit in 1 Thessalonians 1:6 and 1 Thessalonians 4:8 which is found throughout his epistles. In 1 Thessalonians 1:6 Paul refers to the imitation of Christ (and himself) and states: "And ye became imitators of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit", whose source is identified in 1 Thessalonians 4:8 as "God, who giveth his Holy Spirit unto you".


title: Holy Spirit in Christianity

text: These two themes of receiving the Spirit "like Christ" and God being the source of the Spirit persist in Pauline letters as the characterization of the relationship of Christians with God. For Paul the "imitation of Christ" involves readiness to be shaped by the Holy Spirit, as in Romans 8:4 and 8:11: "But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwelleth in you, he that raised up Christ Jesus from the dead shall give life also to your mortal bodies through his Spirit that dwelleth in you."


title: Holy Spirit in Christianity

text: The First Epistle to the Thessalonians also refers to the power of the Holy Spirit in 1 Thessalonians 1:5, a theme also found in other Pauline letters.


title: Holy Spirit in Christianity

text: The view of the Holy Spirit as responsible for Mary's pregnancy, found in the Synoptic Gospels, is different from that found in the apocryphal Gospel of the Hebrews, adopted as canonical by the 4th century Nazarenes, in which Jesus speaks of the Holy Spirit as his mother and thus as female. Some thought femininity incompatible with the idea that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit; according to the apocryphal Gospel of Philip, for example,


title: Holy Spirit in Christianity

text: The New Testament details a close relationship between the Holy Spirit and Jesus during his earthly life and ministry. The Apostles' Creed echoes the statements in the Gospels of Luke and Matthew, stating that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.


title: Holy Spirit in Christianity

text: Specific New Testament references to the interaction of Jesus and the Holy Spirit during his earthly life, and the enabling power of the Holy Spirit during his ministry include:


title: Holy Spirit in Christianity

text: In his Farewell Discourse to his disciples, Jesus promised that he would "send the Holy Spirit" to them after his departure, in John 15:26 stating: "whom I will send unto you from the Father, [even] the Spirit of truth ... shall bear witness of me".


title: Holy Spirit in Christianity

text: The theology of spirits is called pneumatology. The Holy Spirit is referred to as the Lord and Giver of Life in the Nicene creed. He is the Creator Spirit, present before the creation of the universe and through his power everything was made in Jesus Christ, by God the Father. Christian hymns such as "Veni Creator Spiritus" ("Come, Creator Spirit") reflect this belief.


title: Holy Spirit in Christianity

text: In early Christianity, the concept of salvation was closely related to the invocation of the "Father, Son and Holy Spirit", and since the first century, Christians have called upon God with the name "Father, Son and Holy Spirit" in prayer, baptism, communion, exorcism, hymn-singing, preaching, confession, absolution and benediction. This is reflected in the saying: "Before there was a 'doctrine' of the Trinity, Christian prayer invoked the Holy Trinity".


title: Holy Spirit in Christianity

text: For the majority of Christian denominations, the Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Holy Trinity – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and is Almighty God. As such he is personal and also fully God, co-equal and co-eternal with God the Father and Son of God. He is different from the Father and the Son in that he "proceeds" from the Father (and, according to Roman Catholics, Old Catholics, Anglicans, and Protestants, from the Father and the Son) as described in the Nicene Creed. The Triune God is thus manifested as three "Persons" (Greek "hypostases"), in One Divine Being (Greek: Ousia), called the Godhead (" Godhood"), the Divine Essence of God.


title: Holy Spirit in Christianity

text: In the New Testament, by the power of the Holy Spirit Jesus was conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary, while maintaining her virginity. The Holy Spirit descended over Jesus in a corporeal way, as a dove, at the time of his baptism, and a voice from Heaven was heard: "This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased." He is the Sanctifier, the Helper, Comforter, the Giver of graces, he who leads persons to the Father and the Son.


title: Holy Spirit in Christianity

text: The Holy Spirit is credited with inspiring believers and allowing for them to interpret all the sacred scripture, and leads prophets both in Old Testament and New Testament. Christians receive the Fruits of the Holy Spirit by means of his mercy and grace.


title: Holy Spirit in Christianity

text: The Christian doctrine of the Trinity includes the concept of God the Holy Spirit, along with God the Son and God the Father. Theologian Vladimir Lossky has argued that while, in the act of the Incarnation, "God the Son" became manifest as the Son of God, the same did not take place for "God the Holy Spirit" which remained unrevealed. Yet, as in 1 Corinthians 6:19, God the Spirit continues to dwell in the faithful.


title: Holy Spirit in Christianity

text: In a similar way, the Latin treatise "De Trinitate" ("On the Trinity") of Saint Augustine of Hippo affirms: "For as the Father is God, and the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, which no one doubts to be said in respect to substance, yet we do not say that the very Supreme Trinity itself is three Gods, but one God. ...But position, and condition, and places, and times, are not said to be in God properly, but metaphorically and through similitudes. ...And as respects action (or making), perhaps it may be said most truly of God alone, for God alone makes and Himself is not made. Nor is He liable to passions as far as belongs to that substance whereby He is God. ...So the Father is omnipotent, the Son omnipotent, and the Holy Spirit is omnipotent; yet not three omnipotents, but one omnipotent. ...Whatever, therefore, is spoken of God in respect to Himself, is both spoken singly of each Person, that is, of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit; and together of the Trinity itself, not plurally but in the singular."


title: Holy Spirit in Christianity

text: In Christian theology the Holy Spirit is believed to perform specific divine functions in the life of the Christian or the church. The action of the Holy Spirit is seen as an essential part of the bringing of the person to the Christian faith. The new believer is "born again of the Spirit". The Holy Spirit enables Christian life by dwelling in the individual believers and enables them to live a righteous and faithful life. The Holy Spirit also acts as comforter or Paraclete, one who intercedes, or supports or acts as an advocate, particularly in times of trial. And he acts to convince the unredeemed person both of the sinfulness of their actions and of their moral standing as sinners before God. Another faculty of the Holy Spirit is the inspiration and interpretation of scripture. The Holy Spirit both "inspires" the writing of the scriptures and "interprets" them to the Christian and the church.


title: Holy Spirit in Christianity

text: In John 15:26, Jesus says of the Holy Spirit: "But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me." In 325, the First Council of Nicaea, being the first ecumenical council, ended its Creed with the words "and in the Holy Spirit". In 381, the First Council of Constantinople, being the second ecumenical council, expanded the Creed and stated that Holy Spirit "proceeds from the Father" (ἐκ τοῦ Πατρὸς ἐκπορευόμενον). This phrase was based on John 15:26 (ὃ παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς ἐκπορεύεται). In 451, the Council of Chalcedon, being the fourth ecumenical council, affirmed the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed. During the same time, the question of procession of the Holy Spirit was addressed by various Christian theologians, expressing diverse views and using different terminology, thus initiating the debate that became focused on the "Filioqu"e clause.


title: Holy Spirit in Christianity

text: In 589, the Third Council of Toledo in its third canon officially accepted the doctrine of the procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son ("a Patre et Filio procedere"). During the next few centuries, two distinctive schools of thought were gradually shaped, Eastern and Western. Eastern theologians were teaching that Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father only (notion referred as "monoprocessionism"), while Western theologians were teaching that Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son (notion referred as "filioquism"). Debates and controversies between two sides became a significant point of difference within Christian pneumatology, inclusive of their historical role in setting the stage for the Great Schism of 1054.


title: Holy Spirit in Christianity

text: The fruit of the Holy Spirit consists of "permanent dispositions" (in this similar to the permanent character of the sacraments), virtuous characteristics engendered in the Christian by the action of the Holy Spirit. Galatians 5:22–23 names nine aspects and states:


title: Holy Spirit in Christianity

text: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self-control; against such there is no law.


title: Holy Spirit in Christianity

text: In the Epistle to the Galatians these nine characteristics are in contrast to the "works of the flesh" and highlight the positive manifestations of the work of the Holy Spirit in believers.


title: Holy Spirit in Christianity

text: The "gifts of the Holy Spirit" are distinct from the Fruit of the Spirit, and consist of specific abilities granted to the individual Christian. They are frequently known by the Greek word for gift, "charisma", in English charism, from which the term charismatic derives. There is no generally agreed upon exhaustive list of the gifts, and various Christian denominations use different lists, often drawing upon 1 Corinthians, Romans 12 and Ephesians 4. Pentecostal denominations and the charismatic movement teach that the absence of the supernatural gifts was due to the neglect of the Holy Spirit and his work by the major denominations. Believers in the relevance of the supernatural gifts sometimes speak of a "Baptism with the Holy Spirit" or "Filling with the Holy Spirit" which the Christian needs to experience in order to receive those gifts. However, many Christian denominations hold that the Baptism with the Holy Spirit is identical with conversion, and that all Christians are by definition baptized in the Holy Spirit.


title: Holy Spirit in Christianity

text: The "seven gifts of the Holy Spirit" are poured out on a believer at baptism, and are traditionally derived from Isaiah 11:1–2, although the New Testament does not refer to Isaiah 11:1–2 regarding these gifts. These 7 gifts are: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude (strength), knowledge, piety and fear of the Lord. This is the view of the Catholic Church and many other mainstream Christian groups.


title: Holy Spirit in Christianity

text: Christian denominations have doctrinal variations in their beliefs regarding the Holy Spirit. A well-known example is the "Filioque" controversy regarding the Holy Spirit – one of the key differences between the teachings of the main Western Churches and various Eastern Christian denominations (Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Church of the East).


title: Holy Spirit in Christianity

text: The "Filioque" debate centers around whether the Nicene Creed should state that the Spirit "proceeds from the Father" and then have a stop, as the creed was initially adopted in Greek (and followed thereafter by the Eastern Church), or should say "from the Father and the Son" as was later adopted in Latin and followed by the Western Church, "filioque" being "and from the Son" in Latin.


title: Holy Spirit in Christianity

text: Towards the end of the 20th century, discussions took place about the removal of "Filioque" in the Nicene Creed from Anglican prayer books along the lines of the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox approach, but these still have not reached a state of final implementation.


title: Holy Spirit in Christianity

text: The majority of mainstream Protestantism hold similar views on the theology of the Holy Spirit as the Roman Catholic Church, but there are significant differences in belief between Pentecostalism and the rest of Protestantism. Pentecostalism has a focus on "Baptism with the Spirit", relying on Acts 1:5 which refers to "now you will baptize with the Holy Spirit". The more recent Charismatic movements have a focus on the "gifts of the Spirit" (such as healing, prophecy, etc.) and rely on 1 Corinthians 12 as a scriptural basis, but often differ from Pentecostal movements.


title: Holy Spirit in Christianity

text: The topic of the Holy Spirit is discussed extensively in the "Catechism of the Catholic Church" as "I believe in the Holy Spirit" in paragraphs 683 through 747.


title: Holy Spirit in Christianity

text: Jehovah's Witnesses and Christadelphians view the Holy Spirit not as an actual person separate from God the Father, but as God's eternal "energy" or "active force", that he uses to accomplish his will in creation and redemption.


title: Holy Spirit in Christianity

text: Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) believe that the Holy Ghost is the third member of the Godhead. He is a personage of spirit, without a body of flesh and bones. He is often referred to as the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of the Lord, or the Comforter. Latter-day Saints believe in a kind of social trinitarianism and subordinationism, meaning that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are understood as being unified in will and purpose, but not in substance. The Holy Ghost is believed to be subordinate to the Father and the Son and operates under their direction. The Holy Ghost, like all intelligent beings, is believed to be fundamentally eternal, uncreated, and self-existent.


title: Holy Spirit in Christianity

text: The LDS Church teaches that the influence of the Holy Ghost can be received before baptism, but the gift, or constant companionship, of the Holy Ghost—which comes by the laying-on of hands by a properly ordained priesthood holder with a line of authority traced back to Christ through Peter—is obtained only after baptism when a person is confirmed. Joseph Smith, the founder of the church, taught, "You might as well baptize a bag of sand as a man," he said, "if not done in view of the remission of sins and getting of the Holy Ghost. Baptism by water is but half a baptism, and is good for nothing without the other half — that is, the baptism of the Holy Ghost".


title: Holy Spirit in Christianity

text: The Holy Spirit is frequently referred to by metaphor and symbol, both doctrinally and biblically. Theologically speaking these symbols are a key to understanding of the Holy Spirit and his actions, and are not mere artistic representations.


title: Holy Spirit in Christianity

text: The Holy Spirit has been represented in Christian art both in the Eastern and Western Churches using a variety of depictions. The depictions have ranged from nearly identical figures that represent the three persons of the Holy Trinity, to a dove, to a flame.


title: Holy Spirit in Christianity

text: The Holy Spirit is often depicted as a dove, based on the account of the Holy Spirit descending on Jesus like a dove when he was baptized in the Jordan. In many paintings of the Annunciation, the Holy Spirit is shown in the form of a dove, coming down towards Mary on beams of light, as the Archangel Gabriel announces Jesus Christ's coming to Mary. A dove may also be seen at the ear of Saint Gregory the Great – as recorded by his secretary – or other church father authors, dictating their works to them. The dove also parallels the one that brought the olive branch to Noah after the deluge, as a symbol of peace.


title: Holy Spirit in Christianity

text: The book of Acts describes the Holy Spirit descending on the apostles at Pentecost in the form of a wind and tongues of fire resting over the apostles' heads. Based on the imagery in that account, the Holy Spirit is sometimes symbolized by a flame of fire.


title: Holy Spirit in Christianity

text: Ancient Celtic Christians depicted the Holy Spirit as a goose called Ah Geadh-Glas, which means wild goose. A goose was chosen rather than the traditional dove because geese were perceived as more free than their dove counterparts.


title: Holy Spirit in Christianity

text: The Holy Spirit has traditionally been a subject matter of strictly theological works focused on proving the central doctrines concerning the Holy Spirit, often as a response to arguments from religious groups who deny these foundational Biblical truths. In recent years, however, the Holy Spirit has made an entrance into the world of (Christian) literature through books such as The Shack published in 2007.


title: Pernell Roberts

text: Pernell Elven Roberts Jr. (May 18, 1928 – January 24, 2010) was an American stage, film, and television actor, activist, and singer. In addition to guest-starring in over 60 television series, he was best known for his roles as Ben Cartwright's eldest son Adam Cartwright on the Western television series "Bonanza" (1959–1965), and as chief surgeon Dr. John McIntyre, the title character on "Trapper John, M.D." (1979–1986).


title: Pernell Roberts

text: Roberts was also known for his lifelong activism, which included participation in the Selma to Montgomery marches in 1965 and pressuring NBC to refrain from hiring white people to portray minority characters.


title: Pernell Roberts

text: Roberts was born in 1928 in Waycross, Georgia, the only child of Pernell Elven Roberts Sr., a Dr Pepper salesman, and Minnie (Betty) Myrtle Morgan Roberts. During his high-school years, Pernell played the horn, acted in school and church plays, and sang in local USO shows. He attended, but did not graduate from, Georgia Tech. Enlisting in 1946, he served for two years in the United States Marine Corps. He played the tuba and horn in the Marine Corps Band, and he was also skilled at playing the sousaphone and percussion. He later attended, also without graduating, the University of Maryland, where he had his first exposure to acting in classical theatre. He appeared in four productions while a student, including "Othello" and "Antigone", but left school to act in summer stock.


title: Pernell Roberts

text: In 1949, he made his professional stage debut with Moss Hart and Kitty Carlisle in "The Man Who Came to Dinner" at the Olney Theatre in Olney, Maryland. Later, he spent eight weeks at the Bryn Mawr College Theatre in Philadelphia, portraying Dan in Emlyn Williams' "Night Must Fall" and Alfred Doolittle in Bernard Shaw's "Pygmalion".


title: Pernell Roberts

text: In 1952, Roberts moved to New York City, where he appeared first off-Broadway in one-act operas and ballets with the North American Lyric Theatre, with the Shakespearewrights, at the Equity Library Theatre, and later on Broadway with performances in "Tonight in Samarkand" (also in Washington, DC), "The Lovers" opposite Joanne Woodward, and "A Clearing in the Woods" with Robert Culp and Kim Stanley. He won a Drama Desk Award in 1955 for his performance in an off-Broadway rendition of "Macbeth", which was followed by the role of Mercutio in "Romeo and Juliet". He performed in "Twelfth Night", "The Merchant of Venice", "Dr. Faustus", and "The Taming of the Shrew" at the American Shakespeare Festival, and later on Broadway. He performed in "St. Joan" (1954, Cleveland), "Down in the Valley" (at the Provincetown Playhouse), "The Duchess of Malfi", "Measure for Measure", and "King John".


title: Pernell Roberts

text: In 1956, Roberts returned to the Olney Theatre, starring opposite Jan Farrand in "Much Ado About Nothing" with the Players, Inc. group. The same year, Roberts made his television debut in the "Shadow of Suspicion" episode of "Kraft Television Theater", followed by guest-starring roles in "Whirlybirds", "Gunsmoke", "Cimarron City", "Buckskin", "Sugarfoot", and "Cheyenne".


title: Pernell Roberts

text: Roberts signed a contract with Columbia Pictures in 1957, and made his film debut a year later as one of Burl Ives' contentious sons in "Desire Under the Elms" (1958). The film was nominated for a Best Cinematography Academy Award. He also landed a character role in "The Sheepman" (1958), opposite Glenn Ford and Shirley MacLaine, and continued to guest-star on television shows such as episodes of "Shirley Temple Storybook Theater" ("The Emperor's New Clothes", "Rumplestiltskin", "The Sleeping Beauty", and "Hiawatha"), the live-broadcast "Matinee Theater", where he starred again in Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing", and in "The Heart's Desire". This was followed by appearances in "Trackdown", "Buckskin", and episodes of "Zane Grey Theater". Roberts guest-starred as Captain Jacques Chavez on the NBC adventure series "Northwest Passage" (1958). He appeared with fellow guest star Fay Spain in the 1958 episode "Pick Up the Gun" of "Tombstone Territory" and played the lead villain in the 31st episode ("Hey Boy's Revenge") of "Have Gun – Will Travel", portraying a killer boss exploiter of Chinese coolie laborers.


title: Pernell Roberts

text: In 1959, Roberts guest-starred in episodes of "General Electric Theater", "Cimarron City", "Sugarfoot", "Lawman", "", "Bronco", "77 Sunset Strip", "The Detectives", and "House Call". Also in 1959, he co-starred in the film "Ride Lonesome". "If Roberts felt typecast by Westerns, they also provided his finest role in this film, arguably the greatest of the B-movies starring Randolph Scott and directed by Budd Boetticher. Roberts recognized the film's classic structure; his engaging outlaw, Sam Boone, counterpoints Scott's granite-faced Ben Brigade, maintaining the tension of whether they will work together or clash. He similarly played off James Coburn, who was making his film debut as Boone's quiet sidekick, Whit." The same year, he was cast in "Bonanza".


title: Pernell Roberts

text: Roberts played Ben Cartwright's urbane eldest son Adam, in the Western television series "Bonanza". Unlike his brothers, Adam was a university-educated architectural engineer.


title: Pernell Roberts

text: Roberts, having largely been "a stage actor, accustomed as he was to a rigorous diet of the classics" and to freely move about from part to part, found the "transition to a television series", playing the same character, "without costume changes", a difficult one. "It was perhaps not surprising that, despite enormous success, he left "Bonanza" after the 1964–65 season, criticizing the show's simple-minded content and lack of minority actors...". It particularly distressed him that his character, a man in his 30s, had to defer continually to the wishes of his widowed father, and he reportedly disliked the series itself, calling it "junk" television and accusing NBC of "perpetuating banality and contributing to the dehumanization of the industry." The equally self-critical Roberts ("I guess I'll never be satisfied with my own work"), "had long disdained the medium's commercialization of his craft and its mass-production, assembly-line mindset." Frustrated with "Bonanza" and angry, he told a reporter in 1965, "I feel I'm an aristocrat in my field of endeavor. My being part of "Bonanza" was like Isaac Stern sitting in with Lawrence Welk".


title: Pernell Roberts

text: In much later interviews, Roberts denied statements about "Bonanza" attributed to him. "I did not enjoy "Bonanza" anymore...but I never said those things people said I said." He was, however, "too wise not to recognize its weaknesses." In a 1963 interview, he asked a reporter, "Isn't it a bit silly for three adult males to have to ask father's permission for everything they do?" "They told me the four characters (Lorne Greene, patriarch Ben, Dan Blocker and Michael Landon as his brothers) would be carefully defined and the scripts carefully prepared; none of it ever happened," he complained to the Associated Press in 1964. He objected to how "Bonanza" portrayed the relationship between the "father" and adult "sons", describing it as "adolescent".


title: Pernell Roberts

text: Roberts acknowledged reasons for "Bonanza"'s appeal, but pointed to his personal need for story lines with greater social relevance, adult themes, and dialogue. He wanted "Bonanza" to be "a little more grown up" ("Mike Douglas Show", 1966). He also noted that he was not suited to the "procedural" and "confining aspect" of series television, another reason for his dissatisfaction, while on the show.("Mike Douglas Show," 1966)


title: Pernell Roberts

text: Roberts had high hopes for what he could contribute to "Bonanza" and was disappointed with the direction of the show, and the limitations imposed on his "Bonanza" character and on his acting range. In a newspaper interview, he said, "I haven't grown at all since the series began...I have an impotent role. Wherever I turn there's the father image."


title: Pernell Roberts

text: Finally, after disagreements with writers and producers over the quality of the scripts, characterization, and "Bonanza"'s refusal to allow him to perform elsewhere while on contract, Roberts "turned his back on Hollywood wisdom and well-meant advice," and left, largely to return to legitimate theater.


title: Pernell Roberts

text: Roberts fulfilled, but did not extend his six-year contract for "Bonanza", and when he left the series, his character was eliminated with the explanation that Adam had "moved away." Later episodes suggested variously that Adam was "at sea", had moved to Europe, or was on the East Coast, running that end of the family business. The last episode Pernell Roberts worked on was "Dead and Gone", air date April 4, 1965. He appeared in the next two that aired, which were filmed prior to "Dead and Gone" — "A Good Night's Rest", air date April 11, 1965, and "To Own The World", air date April 18, 1965. Adam Cartwright was mentioned on occasion in the series (including a 1967 episode that did not air until April 4, 1971 ("Kingdom of Fear"). In television interviews, Roberts said that he would have stayed with "Bonanza", had he been allowed to do so on a part-time basis to enable him to return to theater. Bonanza producer David Dortort described Roberts as "rebellious, outspoken... and aloof," but as one who "could make any scene he was in better...". In a later archive interview, he regretted not having insisted on a "marriage for Adam" and having Roberts continue on the show as a semiregular. He added, "I must confess..I was too hard on him. I did not appreciate him. I knew he was good, but I didn't realize he was that good...none better." In the last two "Bonanza" movies that aired on NBC in the early 1990s, the story line stated that Adam, now in Australia, had equaled his father's success, dominating the engineering/construction business.


title: Pernell Roberts

text: Roberts was the only accomplished singer of the original cast, though David Canary, who joined "Bonanza" in 1967, had a background in voice and performed on Broadway. During Roberts' "Bonanza" years, he recorded "Come All Ye Fair and Tender Ladies", a folk music album, which "AllMusic" calls "...the softer, lyrical side of folk music — pleasant and not challenging, but quite rewarding in its unassuming way." The album, released by RCA Victor and arranged by Dick Rosmini, is available on compact disc only as part of the fourth disc of the "Bonanza" 4-CD boxed set on Bear Family Records.


title: Pernell Roberts

text: On the "Bonanza" box-set albums, Roberts also sings "Early One Morning", "In the Pines", "The New Born King", "The Bold Soldier", "Mary Ann", "They Call the Wind Maria", "Sylvie", "Lily of the West", "The Water is Wide", "Rake and a Ramblin' Boy", "A Quiet Girl", "Shady Grove", "Alberta", and "Empty Pocket Blues".


title: Pernell Roberts

text: After "Bonanza", Roberts played summer stock theatre, regional theaters, and episodic TV, which gave him the opportunity to play a wide variety of roles. He toured with musicals such as "The King and I," "Kiss Me Kate", "Camelot", and "The Music Man", and dramas such as "Tiny Alice". He played Jigger in an ABC television presentation of "Carousel" and was featured in a CBS Playhouse production, "Dear Friends".


title: Pernell Roberts

text: In 1967, Roberts starred in the lavish, but short-lived David Merrick production of "Mata Hari", directed by Vincente Minnelli. The show had a much-publicized "chaotic" preview performance due to technical problems stemming from lack of rehearsal time at the National Theatre in Washington, DC, where the preview performance took place. "What was offered the people of Washington was a dress rehearsal. David Merrick spoke to the audience beforehand warning them of this." Problems were corrected by the official opening night, when the show received good reviews for Roberts, musical score and lyrics, stage design, and costumes, but poor reviews for its co-star and other aspects of the production. The show, nevertheless, was thought to have the potential to continue to Broadway. ""Mata Hari" was a show with a great story, two fascinating characters, and some accessory mess that could have easily been tidied up by anyone but Vincente Minnelli." But Merrick, "instead of bringing someone to clean house closed the production down".


title: Pernell Roberts

text: In 1972, Roberts returned to Broadway and toured with Ingrid Bergman in "Captain Brassbound's Conversion", in which he played the title role. "Particularly helpful is Pernell Roberts in the acted-upon title role... This actor is a sturdy, not unamusing leading-man type and may his appearance as a Bergman costar be rewarded beyond "Bonanza"."


title: Pernell Roberts

text: In 1973, Roberts was nominated for a Joseph Jefferson Award for his performance in "Welcome Home" at the Ivanhoe Theatre in Chicago.


title: Pernell Roberts

text: The same year, Roberts starred as Rhett Butler opposite Lesley Ann Warren, in another major production, "Gone with the Wind," at the Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, again receiving good personal reviews, amidst weak reviews for the rest of the show.


title: Pernell Roberts

text: His additional stage credits after "Bonanza" include "Two for the Seesaw," "A Thousand Clowns," "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," "Any Wednesday," and "The Sound of Music" (as Captain von Trapp).


title: Pernell Roberts

text: Roberts played Jim Conrad, the lead role, in the 1971 TV movie that served as a pilot for the series "San Francisco International Airport", though the role was played by Lloyd Bridges in the actual episodes of the series. Roberts guest-starred in TV shows such as "The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.," "The Virginian," "The Big Valley," "Lancer," "" (four episodes), "Have Gun – Will Travel", "Marcus Welby, M.D.," "The Wild Wild West," "Ironside" (two episodes), "The Rockford Files," "Gunsmoke," "Mannix," "Vega$," "The Odd Couple," "Hawaii Five-O," "The Love Boat," "Hotel", "The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries," "Nakia," "Night Gallery," "The Bold Ones," "The Quest," "Police Story," "Most Wanted," "Westside Medical," "Man from Atlantis," "Jigsaw John," "Sixth Sense," "Quincy, M.E. " "The Feather and Father Gang," "Hawkins," "Men from Shiloh," "Perry Mason," "Wide World of Mystery," and "The Six Million Dollar Man," and appeared in miniseries, including "Captains and the Kings," "Centennial," "The Immigrants", and "Around the World in 80 Days." He starred in two cult films, "Four Rode Out" (1971) and "Kashmiri Run" (1970), directed by veteran TV director John Peyser, and other feature films, including "The Magic of Lassie" (1978). He co-starred or was featured in several TV movies, including, "The Adventures of Nick Carter," "Dead Man on the Run," "Assignment Vienna"'s pilot "Assignment: Munich", "The Night Rider," "The Silent Gun," "The Lives of Jenny Dolan", "The Deadly Tower," "Hot Rod," "Desperado," "The Bravos," and "".


title: Pernell Roberts

text: In 1979, Roberts again achieved "superstar" status as the lead in "Trapper John, M.D." (1979–1986), receiving an Emmy nomination in 1981; and playing the character twice as long as Wayne Rogers had (1972–1975) on CBSs "M*A*S*H" series. Roberts told "TV Guide" in 1979 that he chose to return to weekly television after watching his father age and realizing that it was a vulnerable time to be without financial security. "The show allowed Roberts to both use his dramatic range and address issues," wrote "The Independent."


title: Pernell Roberts

text: Of the period between series, Roberts said he enjoyed moving around and playing different characters. During that time, he also toured university campuses conducting seminars on play production, acting, and poetry.


title: Pernell Roberts

text: He guest-starred as Hezekiah Horn in the powerful "Young Riders" episode, "Requiem for a Hero", for which he won a Western Heritage Award in 1991.


title: Pernell Roberts

text: In interviews, Roberts had described television as a "director's and film cutter's medium," but he himself was described as a "born television actor...low key."


title: Pernell Roberts

text: In the 1980s and 1990s, playing off his "Trapper John M.D." persona, Roberts acted as TV spokesman for Ecotrin, a brand of analgesic tablets. His roles since included "Donor" (1990) with Melissa Gilbert and "Checkered Flag" (1990). He appeared as captain of the CBS teams for "Battle of the Network Stars 11 and 12".


title: Pernell Roberts

text: He narrated documentaries, including the National Geographic episode, "Alaska, The Great Land" in 1965, "In the Realm of the Alligator" in 1986, the TV special "Code One" about the work of paramedics in 1989, and "The Mountain Men" episode of the History Channel, 1999.


title: Pernell Roberts

text: From 1991 to 1993, in his last venture into series television, Roberts lent his distinctive voice to host and narrate the TV anthology series, "". He made his last TV appearance in 1997 on an episode of "", updating a "Mannix" character he had portrayed decades before.


title: Pernell Roberts

text: In his later life, and after the death of all of his former "Bonanza" co-stars, Roberts "jokingly referred to himself as, 'Pernell, the last one, Roberts.'" He read "Bonanza Gold Magazine", which was like looking at an old family album, he said, and watched reruns of "Bonanza" when he wanted to see old friends.


title: Pernell Roberts

text: Roberts married four times, first in 1951 to Vera Mowry — a professor of theatre history at Washington State University and subsequently Hunter College, as well as professor emerita of the PhD program in theatre at City University of New York — with whom he had his only child (Jonathan Christopher "Chris" Roberts). Roberts and his first wife later divorced. Chris Roberts attended Franconia College. He died in a motorcycle accident in 1989.


title: Pernell Roberts

text: Roberts married Judith Anna LeBrecque on October 15, 1962; they divorced in 1971. He subsequently married Kara Knack in 1972, divorcing in 1996.


title: Pernell Roberts

text: At the time of his death from pancreatic cancer on January 24, 2010, Roberts was married to Eleanor Criswell.


title: Pernell Roberts

text: 46. Demetria Fulton previewed Roberts in Barnaby Jones; episode titled, “Testament of Power”(01/20/1977).


title: Charles Martel

text: Charles Martel ( – 22 October 741) was a Frankish political and military leader who, as Duke and Prince of the Franks and Mayor of the Palace, was the de facto ruler of Francia from 718 until his death. He was a son of the Frankish statesman Pepin of Herstal and Pepin's mistress, a noblewoman named Alpaida. Charles, also known as "The Hammer" (in Old French, "Martel"), successfully asserted his claims to power as successor to his father as the power behind the throne in Frankish politics. Continuing and building on his father's work, he restored centralized government in Francia and began the series of military campaigns that re-established the Franks as the undisputed masters of all Gaul. According to a near-contemporary source, the "Liber Historiae Francorum", Charles was "a warrior who was uncommonly [...] effective in battle".


title: Charles Martel

text: Martel gained a very consequential victory against an Umayyad invasion of Aquitaine at the Battle of Tours, at a time when the Umayyad Caliphate controlled most of the Iberian Peninsula. Alongside his military endeavours, Charles has been traditionally credited with a seminal role in the development of the Frankish system of feudalism.


title: Charles Martel

text: At the end of his reign, Charles divided Francia between his sons, Carloman and Pepin. The latter became the first king of the Carolingian dynasty. Pepin's son Charlemagne extended the Frankish realms and became the first emperor in the West since the fall of Rome.


title: Charles Martel

text: Charles, nicknamed "Martel", or "Charles the Hammer" in later chronicles, was the illegitimate son of Pepin of Herstal and his mistress, possible second wife, Alpaida. He had a brother named Childebrand, who later became the Frankish "dux" (that is, "duke") of Burgundy.


title: Charles Martel

text: In older historiography, it was common to describe Charles as "illegitimate". But the dividing line between wives and concubines was not clear-cut in eighth-century Francia, and it is likely that the accusation of "illegitimacy" derives from the desire of Pepin's first wife Plectrude to see her progeny as heirs to Pepin's power.


title: Charles Martel

text: After the reign of Dagobert I (629–639) the Merovingians effectively ceded power to the Pippinid Mayors of the Palace, who ruled the Frankish realm of Austrasia in all but name. They controlled the royal treasury, dispensed patronage, and granted land and privileges in the name of the figurehead king. Charles' father, Pepin of Herstal, was able to unite the Frankish realm by conquering Neustria and Burgundy. Pepin was the first to call himself Duke and Prince of the Franks, a title later taken up by Charles.


title: Charles Martel

text: In December 714, Pepin of Herstal died. A few months before his death and shortly after the murder of his son Grimoald the Younger, he had, at his wife Plectrude's urging, designated Theudoald, his grandson by their late son Grimoald, his heir in the entire realm. This was immediately opposed by the Austrasian nobles because Theudoald was a child of only eight years of age. To prevent Charles using this unrest to his own advantage, Plectrude had him imprisoned in Cologne, the city which was intended to be her capital. This prevented an uprising on his behalf in Austrasia, but not in Neustria.


title: Charles Martel

text: Pepin's death occasioned open conflict between his heirs and the Neustrian nobles who sought political independence from Austrasian control. In 715, Dagobert III named Ragenfrid mayor of their palace, effectively declaring political independence. On 26 September 715, Ragenfrid's Neustrians met the young Theudoald's forces at the Battle of Compiègne. Theudoald was defeated and fled back to Cologne.


title: Charles Martel

text: Before the end of the year, Charles Martel had escaped from prison and been acclaimed mayor by the nobles of Austrasia. That same year, Dagobert III died and the Neustrians proclaimed Chilperic II, the cloistered son of Childeric II, as king.


title: Charles Martel

text: In 716, Chilperic and Ragenfrid together led an army into Austrasia intent on seizing the Pippinid wealth at Cologne. The Neustrians allied with another invading force under Redbad, King of the Frisians and met Charles in battle near Cologne, which was still held by Plectrude. Charles had little time to gather men, or prepare, and the result was inevitable. The Frisians held off Charles, while the king and his mayor besieged Plectrude at Cologne, where she bought them off with a substantial portion of Pepin's treasure. After that they withdrew. The Battle of Cologne is the only defeat of Charles Martel's career.


title: Charles Martel

text: Charles retreated to the hills of the Eifel to gather men, and train them. Having made the proper preparations, in April 716, he fell upon the triumphant army near Malmedy as it was returning to its own province. In the ensuing Battle of Amblève, Martel attacked as the enemy rested at midday. According to one source, he split his forces into several groups which fell at them from many sides. Another suggests that while this was his intention, he then decided, given the enemy's unpreparedness, this was not necessary. In any event, the suddenness of the assault led them to believe they were facing a much larger host. Many of the enemy fled and Martel's troops gathered the spoils of the camp. Martel's reputation increased considerably as a result, and he attracted more followers. This battle is often considered by historians as the turning point in Charles's struggle.


title: Charles Martel

text: Richard Gerberding points out that up to this time, much of Martel's support was probably from his mother's kindred in the lands around Liege. After Amblève, he seems to have won the backing of the influential Willibrord, founder of the Abbey of Echternach. The abbey had been built on land donated by Plectrude's mother, Irmina of Oeren, but most of Willibrord's missionary work had been carried out in Frisia. In joining Chilperic and Ragenfrid, Radbod of Frisia sacked Utrecht, burning churches and killing many missionaries. Willibrord and his monks were forced to flee to Echternach. Gerberding suggests that Willibrord had decided that the chances of preserving his life's work were better with a successful field commander like Martel than with Plectrude in Cologne. Willibrord subsequently baptized Martel's son Pepin. Gerberding suggests a likely date of Easter 716. Martel also received support from bishop Pepo of Verdun.


title: Charles Martel

text: Charles took time to rally more men and prepare. By the following spring, Charles had attracted enough support to invade Neustria. Charles sent an envoy who proposed a cessation of hostilities if Chilperic would recognize his rights as mayor of the palace in Austrasia. The refusal was not unexpected but served to impress upon Martel's forces the unreasonableness of the Neustrians. They met near Cambrai at the Battle of Vincy on 21 March 717. The victorious Martel pursued the fleeing king and mayor to Paris, but as he was not yet prepared to hold the city, he turned back to deal with Plectrude and Cologne. He took the city and dispersed her adherents. Plectrude was allowed to retire to a convent. Theudoald lived to 741 under his uncle's protection, a kindness unusual for those times, when mercy to a former gaoler, or a potential rival, was rare.


title: Charles Martel

text: Upon this success, Charles proclaimed Chlothar IV king of Austrasia in opposition to Chilperic and deposed Rigobert, archbishop of Reims, replacing him with Milo, a lifelong supporter.


title: Charles Martel

text: In 718, Chilperic responded to Charles' new ascendancy by making an alliance with Odo the Great (or Eudes, as he is sometimes known), the duke of Aquitaine, who had become independent during the civil war in 715, but was again defeated, at the Battle of Soissons, by Charles. Chilperic fled with his ducal ally to the land south of the Loire and Ragenfrid fled to Angers. Soon Chlotar IV died and Odo surrendered King Chilperic in exchange for Charles recognizing his dukedom. Charles recognized Chilperic as king of the Franks in return for legitimate royal affirmation of his own mayoralty over all the kingdoms.


title: Charles Martel

text: Between 718 and 732, Charles secured his power through a series of victories. Having unified the Franks under his banner, Charles was determined to punish the Saxons who had invaded Austrasia. Therefore, late in 718, he laid waste their country to the banks of the Weser, the Lippe, and the Ruhr. He defeated them in the Teutoburg Forest and thus secured the Frankish border in the name of King Chlotaire.


title: Charles Martel

text: When the Frisian leader Radbod died in 719, Charles seized West Frisia without any great resistance on the part of the Frisians, who had been subjected to the Franks but had rebelled upon the death of Pippin. When Chilperic II died in 721, Charles appointed as his successor the son of Dagobert III, Theuderic IV, who was still a minor, and who occupied the throne from 721 to 737. Charles was now appointing the kings whom he supposedly served ("rois fainéants") although they were mere figureheads. By the end of his reign, he didn't appoint any at all. At this time, Charles again marched against the Saxons. Then the Neustrians rebelled under Ragenfrid, who had left the county of Anjou. They were easily defeated in 724 but Ragenfrid gave up his sons as hostages in turn for keeping his county. This ended the civil wars of Charles' reign.


title: Charles Martel

text: The next six years were devoted in their entirety to assuring Frankish authority over the neighboring political groups. Between 720 and 723, Charles was fighting in Bavaria, where the Agilolfing dukes had gradually evolved into independent rulers, recently in alliance with Liutprand the Lombard. He forced the Alemanni to accompany him, and Duke Hugbert submitted to Frankish suzerainty. In 725 he brought back the Agilolfing Princess Swanachild as a second wife.


title: Charles Martel

text: In 725 and 728, he again entered Bavaria but, in 730, he marched against Lantfrid, Duke of Alemannia, who had also become independent, and killed him in battle. He forced the Alemanni to capitulate to Frankish suzerainty and did not appoint a successor to Lantfrid. Thus, southern Germany once more became part of the Frankish kingdom, as had northern Germany during the first years of the reign.


title: Charles Martel

text: In 731, after defeating the Saxons, Charles turned his attention to the rival southern realm of Aquitaine, and crossed the Loire, breaking the treaty with Duke Odo. The Franks ransacked Aquitaine twice, and captured Bourges, although Odo retook it. The "Continuations of Fredegar" allege that Odo called on assistance from the recently established emirate of al-Andalus, but there had been Arab raids into Aquitaine from the 720s onwards. Indeed, the anonymous Chronicle of 754 records that in 721 a victory of Odo at the Battle of Toulouse, while the "Liber Pontificalis" records that Odo had killed 375,000 Saracens. It is more likely that this invasion or raid took place in revenge for Odo's support for a rebel Berber leader named Munnuza.


title: Charles Martel

text: Whatever the precise circumstances were, it is clear that an army under the leadership of Abd al-Rahman al-Ghafiqi headed north, and after some minor engagements marched on the wealthy city of Tours. According to British medieval historian Paul Fouracre, "Their campaign should perhaps be interpreted as a long-distance raid rather than the beginning of a war". They were, however, defeated by the army of Charles at the Battle of Tours (known in France as the Battle of Poitiers), at a location between the French cities of Tours and Poitiers, in a victory described by the "Continuations of Fredegar". According to the historian Bernard Bachrach, the Arab army, mostly mounted, failed to break through the Frankish infantry. News of this battle spread, and may be recorded in Bede's "Ecclesiastical History" (Book V, ch. 23). However, it is not given prominence in Arabic sources from the period.


title: Charles Martel

text: Despite his victory, Charles did not gain full control of Aquitaine, and Odo remained duke until 735.


title: Charles Martel

text: Between his victory of 732 and 735, Charles reorganized the kingdom of Burgundy, replacing the counts and dukes with his loyal supporters, thus strengthening his hold on power. He was forced, by the ventures of Bubo, Duke of the Frisians, to invade independent-minded Frisia again in 734. In that year, he slew the duke at the Battle of the Boarn. Charles ordered the Frisian pagan shrines destroyed, and so wholly subjugated the populace that the region was peaceful for twenty years after.


title: Charles Martel

text: In 735, Duke Odo of Aquitaine died. Though Charles wished to rule the duchy directly and went there to elicit the submission of the Aquitanians, the aristocracy proclaimed Odo's son, Hunald I of Aquitaine, as duke, and Charles and Hunald eventually recognised each other's position.


title: Charles Martel

text: In 737, at the tail end of his campaigning in Provence and Septimania, the Merovingian king, Theuderic IV, died. Charles, titling himself "maior domus" and "princeps et dux Francorum", did not appoint a new king and nobody acclaimed one. The throne lay vacant until Charles' death. The interregnum, the final four years of Charles' life, was relatively peaceful although in 738 he compelled the Saxons of Westphalia to submit and pay tribute and in 739 he checked an uprising in Provence where some rebels united under the leadership of Maurontus.


title: Charles Martel

text: Charles used the relative peace to set about integrating the outlying realms of his empire into the Frankish church. He erected four dioceses in Bavaria (Salzburg, Regensburg, Freising, and Passau) and gave them Boniface as archbishop and metropolitan over all Germany east of the Rhine, with his seat at Mainz. Boniface had been under his protection from 723 on. Indeed, the saint himself explained to his old friend, Daniel of Winchester, that without it he could neither administer his church, defend his clergy nor prevent idolatry.


title: Charles Martel

text: In 739, Pope Gregory III begged Charles for his aid against Liutprand, but Charles was loath to fight his onetime ally and ignored the plea. Nonetheless, the pope's request for Frankish protection showed how far Charles had come from the days when he was tottering on excommunication, and set the stage for his son and grandson to assert themselves in the peninsula.


title: Charles Martel

text: Charles Martel died on 22 October 741, at Quierzy-sur-Oise in what is today the Aisne "département" in the Picardy region of France. He was buried at Saint Denis Basilica in Paris.


title: Charles Martel

text: His territories had been divided among his adult sons a year earlier: to Carloman he gave Austrasia, Alemannia, and Thuringia, and to Pippin the Younger Neustria, Burgundy, Provence, and Metz and Trier in the "Mosel duchy". Grifo was given several lands throughout the kingdom, but at a later date, just before Charles died.


title: Charles Martel

text: Earlier in his life Charles Martel had many internal opponents and felt the need to appoint his own kingly claimant, Chlotar IV. Later, however, the dynamics of rulership in Francia had changed, and no hallowed Merovingian ruler was required. Charles divided his realm among his sons without opposition (though he ignored his young son Bernard). For many historians, Charles Martel laid the foundations for his son Pepin's rise to the Frankish throne in 751, and his grandson Charlemagne's imperial acclamation in 800. However, for Paul Fouracre, while Charles was "the most effective military leader in Francia", his career "finished on a note of unfinished business".


title: Charles Martel

text: Charles Martel married twice, his first wife being Rotrude of Treves, daughter either of Lambert II, Count of Hesbaye, or of Leudwinus, Count of Treves. They had the following children:


title: Charles Martel

text: Most of the children married and had issue. Hiltrud married Odilo I (Duke of Bavaria). Landrade was once believed to have married a Sigrand (Count of Hesbania) but Sigrand's wife was more likely the sister of Rotrude. Auda married Thierry IV (Count of Autun and Toulouse).


title: Charles Martel

text: For early medieval authors, Charles Martel was famous for his military victories. Paul the Deacon for instance attributed a victory against the Saracens actually won by Odo of Aquitaine to Charles. However, alongside this there soon developed a darker reputation, for his alleged abuse of church property. A ninth-century text, the "Visio Eucherii", possibly written by Hincmar of Reims, portrayed Martel as suffering in hell for this reason. According to British medieval historian Paul Fouracre, this was "the single most important text in the construction of Charles Martel's reputation as a seculariser or despoiler of church lands".


title: Charles Martel

text: By the eighteenth century, historians such as Edward Gibbon had begun to portray the Frankish leader as the saviour of Christian Europe from a full-scale Islamic invasion. In Gibbon's "The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire" he wonders whether without Charles' victory, "Perhaps the interpretation of the Koran would now be taught in the schools of Oxford".


title: Charles Martel

text: In the nineteenth century, the German historian Heinrich Brunner argued that Charles had confiscated church lands in order to fund military reforms that allowed him to defeat the Arab conquests, in this way brilliantly combining two traditions about the ruler. However, Fouracre argued that "...there is not enough evidence to show that there was a decisive change either in the way in which the Franks fought, or in the way in which they organised the resources needed to support their warriors."


title: Charles Martel

text: Many twentieth-century European historians continued to develop Gibbon's perspectives, such as French medievalist Christian Pfister, who wrote in 1911 that


title: Charles Martel

text: Similarly, William E. Watson, who wrote of the battle's importance in Frankish and world history in 1993, suggested that


title: Charles Martel

text: And in 1993, the influential political scientist Samuel Huntington saw the battle of Tours as marking the end of the "Arab and Moorish surge west and north".


title: Charles Martel

text: Other recent historians, however, argue that the importance of the battle is dramatically overstated, both for European history in general and for Charles Martel's reign in particular. This view is typified by Alessandro Barbero, who in 2004 wrote,


title: Charles Martel

text: More recently, the memory of Charles Martel has been appropriated by far right and white nationalist groups, such as the 'Charles Martel Group' in France, and by Australian Brenton Harrison Tarrant, the perpetrator of the Christchurch mosque shootings at Al Noor Mosque and Linwood Islamic Centre in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2019. The memory of Charles Martel is a topic of debate in contemporary French politics on both the right and the left.


title: Charles Martel

text: In the seventeenth century, a legend emerged that Charles Martel had formed the first regular order of knights in France. In 1620, Andre Favyn stated (without providing a source) that among the spoils Charles Martel's forces captured after the Battle of Tours were many genets (raised for their fur) and several of their pelts. Charles Martel gave these furs to leaders amongst his army, forming the first order of knighthood, the Order of the Genet. Favyn's claim was then repeated and elaborated in later works in English, for instance by Elias Ashmole in 1672, and James Coats in 1725.


title: Inland taipan

text: The inland taipan ("Oxyuranus microlepidotus"), also commonly known as the western taipan, the small-scaled snake or the fierce snake, is a species of extremely venomous snake in the family Elapidae. The species is endemic to semi-arid regions of central east Australia. Aboriginal Australians living in those regions named the snake dandarabilla. It was first described by Frederick McCoy in 1879 and then by William John Macleay in 1882, but for the next 90 years it was a mystery to the scientific community; no further specimens were found, and virtually nothing was added to the knowledge of this species until its rediscovery in 1972.


title: Inland taipan

text: Based on the median lethal dose value in mice, the venom of the inland taipan is by far the most toxic of any snake – much more so than even that of sea snakes – and it has the most toxic venom of any reptile when tested on human heart cell culture. The inland taipan is a specialist hunter of mammals, so its venom is specially adapted to kill warm-blooded species. It is estimated that one bite possesses enough lethality to kill at least 100 fully grown humans. It is an extremely fast and agile snake that can strike instantly with extreme accuracy, often striking multiple times in the same attack, and it envenomates in almost every case.


title: Inland taipan

text: Although the most venomous and a capable striker, in contrast to the coastal taipan which many experts cite as an extremely dangerous snake due to its behavior when it encounters humans, the inland taipan is usually a quite shy and reclusive snake, with a placid disposition, and prefers to escape from trouble. However, it will defend itself and strike if provoked, mishandled, or prevented from escaping. Because it lives in such remote locations, the inland taipan seldom comes in contact with people; therefore it is not considered the deadliest snake in the world overall, especially in terms of disposition and human deaths per year. The word "fierce" from its alternative name describes its venom, not its temperament.


title: Inland taipan

text: The Australian taipans; the coastal taipan ("Oxyuranus scutellatus") and the inland taipan ("Oxyuranus microlepidotus") shared a common ancestor. Alignments of the mitochondrial ND4 genes from these species indicate an evolutionary divergence from the common ancestor around 9-10 million years ago.


title: Inland taipan

text: The inland taipan would have been known to Aboriginal Australians 40,000–60,000 years ago and is well known to them today. To the aboriginal people from the place now called Goyder Lagoon in north-east South Australia, the inland taipan was called "Dandarabilla".


title: Inland taipan

text: The inland taipan first came to the attention of Western science in 1879. Two specimens of the fierce snake were discovered in the junction of the Murray and Darling Rivers in northwestern Victoria and described by Frederick McCoy, who called the species "Diemenia microlepidota", or small-scaled brown snake. In 1882 a third specimen was found near Bourke, New South Wales, and William John Macleay described the same snake under the name "Diemenia ferox" (thinking it was a different species). No more specimens were collected until 1972. In 1896 George Albert Boulenger classified both as belonging to the same genus, "Pseudechis" (black snakes), referring them as "Pseudechis microlepidotus" and "Pseudechis ferox".


title: Inland taipan

text: In 1956, relying only on published descriptions and notes, James Roy Kinghorn regarded "ferox" as a synonym for "microlepidotus" and proposed the genus "Parademansia". In 1963 Eric Worrell considered "Parademansia microlepidotus" and "Oxyuranus scutellatus" (coastal taipan, named simply "taipan" in those days) to be the same species.


title: Inland taipan

text: In September 1972, after receiving an unclassified snake head sample from a grazier from one of the Channel Country stations west of Windorah of the far southwest Queensland, herpetologists Jeanette Covacevich (then working for the Queensland Museum) and Charles Tanner travelled to the site and found 13 living specimens, and rediscovered the lost snake "Parademansia microlepidotus". In 1976 Jeanette Covacevich and John Wombey argued that "Parademansia microlepidotus" belongs to a distinct genus, and this was also the opinion of Harold Cogger.


title: Inland taipan

text: Covacevich, McDowell, Tanner & Mengden (1981) successfully argued, by comparing anatomical features, chromosomes and behaviours of the two species then known as "Oxyuranus scutellatus" (taipan) and "Parademansia microlepidota", that they belonged in a single genus. "Oxyuranus" (1923), the more senior name, was adopted for the combined genus.


title: Inland taipan

text: "Oxyuranus microlepidotus" has been the fierce snake's binomial name since the early 1980s. The generic name "Oxyuranus" is from Greek "oxys" "sharp, needle-like", and "ouranos" "an arch" (specifically the arch of the heavens) and refers to the needle-like anterior process on the arch of the palate. The specific name "microlepidotus" means "small-scaled" (Latin). Hence the common name, "small-scaled snake". Since it has been determined (Covacevich et al., 1981) that the fierce snake (formerly: "Parademansia microlepidota") is actually part of the genus "Oxyuranus" (taipan), another species, "Oxyuranus scutellatus", which was previously known simply as the "taipan" (coined from the aboriginal snake's name "Dhayban"), was renamed the "coastal taipan" (or "eastern taipan"), while the now newly classified "Oxyuranus microlepidotus" became commonly known as the "inland taipan" (or "western taipan").


title: Inland taipan

text: The inland taipan inhabits the black soil plains in the semi-arid regions where Queensland and South Australia borders converge.


title: Inland taipan

text: In Queensland, the snake has been observed in Channel Country region (e.g., Diamantina National Park, Durrie Station, Morney Plains Station and Astrebla Downs National Park) and in South Australia it has been observed in the Marree-Innamincka NRM District (e.g., Goyder Lagoon Tirari Desert, Sturt Stony Desert, Coongie Lakes, Innamincka Regional Reserve and Oodnadatta). An isolated population also occurs near Coober Pedy, South Australia.


title: Inland taipan

text: There are two old records for localities further south-east, i.e., the junction of the Murray and Darling Rivers in northwestern Victoria (1879) and Bourke, New South Wales, (1882); however the species has not been observed in either state since then.


title: Inland taipan

text: Conservation status for the snake has been assessed for the IUCN Red List for the first time in July 2017, and in 2018 designated as least concern, stating "This species is listed as Least Concern, as it is widespread and overall it is not considered to be declining. Although the impact of potential threats requires further research, these are likely to be localized within the snake's range."


title: Inland taipan

text: According to the International Species Information System (retrieved 2004), inland taipans are held in three zoo collections: the Adelaide Zoo and Sydney Taronga Zoo in Australia and Moscow Zoo in Russia.<ref name="Births and Hatchings / Moscow">AEZA news (January–March, 2004). Births and Hatchings / Moscow - Russian federation . (page 17) European Association of Zoos and Aquaria Magazine. Retrieved 11 November 2013.</ref> In the Moscow Zoo they are kept in the "House of Reptiles" which is not usually open to the general public.


title: Inland taipan

text: The inland taipan is also on public display in Australia at the Australia Zoo, Australian Reptile Park, Billabong Sanctuary, Cairns Tropical Zoo, Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary and Shoalhaven Zoo.


title: Inland taipan

text: In the United States, inland taipans are held at the Dallas Zoo, at Reptile Gardens South Dakota, at Kentucky Reptile Zoo and at Animal World & Snake Farm Zoo in Texas.


title: Inland taipan

text: In Europe inland taipans are held in Sweden at the Stockholm Skansen zoo and Gothenburg Universeum and in the UK at the London Zoo. Amateur zoo listings also report the snake in "tropicarium park" Jesolo Italy, in "Gifttierhaus" Eimsheim, "Welt der Gifte" Greifswald and "TerraZoo" Rheinberg Germany, in "Lausanne vivarium" Lausanne Switzerland, in Randers Tropical Zoo Denmark, in Plzeň Zoo Czech Republic and in "Reptilienzoo Nockalm" Patergassen Austria.


title: Inland taipan

text: In New South Wales, private ownership of an inland taipan is legal only with the highest venomous class reptile licence.


title: Inland taipan

text: The inland taipan is dark tan, ranging from a rich, dark hue to a brownish light-green, depending on season. Its back, sides and tail may be different shades of brown and grey, with many scales having a wide blackish edge. These dark-marked scales occur in diagonal rows so that the marks align to form broken chevrons of variable length that are inclined backward and downward. The lowermost lateral scales often have an anterior yellow edge. The dorsal scales are smooth and without keels. The round-snouted head and neck are usually noticeably darker than the body (glossy black in winter, dark brown in summer), the darker colour allowing the snake to heat itself while exposing only a smaller portion of the body at the burrow entrance. The eye is of average size with a blackish brown iris and without a noticeable coloured rim around the pupil.


title: Inland taipan

text: It has 23 rows of dorsal scales at midbody, between 55 and 70 divided subcaudal scales, and one anal scale.


title: Inland taipan

text: The inland taipan averages approximately in total length, although larger specimens can reach total lengths of . Its fangs are between 3.5 and 6.2 mm long (shorter than those of the coastal taipan).


title: Inland taipan

text: Inland taipans adapt to their environment by changing the colour of the skin during seasonal changes. They tend to become lighter during summer and darker during the winter. This seasonal colour change serves the purpose of thermoregulation, allowing the snake to absorb more light in the colder months.


title: Inland taipan

text: Inland taipan produce clutches of between one dozen and two dozen eggs. The eggs hatch two months later. The eggs are usually laid in abandoned animal burrows and deep crevices. Reproduction rate depends in part on their diet: if there is not enough food, then the snake will reproduce less.


title: Inland taipan

text: Captive snakes generally live for 10 to 15 years. An inland taipan at the Australia Zoo lived to be over 20 years old.


title: Inland taipan

text: In the wild, the inland taipan consumes only mammals, mostly rodents, such as the long-haired rat ("Rattus villosissimus"), the plains rat ("Pseudomys australis"), the introduced house mouse ("Mus musculus") and other dasyurids. In captivity it may also eat day-old chicks. Unlike other venomous snakes that strike with a single, accurate bite then retreat while waiting for the prey to die, the fierce snake subdues the prey with a series of rapid, accurate strikes. It is known to deliver up to eight venomous bites in a single attack, often snapping its jaws fiercely several times to inflict multiple punctures in the same attack. Its more risky attack strategy entails holding its prey with its body and biting it repeatedly. This injects the extremely toxic venom deep into the prey. The venom acts so rapidly that its prey does not have time to fight back.


title: Inland taipan

text: The mulga snake ("Pseudechis australis") is immune to most Australian snake venom, and is known to also eat young inland taipans. The perentie ("Varanus giganteus") is a large monitor lizard that also shares the same habitat. As it grows large enough, it will readily tackle large venomous snakes for prey.


title: Inland taipan

text: Inland taipans are rarely encountered in the wild by the average person because of their remoteness and brief above-ground appearance during the day. So long as a person is not creating much vibration and noise the inland taipan may not feel alarmed or bothered by a human presence. However, caution should be exercised and a safe distance maintained as it can inflict a potentially fatal bite. The inland taipan will defend itself and strike if provoked, mishandled, or prevented from escaping. Firstly, but not always, it makes a threat display by raising its forebody in a tight low S-shaped curve with its head facing the threat. Should the person choose to ignore the warning the inland taipan will strike. It is an extremely fast and agile snake that can strike instantly with extreme accuracy, and it envenoms in almost every case.


title: Inland taipan

text: Clinical toxinologist, venom researcher, herpetologist, and family physician Scott A. Weinstein et al. have stated in Toxicon journal (October 2017) "There have been 11 previously well-documented envenomings by O. microlepidotus, but only 2 were inflicted by wild snakes.". "When clinically indicated, prompt provision of adequate antivenom is the cornerstone of managing O. microlepidotus envenoming. Rapid application of pressure-bandage immobilization and efficient retrieval of victims envenomed in remote locales, preferably by medically well-equipped aircraft, probably improves the likelihood of a positive outcome".


title: Inland taipan

text: A case of survival without antivenom was recorded in 1967; on 15 September, a tour guide was bitten while trying to capture a snake for a tour group in the Channel Country. He was conveyed to Broken Hill Hospital and then to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Adelaide but was not given antivenom as he reported he was severely allergic to horse serum and believed he had been bitten by a brown snake. He spent four weeks in hospital overall—his condition likened to severe myasthenia gravis. Meanwhile, the snake had been sent to Eric Worrell, who confirmed it had been a coastal taipan. After its rediscovery in 1972, identified as an inland taipan.


title: Inland taipan

text: In 1984 Australian toxicologist Peter Mirtschin was bitten by a 3 weeks old inland taipan. He was the first to be treated with Taipan antivenon.


title: Inland taipan

text: In September 2012, in the small city of Kurri Kurri, New South Wales, north of Sydney, more than 1000 kilometres away from the snake's natural environment, a teenage boy was bitten on the finger by an inland taipan. The teenager's rapid self-application of a compression bandage above the wound and the availability and administration of a polyvalent (broad-spectrum) antivenom in the local hospital saved his life. The police worked to find out how the inland taipan got to this part of Australia. The snake was most likely a stolen or illegal pet and the boy had tried to feed it.


title: Inland taipan

text: In December 2013, reptile handler Scott Grant (age 40+), who was conducting a demonstration in front of 300 people at the annual building union's picnic in Portland, Victoria, had just finished showing the crowd an inland taipan and was trying to put it into a bag when it struck him. He got into his utility and tied a bandage around his arm. A few minutes later, however, he was lying on the ground and convulsing. He was flown in a serious condition to Essendon Airport and driven to the Royal Melbourne Hospital, where his condition was stabilised and over time he recovered. Only a tiny amount of venom from the inland taipan had entered his body, and the adverse reaction he felt shortly after was an allergic one, presumably due to his past snake bites.


title: Inland taipan

text: In October 2017, Weinstein et al. published a case report in Toxicon journal, writing "The victim was seeking to observe members of an isolated population of this species and was envenomed while attempting to photograph an approximately 1.5 m specimen. He reported feeling “drowsiness” and blurred vision that progressed to ptosis; he later developed dysphagia and dysarthria. The patient was treated with 1 vial of polyvalent antivenom, which was later followed with an additional two vials of taipan monovalent. He was intubated during retrieval, and recovered after 3 days of intensive care. He had a right ophthalmoplegia that persisted for approximately 1 week post-envenoming.".


title: Inland taipan

text: According to Rob Bredl, a.k.a. "The Barefoot Bushman", in an isolated area of South Australia, his father, Joe Bredl, was bitten while catching an inland taipan and barely survived. A more recent victim was his friend John Robinson, bitten while cleaning an inland taipan's cage at his reptile display on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland. He weathered the bite without antivenom but sustained considerable muscle damage as well as heart damage.


title: Inland taipan

text: Almost all positively identified inland taipan bite victims have been herpetologists handling the snakes for study or snake handlers, such as people who catch snakes to extract their venom, or keepers in wildlife parks. All were treated successfully with antivenom. No recorded incidents have been fatal since the advent of the monovalent (specific) antivenom therapy, though it can take weeks to recover from such a severe bite.


title: Inland taipan

text: The average quantity of venom delivered by this species is 44 mg and the maximum dose recorded is 110 mg, compared to the Indian cobra ("Naja naja") 169 mg/max 610 mg, and the North American eastern diamondback rattlesnake ("Crotalus adamanteus") 410 mg/max 848 mg etc.


title: Inland taipan

text: The median lethal dose (LD), subcutaneous (the most applicable to actual bites) for mice is 0.025 mg/kg (0.01 mg/kg subcutaneous, in bovine serum albumin). Compared to the beaked sea snake ("Enhydrina schistosa") 0.164 mg/kg, Indian cobra 0.565 mg/kg, North American eastern diamondback rattlesnake 11.4 mg/kg, etc., the inland taipan has a smaller venom yield than its cousin the coastal taipan yet its venom is almost four times as toxic. One bite's worth of venom is enough to kill 100 fully grown men.


title: Inland taipan

text: Belcher's sea snake ("Hydrophis belcheri"), which many times is mistakenly called the hook-nosed sea snake ("Enhydrina schistosa"), has been erroneously popularized as the most venomous snake in the world, due to Ernst and Zug's published book "Snakes in Question: The Smithsonian Answer Book" from 1996. Bryan Grieg Fry, a prominent venom expert, has clarified the error: "The hook-nosed myth was due to a fundamental error in a book called "Snakes in Question". In there, all the toxicity testing results were lumped in together, regardless of the mode of testing (e.g. subcutaneous vs. intramuscular vs intravenous vs intraperitoneal). As the mode can influence the relative number, venoms can only be compared within a mode. Otherwise, it's apples and rocks." Belcher's sea snake's actual LD (recorded only intramuscularly) is 0.24 mg/kg and 0.155 mg/kg, less lethal than other sea snakes such as the olive sea snake ("Aipysurus laevis") 0.09 mg/kg and the most toxic intramuscularly, recorded of the sea snakes – the black-banded robust sea snake ("Hydrophis melanosoma") 0.082 mg/kg. The black-banded robust sea snake has also been tested subcutaneously registering at 0.111 mg/kg, which is in line with the coastal taipan and thus more than four times "less" toxic than the inland taipan's venom. In the LD subcutaneous test, it is actually Dubois' sea snake ("Aipysurus duboisii") which has the most toxic venom of any of the sea snakes tested, registering at 0.044 mg/kg. This is still nearly half as lethal as the inland taipan's venom.


title: Inland taipan

text: The biological properties and toxicity of a baby inland taipan's venom are not significantly different or weaker than that of an adult's.


title: Inland taipan

text: Paradoxin (PDX) appears to be one of the most potent, if not "the" most potent, beta-neurotoxin yet discovered. Beta-neurotoxins keep nerve endings from liberating the neurotransmitter acetylcholine.


title: Inland taipan

text: According to researcher Ronelle Welton of James Cook University, the majority of components in the venom have not been characterized and little molecular research has been undertaken on taipan ("Oxyuranus") species at large. As of 2005, the amino acid sequences of only seven proteins from inland taipan have been submitted to SWISS-PROT databases.


title: Inland taipan

text: Clinically, envenomation may represent a complex scenario of multiple organ system poisoning with neurotoxic symptoms typically dominating. Acute kidney injury, rhabdomyolysis, and disseminated coagulopathy may also complicate the setting.


title: Inland taipan

text: The first local and general symptoms of a bite are local pain and variable non-specific effects which may include headache, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhoea, dizziness, collapse or convulsions leading to major organ effects: neurotoxicity, coagulopathy, rhabdomyolysis or kidney failure/damage and finally death.


title: Inland taipan

text: Inland taipan snake venom contains potent presynaptic neurotoxins (toxins in venom that cause paralysis or muscle weakness). Also present are postsynaptic neurotoxins, which are less potent but more rapid acting than the presynaptic neurotoxins. Presynaptic neurotoxins disrupt neurotransmitter release from the axon terminal. This takes days to resolve and does not respond to antivenom. Postsynaptic neurotoxins competitively block acetylcholine receptors but the effect can be reversed by antivenom. Envenoming causes a progressive descending flaccid paralysis: ptosis is usually the first sign, then facial (dysarthria) and bulbar involvement progressing to dyspnea and respiratory paralysis leading to suffocation and peripheral weakness. Because it can act so fast, it can kill a person within about 45 minutes. There have been reports of people experiencing effects of the venom within half an hour. The development of general or respiratory paralysis is of paramount concern in that these are often difficult to reverse once established, even with large amounts of antivenom. Prolonged intubation and ventilatory support (perhaps up to a week or longer) may be required. Early diagnosis of neurotoxic symptoms with prompt and adequate dosages of antivenom is critical to avoid these complications.


title: Inland taipan

text: The venom also contains a potent hemotoxin (procoagulants), a prothrombin activator that leads to the consumption of major coagulation factors including fibrinogen, leading to interference with blood clotting. This causes defibrination, with non-clottable blood, putting victims at risk of major bleeding from the bite site and can lead to more serious, sometimes fatal, internal haemorrhaging, especially in the brain. Recovering from this takes many hours after venom neutralisation has been achieved with antivenom. Taipan snake procoagulants are among the most powerful snake venom procoagulants known, though mild coagulopathy has also been reported for inland taipan envenomation (Sutherland and Tibballs, 2001).


title: Inland taipan

text: No nephrotoxins (kidney toxins) have so far been isolated from inland taipan snake venoms, but renal (kidney) impairment or acute kidney failure can occur secondary to severe rhabdomyolysis.


title: Inland taipan

text: Taipan snake venom does contain myotoxins that cause myolysis (rhabdomyolysis, muscle damage); the urine of a bite victim often turns reddish-brown as their muscles dissolve and are passed through the kidneys (myoglobinuria). The kidneys are often badly damaged by filtering so much tissue debris out of the blood, and kidney failure is a common complication in serious cases where there is significant envenoming.


title: Inland taipan

text: Until 1955, the only antivenom available for general distribution for Australian snakes was the monovalent (specific) tiger snake ("Notechis") antivenom, which gave varying degrees of cross-protection against the bites of most other dangerous Australian snakes. Thereafter followed specific anti-venom for other common snakes among them the coastal taipan, and finally, a polyvalent (broad spectrum) antivenom, a combined antivenom for the bites of any unidentified snake from Australia.