title: Jadwiga of Poland

text: A delegation of the Polish lords and clergy paid formal homage to Sigismund of Luxemburg as their future king on 25 July 1382. The Poles believed that Louis planned also to persuade the Hungarian lords and prelates to accept Jadwiga and William of Austria as his heirs in Hungary. However, he died on 10 September 1382. Jadwiga was present at her father's death bed.


title: Jadwiga of Poland

text: Jadwiga's sister, Mary, was crowned king of Hungary five days after their father's death. With the ceremony, their ambitious mother secured the right to govern Hungary on her twelve-year-old daughter's behalf instead of Mary's fiancé, Sigismund. Sigismund could not be present at Mary's coronation, because Louis had sent him to Poland to crush a rebellion. After he learnt of Louis's death, he adopted the title "Lord of the Kingdom of Poland", demanding oaths of loyalty from the towns in Lesser Poland. On 25 November, the nobles of Greater Poland assembled at Radomsko and decided to obey nobody but the daughter of the late king as she would settle in Poland. On their initiative, the noblemen of Lesser Poland passed a similar agreement in Wiślica on 12 December. Queen Elizabeth sent her envoys to the assembled lords and forbade them to swear an oath of loyalty to anyone other than one of her daughters, thus invalidating the oath of loyalty that the Polish noblemen had sworn to Sigismund on the late King Louis's demand.


title: Jadwiga of Poland

text: Both Elizabeth's daughters had been engaged to foreign princes (Sigismund and William, respectively) unpopular in Poland. Polish lords who were opposed to a foreign monarch regarded the members of the Piast dynasty as possible candidates to the Polish throne. Queen Elizabeth's uncle Władysław the White had already attempted to seize Poland during Louis's reign. However, he had taken monastic vows and settled in a Benedictine abbey in Dijon in Burgundy. Antipope Clement VII, whom King Louis had refused to recognize against Pope Urban VI, released Władysław from his vows, but he did not leave his monastery. Meanwhile, Siemowit IV, Duke of Masovia, appeared as a more ambitious candidate. He was especially popular among the nobility and townspeople of Greater Poland.


title: Jadwiga of Poland

text: Queen Elizabeth's representatives released the Poles from their oath of fidelity that their representatives had sworn to Mary at an assembly in Sieradz in February 1383. The envoys also announced that she was willing to send Jadwiga to be crowned instead, on condition that she return to Buda after her coronation to live there until her twelfth birthday. The Polish lords accepted the proposal, but they soon realized that thereby the interregnum would be extended by a further three years. At a new meeting in Sieradz, most noblemen were ready to elect Siemowit of Masovia king on 28 March. They proposed that Siemowit should marry Jadwiga. A member of the influential Tęczyński family, Jan, convinced them to postpone Siemowit's election. The noblemen agreed to wait for Jadwiga until 10 May, stipulating that she was to live in Poland after her coronation. They also demanded that Dobrzyń and Gniewków (two fiefdoms which her father had granted to Vladislaus II of Opole), and "Ruthenia" (that had passed to Hungary in accordance with a previous treaty) be restored to the Polish Crown.


title: Jadwiga of Poland

text: Meanwhile, Jan Tęczyński and his allies, including , seem to have started negotiations with Jogaila, Grand Duke of Lithuania. Siemowit's supporters however, tried to enter Kraków in the retinue of Bodzanta, Archbishop of Gniezno, in May, but the townspeople closed the gates of the city before their arrival. Jadwiga had not arrived in Poland by the stipulated date (10 May). Her mother's envoys stated that the spring floods had hindered Jadwiga's progress over the Carpathian Mountains.


title: Jadwiga of Poland

text: Siemowit of Mazovia took up arms and advanced as far as Kalisz. His supporters assembled in Sieradz in August in order to elect him king, but Archbishop Bodzanta refused to perform his coronation. In a meeting in Kassa, Queen Elizabeth promised the delegates of the Polish provinces to send Jadwiga to Poland before November. The queen mother and the Poles also agreed that if either Jadwiga or Mary died childless, her kingdom would pass to her surviving sister. Siemowit having laid siege to Kalisz, Queen Elizabeth sent Sigismund of Luxemburg at the head of an "improvised army" to Lesser Poland. Siemowit failed to take Kalisz, but news about the appalling behaviour of Sigismund's soldiers increased Sigismund's unpopularity in Poland. Sędziwój Pałuka, who was the castellan of Kalisz and "starosta" of Kraków, led a delegation to Zadar in Dalmatia to negotiate with Queen Elizabeth, but she had him imprisoned instead. She sent Hungarian soldiers to Poland to garrison them in Wawel Castle in Kraków, but Pałuka escaped and successfully obstructed her soldiers entering the castle.


title: Jadwiga of Poland

text: At a general assembly in Radomsko in early March, the delegates of all the Polish provinces and towns decided to elect Siemowit king, if Jadwiga did not come to Poland within two months. They set up a provisional government, stipulating that only the "community of lords and citizens" had the authority to administer Poland during the interregnum. Queen Elizabeth, who was only informed of the decision by an informal message, realized that she could not any longer postpone Jadwiga's coronation and so sent her to Poland. The exact date of Jadwiga's arrival is unknown, because the main source for the history of Poland during this periodJan of Czarnków's chronicle ended prior to this event.


title: Jadwiga of Poland

text: The interregnum that followed Louis's death and caused such internal strife came to an end with Jadwiga's arrival in Poland. A large crowd of clerics, noblemen and burghers gathered at Kraków "to greet her with a display of affection", according to the 15th-century Polish historian, Jan Długosz. Nobody protested when Archbishop Bodzanta crowned her on 16 October 1384. According to traditional scholarly consensus, Jadwiga was crowned king. Thereby, as Robert W. Knoll proposes, the Polish lords prevented her eventual spouse from adopting the same title without their consent. Stephen C. Rowell, who says that sources that contradict the traditional view outnumber those verifying it, suggests that sporadic contemporaneous references to Jadwiga as king only reflect that she was not a queen consort, but a queen regnant.


title: Jadwiga of Poland

text: Bodzanta, Archbishop of Gniezno, Jan Radlica, Bishop of Kraków, Dobrogost of Nowy Dwór, Bishop of Poznań, and Duke Vladislaus II of Opole were Jadwiga's most trusted advisers during the first years of her reign. According to a widely accepted scholarly theory, Jadwiga, who was still a minor, was "a mere tool" to her advisers. However, Halecki refutes this view, contending that Jadwiga matured quickly and her personality, especially her charm and kindness, only served to strengthen her position. Already in late 1384 she intervened on Duke Vladislaus's behalf to reconcile him with her mother's favourite, Nicholas I Garai.


title: Jadwiga of Poland

text: The Polish lords did not want to accept Jadwiga's fourteen-year-old fiancé, William of Habsburg, as their sovereign. They thought that the inexperienced William and his Austrian kinsmen could not safeguard Poland's interests against its powerful neighbours, especially the Luxemburgs which controlled Bohemia and Brandenburg, and had a strong claim on Hungary. According to Halecki, the lords of Lesser Poland were the first to suggest that Jadwiga should marry the pagan duke Jogaila of Lithuania.


title: Jadwiga of Poland

text: Jogaila sent his envoysincluding his brother, Skirgaila, and a German burgher from Riga, Hanul to Kraków to request Jadwiga's hand in January 1385. Jadwiga refused to answer, stating only that her mother would decide. Jogaila's two envoys left for Hungary and met Queen Elizabeth. She informed them that "she would allow whatever was advantageous to Poland and insisted that her daughter and the prelates and nobles of the Kingdom had to do what they considered would benefit Christianity and their kingdom", according to Jan Długosz's chronicle. The nobles from Kraków, Sandomierz and Greater Poland assembled in Kraków in June or July and the "majority of the more sensible" voted for the acceptance of Jogaila's marriage proposal.


title: Jadwiga of Poland

text: In the meantime, William's father, Leopold III hurried to Buda in late July 1385, demanding the consummation of the marriage between William and Jadwiga before 16 August. Queen Elizabeth confirmed the previous agreements about the marriage, ordering Vladislaus II of Opole to make preparations for the ceremony. According to canon law, Jadwiga's marriage sacrament could only be completed before her twelfth birthday if the competent prelate testified her precocious maturity. Demetrius, Archbishop of Esztergom, issued the necessary document. William went to Kraków in the first half of August, but his entry to Wawel Castle was barred. Długosz states that Jadwiga and William would only be able to meet in the nearby Franciscan convent.


title: Jadwiga of Poland

text: Contemporary or nearly contemporaneous records of the completion of the marriage between William and Jadwiga are contradictory and unclear. The official accounts of the municipal authorities of Kraków record that on 23 August 1385 an amnesty was granted to the prisoners in the city jail on the occasion of the celebration of the Queen's marriage. On the other hand, a contemporary Austrian chronicle, the "Continuatio Claustroneubuzgis" states that the Poles had tried to murder William before he consummated the marriage. In the next century, Długosz states that William was "removed in a shameful and offensive manner and driven from the castle" after he entered "the Queen's bedchamber"; but the same chronicler also mentions that Jadwiga was well aware that "many people knew she had for a fortnight shared her bed with Duke William and that there had been physical consummation".


title: Jadwiga of Poland

text: On the night when William entered the queen's bedchamber, a group of Polish noblemen broke into the castle, forcing William to flee, according to Długosz. After this humiliation, Długosz continues, Jadwiga decided to leave Wawel and join William, but the gate of the castle was locked. She called for "an axe and [tried] to break it open", but Dymitr of Goraj convinced her to return to the castle. Oscar Halecki says that Długosz's narrative "cannot be dismissed as a romantic legend"; Robert I. Frost writes that it is a "tale, almost certainly apocryphal". There is no doubt, however, that William of Austria was forced to leave Poland.


title: Jadwiga of Poland

text: Jogaila signed the Union of Krewo in August 1385, promising Queen Elizabeth's representatives and the Polish lords' envoys that he would convert to Catholicism, together with his pagan kinsmen and subjects, if Jadwiga married him. He also pledged to pay 200,000 florins to William of Habsburg in compensation. William never accepted it. Two days after the Union of Krewo, the Teutonic Knights invaded Lithuania.


title: Jadwiga of Poland

text: The "Aeltere Hochmeisterchronik" and other chronicles written in the Knights' territory accused the Polish prelates and lords of forcing Jadwiga to accept Jogaila's offer. According to a Polish legend, Jadwiga agreed to marry Jogaila due to divine inspiration during her long prayers before a crucifix in Wawel Cathedral. Siemowit IV of Mazovia resigned his claim to Poland in December.


title: Jadwiga of Poland

text: The Polish lords' envoys informed Jogaila that they would obey him if he married Jadwiga on 11 January 1386. Jogaila went to Lublin where a general assembly unanimously declared him "king and lord of Poland" in early February. Jogaila went on to Kraków where he was baptized, receiving the Christian name, Władysław, in Wawel Cathedral on 15 February. Three days later, 35-year-old Władysław-Jogaila married 12-year-old Jadwiga. Władysław-Jogaila styled himself as "dominus et tutor regni Poloniae" ("lord and guardian of the Kingdom of Poland") in his first charter issued after the marriage.


title: Jadwiga of Poland

text: Archbishop Bodzanta crowned Władysław-Jogaila king on 4 March 1386. Poland was transformed into a diarchya kingdom ruled over by two sovereigns. Jadwiga and her husband did not speak a common language, but they cooperated closely in their marriage. She accompanied him to Greater Poland to appease the local lords who were still hostile to him. The royal visit caused damage to the peasants who lived in the local prelates' domains, but Jadwiga persuaded her husband to compensate them, saying: "We have, indeed, returned the peasants' cattle, but who can repair their tears?", according to Długosz's chronicle. A court record of her order to the judges in favour of a peasant also shows that she protected the poor.


title: Jadwiga of Poland

text: Pope Urban VI sent his legate, Maffiolus de Lampugnano, to Kraków to enquire about the marriage of the royal couple. Lampugnano did not voice any objections, but the Teutonic Knights started a propaganda campaign in favour of William of Habsburg. Queen Elizabeth pledged to assist Władysław-Jogaila against his enemies on 9 June 1386, but Hungary had sunken into anarchy. A group of Slavonian lords captured and imprisoned Jadwiga's mother and sister on 25 July. The rebels murdered Queen Elizabeth in January 1387. A month later, Jadwiga marched at the head of Polish troops to Ruthenia where all but one of the governors submitted to her without opposition.


title: Jadwiga of Poland

text: Duke Vladislaus of Opole also had a claim on Ruthenia but could not convince King Wenceslaus of Germany to intervene on his behalf. Jadwiga confirmed the privileges of the local inhabitants and promised that Ruthenia would never again be separated from the Polish Crown. After the reinforcements that Władysław-Jogaila sent from Lithuania arrived in August, Halych, the only fortress to resist, also surrendered. Władysław-Jogaila also came to Ruthenia in September. Voivode Petru II of Moldavia visited the royal couple and paid homage to them in Lviv on 26 September. Władysław-Jogaila confirmed the privileges that Jadwiga had granted the Ruthenians in October. She also instructed her subjects to show the same respect for her husband as for herself: in a letter addressed to the burghers of Kraków in late 1387, she stated that her husband was their "natural lord".


title: Jadwiga of Poland

text: On William's demand, Pope Urban VI initiated a new investigation about the marriage of Jadwiga and Władysław-Jogaila. They sent Bishop Dobrogost of Poznań to Rome to inform the pope of the Christianization of Lithuania. In his letter to Bishop Dobrogost, Pope Urban jointly mentioned the royal couple in March 1388, which implied that he had already acknowledged the legality of their marriage. However, Gniewosz of Dalewice, who had been William of Habsburg's supporter, spread rumours about secret meetings between William and Jadwiga in the royal castle. Jadwiga took a solemn oath before Jan Tęczyński, stating that she had only had marital relations with Władysław-Jogaila. After all witnesses confirmed her oath, Gniewosz of Dalewice confessed that he had lied. She did not take vengeance on him.


title: Jadwiga of Poland

text: Jadwiga's brother-in-law, Sigismund, who had been crowned King of Hungary, started negotiations with the Teutonic Knights about partitioning Poland in early 1392. Jadwiga met Mary in Stará Ľubovňa in May and returned to Kraków only in early July. She most probably accompanied her husband to Lithuania, according to Oscar Halecki, because she was far from Kraków till the end of August. On 4 August, Władysław-Jogaila's cousin, Vytautas, who had earlier fled from Lithuania to the Teutonic Knights, paid homage to Władysław-Jogaila near Lida in Lithuania on 4 August.


title: Jadwiga of Poland

text: Negotiations between Sigismund and the Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, Konrad von Wallenrode, continued with the mediation of Vladislaus of Opole. However, Hungary's southern border was exposed to Ottoman incursions, preventing Sigismund from taking military measures against Poland. Wallenrode died on 25 July 1393. His successor, Konrad von Jungingen, opened negotiations with the Poles. During the discussions, Pope Boniface IX's legate, John of Messina, supported the Poles.


title: Jadwiga of Poland

text: Jadwiga was a skilful mediator, famed for her impartiality and intelligence. She went to Lithuania to reconcile her brother-in-law, Skirgaila, with Vytautas in October 1393. Relations between Poland and Hungary remained tense. Sigismund invaded Moldavia, forcing Stephen I of Moldavia to accept his suzerainty in 1394. Soon after the Hungarian troops left Moldavia, Stephen sent his envoys to Jadwiga and Jogaila, promising to assist Poland against Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and the Teutonic Knights.


title: Jadwiga of Poland

text: On 17 May 1395, Mary died after a riding accident. According to the 1383 agreement between their mother and the Polish lords, Jadwiga was her childless sister's heir in Hungary. Vlad I of Wallachia, a Hungarian vassal, issued an act of submission on 28 May, acknowledging Jadwiga and her husband as Mary's legitimate successors. The widowed king's close supporter, Stibor of Stiboricz, expelled Vlad from Wallachia. Władysław-Jogaila gathered his troops on the Polish-Hungarian border, but , Palatine of Hungary, and , Archbishop of Esztergom, stopped his invasion of Hungary. In September, Konrad von Jungingen told the prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire that the union of Poland, Lithuania and Hungary under Władysław-Jogaila's rule would endanger Christendom. However, most of Sigismund's opponents, who were especially numerous in Croatia, supported the claim of Ladislaus of Naples, the last male member of the Capetian House of Anjou. On 8 September, the most influential Hungarian lords declared that they would not support any change in government while Sigismund was far from Hungary fighting against the Ottoman Turks. Before the end of the year, peace negotiations between the representatives of Hungary and Poland ended with an agreement. Jadwiga adopted the title "heir to Hungary", but she and her husband took no further action against Sigismund.


title: Jadwiga of Poland

text: The relationship between Lithuania and the Teutonic Knights remained tense. Jadwiga and her Polish advisers invited the Grand Master, Konrad von Jungingen, to Poland to open new negotiations in June 1396. Conflicts with Vladislaus of Opole and Siemowit of Masovia, who had not given up their claims to parts of Ruthenia and Cuyavia, also intensified. To demonstrate that the territories were under Jadwiga's direct control, Władysław-Jogaila granted the Duchy of Belz (in Ruthenia) and Cuyavia to her in early 1397. However, Jadwiga and her Polish advisers wanted to avoid a war with the Teutonic Order. In response, Władysław-Jogaila replaced most Polish "starostas" (aldermen) in Ruthenia with local Orthodox noblemen. According to German sources, Władysław-Jogaila and Vytautas jointly asked Pope Boniface IX to sanction Vytautas' coronation as king of Lithuania and Ruthenia.


title: Jadwiga of Poland

text: Jadwiga and Jungingen met in Włocławek in the middle of June, but they did not reach a compromise. The Teutonic Order entrusted Vladislaus of Opole with the task of representing their claims to Dobrzyń against Jadwiga. Jadwiga and her husband met Sigismund of Hungary, who had returned there after his catastrophic defeat in the Battle of Nicopolis, on 14 July. They seem to have reached a compromise, because Sigismund offered to mediate between Poland, Lithuania and the Teutonic Knights. On Jadwiga's request, Wenceslaus of Bohemia granted permission for the establishment of a college for Lithuanian students in Prague on 20 July 1397. Jadwiga, who had spent "many sleepless nights" thinking of this project, according to herself, issued a charter of establishment for the college on 10 November.


title: Jadwiga of Poland

text: She opened new negotiations with the Teutonic Knights, but Konrad von Jungingen dispatched a simple knight to meet her in May 1398. Władysław-Jogaila's cousin Vytautas also entered into negotiations with the Teutonic Knights because he wanted to unite Lithuania and Ruthenia under his rule and to receive a royal crown from the Holy See. According to the chronicle of John of Posilge, who was an official of the Teutonic Order, Jadwiga sent a letter to Vytautas, reminding him to pay the annual tribute that Władysław-Jogaila had granted her as dower. Offended by Jadwiga's demand, Vytautas sought the opinion of the Lithuanian and Ruthenian lords who refused Jadwiga's claim to a tribute. On 12 October 1398, he signed a peace treaty with the Teutonic Knights, without referring to Władysław-Jogaila's right to confirm it. Oscar Halecki says that Posilge's "sensational story" is either an invention based on gossip or a guess by the chronicler.


title: Jadwiga of Poland

text: Jadwiga was childless for over a decade, which, according to chronicles written in the Teutonic lands, caused conflicts between her and her husband. She became pregnant in late 1398 or early 1399. Sigismund, King of Hungary, came to Kraków in early March to negotiate for a campaign to defend Wallachia against the Ottoman Turks. Vytautas, in order to bolster his authority over the Rus' principalities, decided to launch an expedition against Timur, who had subdued the Golden Horde. According to Jan Długosz's chronicle, Jadwiga warned the Polish noblemen not to join Vytautas' campaign because it would end in failure. Halecki says that the great number of Polish knights who joined Vytautas's expedition proves that Długosz's report is not reliable.


title: Jadwiga of Poland

text: On the occasion of the expected birth to the royal couple, Jogaila's cousin Vytautas, Grand Duke of Lithuania, sent expensive gifts, including a silver cradle, to the royal court on behalf of himself and his wife, Anna. The first horoscopes written for Jadwiga's and Jogaila's child predicted a son in mid-September 1398. However, a girl was delivered on 22 June 1399 at Wawel Castle. Reports of the time stated that the child was born prematurely. According to the horoscope, she was actually born slightly late. However, a due date of 18 June would rule out the suspicion of pregnancy as early as mid-September.


title: Jadwiga of Poland

text: The newborn princess was named Elizabeth Bonifacia (, ), after Jadwiga's mother and Pope Boniface IX who, in a letter of 5 May 1399, had agreed to be godfather under the condition that the infant be called Boniface or Bonifacia. She was baptised by Piotr Wysz Radoliński, Bishop of Kraków. However, the infant died after only three weeks, on 13 July 1399. Jadwiga, too, was on her deathbed. Stanisław of Skarbimierz expressed hope that she would survive, describing her as the spiritual mother of the poor, weak, and ill of Poland. She advised her husband to marry Anna of Cilli, Casimir the Great's granddaughter—which he did— and died on 17 July 1399, four days after her newborn daughter.


title: Jadwiga of Poland

text: Jadwiga and her daughter were buried together in Wawel Cathedral, on 24 August 1399, as stipulated in the Queen's last will. On 12 July 1949, 550 years later, their tomb was opened; nothing remained of the child's soft cartilage.


title: Jadwiga of Poland

text: The following family tree illustrates Jadwiga's connection to her notable relatives. Kings of Poland are colored blue.


title: Jadwiga of Poland

text: Two leading historians, Oscar Halecki and S. Harrison Thomson, agree that Jadwiga was one of the greatest rulers of Poland, comparable to Bolesław the Brave and Casimir the Great. Her marriage to Władysław-Jogaila enabled the union of Poland and Lithuania, establishing a large state in East Central Europe. Jadwiga's decision to marry the 'elderly' Władysław-Jogaila instead of her beloved fiancé, William of Habsburg, has often been described as a sacrifice for her country in Polish historiography. Her biographers emphasize Jadwiga's efforts to preserve the peace with the Teutonic Order, which enabled Poland to make preparations for a decisive war against the Knights. Jadwiga's childless death weakened Władysław-Jogaila's position, because his claim to Poland was based on their marriage. Six days after her funeral, Władysław-Jogaila left Poland for Ruthenia, stating that he was to return to Lithuania after his wife's death. The Polish lords sent their envoys to Lviv to open negotiations with him. The delegates took new oaths of loyalty to him, confirming his position as king. On the lords' demand, he agreed to marry Anna of Cilli. Their wedding was celebrated on 29 January 1402.


title: Jadwiga of Poland

text: Jadwiga's cultural and charitable activities were of exceptional value. She established new hospitals, schools and churches, and restored older ones. Jadwiga promoted the use of vernacular in church services, especially the singing of hymns in Polish. The Scriptures were translated into Polish on her order.


title: Jadwiga of Poland

text: Casimir the Great had already in 1364 established the University of Kraków, but it did not survive his death. Władysław-Jogaila and Jadwiga jointly asked Pope Boniface IX to sanction the establishment of a faculty of theology in Kraków. The pope granted their request on 11 January 1397. Jadwiga bought houses along a central street of Kraków for the university. However, the faculty was only set up a year after Jadwiga's death: Władysław-Jogaila issued the charter for the reestablished university on 26 July 1400. In accordance with Jadwiga's last will, the restoration of the university was partially financed through the sale of her jewellery.


title: Jadwiga of Poland

text: Oscar Halecki writes that Jadwiga transmitted to the nations of East Central Europe the "universal heritage of the "respublica Christiana", which in the West was then waning, but in East Central Europe started flourishing and blending with the pre-Renaissance world". She was closely related to the saintly 13th-century princesses, venerated in Hungary and Poland, including Elizabeth of Hungary and her nieces, Kinga and Yolanda, and Salomea of Poland. She was born to a family famed for its religious zeal. She attended Mass every day. In accordance with her family's tradition, Jadwiga was especially devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary. An inscription engraved on her request on a precious chalice, which was placed in the Wawel Cathedral, asked Our Lady to place Poland under her protection.


title: Jadwiga of Poland

text: Jadwiga was venerated in Poland soon after her death. Stanisław of Skarbimierz states that she had been "the most Christian queen" in his sermon composed for her funeral. Paul of Zator referred to the wax figures placed by her grave. Sermons written in the early 15th century emphasized that Jadwiga had been a representative of the traditional virtues of holy women, such as mercy and benevolence. Jadwiga's contribution to the restoration of the University of Kraków was also mentioned by early 15th-century scholars.


title: Jadwiga of Poland

text: Numerous legends about miracles were recounted to justify her sainthood. The two best-known are those of "Jadwiga's cross" and "Jadwiga's foot":


title: Jadwiga of Poland

text: Jadwiga often prayed before a large black crucifix hanging in the north aisle of Wawel Cathedral. During one of these prayers, the Christ on the cross is said to have spoken to her. The crucifix, "Saint Jadwiga's cross", is still there, with her relics beneath it. Because of this event, she is considered a medieval mystic. According to another legend, Jadwiga took a piece of jewellery from her foot and gave it to a poor stonemason who had begged for her help. When the king left, he noticed her footprint in the plaster floor of his workplace, even though the plaster had already hardened before her visit. The supposed footprint, known as "Jadwiga's foot", can still be seen in one of Kraków's churches.


title: Jadwiga of Poland

text: In yet another legend, Jadwiga was taking part in a Corpus Christi Day procession when a coppersmith's son drowned by falling into a river. Jadwiga threw her mantle over the boy's body, and he regained life.


title: Jadwiga of Poland

text: On 8 June 1979 Pope John Paul II prayed at her sarcophagus; and the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments officially affirmed her beatification on 8 August 1986.


title: Jadwiga of Poland

text: "Hedvigis. Dziedziczka królestwa" (2021), a Polish historical novel about the early life and reign of Jadwiga by Krzysztof Konopka, follows the story of Jadwiga, her sister Mary, and their mother.


title: Jadwiga of Poland

text: Queen Jadwiga is the main character of the third season of Polish historical TV series "Korona królów" (The Crown of the Kings). She is played by Dagmara Bryzek. Child Jadwiga is played by Natalia Wolska and Amelia Zawadzka.


title: Jadwiga of Poland

text: Jadwiga appears as the leader of the Polish civilization in the turn-based strategy game "Civilization VI", specializing in religion and territorial expansion. She also features in in a campaign of her own.


title: Fiona Glascott

text: Fiona Glascott (born 22 November 1982) is an Irish actress. She is best known for portraying a young Minerva McGonagall in the "Fantastic Beasts" franchise, a spin-off of the "Harry Potter" film series.


title: Fiona Glascott

text: On stage in London she has appeared in "Mahler's Conversion" (Aldwych Theatre, West End), "Hitchcock Blonde" (Royal Court and Lyric Theatre, West End), in the original production of "Whipping It Up" at the Bush Theatre and as Margery Pinchwife in "The Country Wife" (Haymarket, West End). Her theatre credits in Dublin include: "A Life" (Abbey Theatre/National Tour), "The Spirit of Annie Ross" at the Gate Theatre and as Nina in "The Seagull" at the Corn Exchange.


title: Fiona Glascott

text: Her television credits include "Ballykissangel", "Fair City", "The Bill", "Bachelors Walk", "Foyle's War" and "Clone". In 2010, she was a guest star in the final two-part episode of ITV's hit drama "A Touch of Frost", playing the troubled daughter of Frost's one-time corrupt colleague. In 2011, Glascott appeared in the recurring role of Diane on the BBC/Showtime sitcom "Episodes". That same year, she appeared as a novice nun with a secret in the episode "A Sacred Trust" of the detective drama series "Midsomer Murders".


title: Fiona Glascott

text: On film, Glascott has appeared in "This Is My Father", "Crush Proof", "Goldfish Memory", "Omagh" and "The Duel". She appeared in the 2009 CBS television movie "Miss Irena's Children". She also starred in Torstein Blixfjord's 2012 short film "Bird in a Box", alongside Brian d'Arcy James.


title: Fiona Glascott

text: In 2018, Glascott joined the cast of the "Harry Potter" spin-off franchise "Fantastic Beasts" as a young Minerva McGonagall (a role originated by Maggie Smith) in the film "", a role she would reprise in the 2022 sequel "". Her role in the film series was controversial for some fans of the series, as her character had not been believed to have been born yet and was shown in the film teaching at Hogwarts.


title: Fiona Glascott

text: In 2003, Glascott was nominated for the Irish Film and Television Award for Best Supporting Actress in Film/TV for the film "Goldfish Memory".


title: Penile spines

text: Many mammalian species have developed keratinized penile spines along the glans and/or shaft, which may be involved in sexual selection. These spines have been described as being simple, single-pointed structures (macaques) or complex with two or three points per spine (strepsirrhines). Penile spine morphology may be related to mating system.


title: Penile spines

text: Felines, especially domestic cats, are well known for having penile spines. Upon withdrawal of a cat's penis, the spines rake the walls of the female's vagina, which may serve as a trigger for ovulation. Many other felid species have penile spines, but they are relatively small in jaguars and pumas, and do not occur in margays.


title: Penile spines

text: Penile spines in chimpanzees and mice are small surface projections made by the piling up of keratinized cell layers in the outermost skin surface. They occur in wombats, koalas, spotted hyenas, fossas, echidnas, primates, bats, and several rodent species.


title: Penile spines

text: Penile spines are often found in primate species that form copulatory plugs after mating. In galagos, penile spines may form a "genital lock" during copulation.


title: Penile spines

text: In contrast to chimpanzees, a common morphological variant found in humans called hirsuties coronae glandis, or pearly penile papules, are substantially larger, appear to be an outpocketing of both surface and underlying connective tissue layers, and lack the rich innervation seen in other animals. These are sometimes described as vestigial remnants of penile spines. However, the relationship between the structures is still uncertain.


title: Penile spines

text: When the hominin lineage split into the genera "Homo" and "Pan", a regulatory DNA sequence associated with the formation of small keratinized penile spines was lost in the "Homo" lineage. This simplification of penis anatomy may be associated with the sexual habits of humans. In some species which retain full expression, penile spines contribute to increased sexual sensation and quicker orgasms. An hCONDEL (highly conserved region of DNA that contains deletions in humans) located near the locus of the androgen receptor gene may be responsible for the loss of penile spines in humans.


title: Book of Ezekiel

text: The Book of Ezekiel is the third of the Latter Prophets in the Tanakh and one of the major prophetic books, following Isaiah and Jeremiah. According to the book itself, it records six visions of the prophet Ezekiel, exiled in Babylon, during the 22 years from 593 to 571 BCE, although it is the product of a long and complex history and does not necessarily preserve the very words of the prophet.


title: Book of Ezekiel

text: The visions, and the book, are structured around three themes: (1) Judgment on Israel (chapters 1–24); (2) Judgment on the nations (chapters 25–32); and (3) Future blessings for Israel (chapters 33–48). Its themes include the concepts of the presence of God, purity, Israel as a divine community, and individual responsibility to God. Its later influence has included the development of mystical and apocalyptic traditions in Second Temple and Judaism and Christianity.


title: Book of Ezekiel

text: Ezekiel has the broad three-fold structure found in a number of the prophetic books: oracles of woe against the prophet's own people, followed by oracles against Israel's neighbours, ending in prophecies of hope and salvation:


title: Book of Ezekiel

text: The book opens with a vision of YHWH (). The book moves on to anticipate the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, explains this as God's punishment, and closes with the promise of a new beginning and a new Temple.


title: Book of Ezekiel

text: The Book of Ezekiel describes itself as the words of Ezekiel ben-Buzi, a priest living in exile in the city of Babylon between 593 and 571 BCE. Most scholars today accept the basic authenticity of the book, but see in it significant additions by a school of later followers of the original prophet. According to Jewish tradition, the Men of the Great Assembly wrote the Book of Ezekiel, based on the prophet's words. While the book exhibits considerable unity and probably reflects much of the historic Ezekiel, it is the product of a long and complex history and does not necessarily preserve the very words of the prophet.


title: Book of Ezekiel

text: According to the book that bears his name, Ezekiel ben-Buzi was born into a priestly family of Jerusalem c.623 BCE, during the reign of the reforming king Josiah. Prior to this time, Judah had been a vassal of the Assyrian empire, but the rapid decline of Assyria after c. 630 led Josiah to assert his independence and institute a religious reform stressing loyalty to Yahweh, the national God of Israel. Josiah was killed in 609 and Judah became a vassal of the new regional power, the Neo-Babylonian empire. In 597, following a rebellion against Babylon, Ezekiel was among the large group of Judeans taken into captivity by the Babylonians. He appears to have spent the rest of his life in Mesopotamia. A further deportation of Jews from Jerusalem to Babylon occurred in 586 when a second unsuccessful rebellion resulted in the destruction of the city and its Temple and the exile of the remaining elements of the royal court, including the last scribes and priests. The various dates given in the book suggest that Ezekiel was 25 when he went into exile, 30 when he received his prophetic call, and 52 at the time of the last vision c.571.


title: Book of Ezekiel

text: The Jewish scriptures were translated into Greek in the two centuries prior to the Common Era. The Greek version of these books is called the Septuagint. The Jewish Bible in Hebrew is called the Masoretic text (meaning "passing down" after a Hebrew word "Masorah"; for Jewish scholars and rabbis curated and commented on the text). The Greek (Septuagint) version of Ezekiel differs slightly from the Hebrew (Masoretic) version – it is about 8 verses shorter (out of 1,272) and possibly represents an earlier transmission of the book we have today (according to the masoretic tradition) – while other ancient manuscript fragments differ from both.


title: Book of Ezekiel

text: The first half of the 20th century saw several attempts to deny the authorship and authenticity of the book, with scholars such as C. C. Torrey (1863–1956) and Morton Smith placing it variously in the 3rd century BCE and in the 8th/7th. The pendulum swung back in the post-war period, with an increasing acceptance of the book's essential unity and historical placement in the Exile. The most influential modern scholarly work on Ezekiel, Walther Zimmerli's two-volume commentary, appeared in German in 1969 and in English in 1979 and 1983. Zimmerli traces the process by which Ezekiel's oracles were delivered orally and transformed into a written text by the prophet and his followers through a process of ongoing re-writing and re-interpretation. He isolates the oracles and speeches behind the present text, and traces Ezekiel's interaction with a mass of mythological, legendary and literary material as he developed his insights into Yahweh's purposes during the period of destruction and exile.


title: Book of Ezekiel

text: As a priest, Ezekiel is fundamentally concerned with the "Kavod YHWH", a technical phrase meaning the presence (shekhinah) of YHWH (i.e., one of the Names of God) among the people, in the Tabernacle, and in the Temple, and normally translated as "glory of God". In Ezekiel the phrase describes God mounted on His throne-chariot as he departs from the Temple in chapters 1–11 and returns to what Marvin Sweeney describes as a portrayal of "the establishment of the new temple in Zion as YHWH returns to the temple, which then serves as the center for a new creation with the tribes of Israel arrayed around it" in chapters 40–48. The vision in chapters 1:4–28 reflects common mythological/Biblical themes and the imagery of the Temple: God appears in a cloud from the north – the north being the usual home of God/the gods in ancient mythology and Biblical literature – with four living creatures corresponding to the two cherubim above the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant and the two in the Holy of Holies, the innermost chamber of the Temple; the burning coals of fire between the creatures perhaps represents the fire on the sacrificial altar, and the famous "wheel within a wheel" may represent the rings by which the Levites carried the Ark, or the wheels of the cart.


title: Book of Ezekiel

text: Ezekiel depicts the destruction of Jerusalem as a purificatory sacrifice upon the altar, made necessary by the "abominations" in the Temple (the presence of idols and the worship of the god Tammuz) described in chapter 8. The process of purification begins, God prepares to leave, and a priest lights the sacrificial fire to the city. Nevertheless, the prophet announces that a small remnant will remain true to Yahweh in exile, and will return to the purified city. The image of the valley of dry bones returning to life in chapter 37 signifies the restoration of the purified Israel.


title: Book of Ezekiel

text: Previous prophets had used "Israel" to mean the northern kingdom and its tribes; when Ezekiel speaks of Israel he is addressing the deported remnant of Judah; at the same time, however, he can use this term to mean the glorious future destiny of a truly comprehensive "Israel". In sum, the book describes God's promise that the people of Israel will maintain their covenant with God when they are purified and receive a "new heart" (another of the book's images) which will enable them to observe God's commandments and live in the land in a proper relationship with Yahweh.


title: Book of Ezekiel

text: The theology of Ezekiel is notable for its contribution to the emerging notion of individual responsibility to God – each man would be held responsible only for his own sins. This is in marked contrast to the Deuteronomistic writers, who held that the sins of the nation would be held against all, without regard for an individual's personal guilt. Nonetheless, Ezekiel shared many ideas in common with the Deuteronomists, notably the notion that God works according to the principle of retributive justice and an ambivalence towards kingship (although the Deuteronomists reserved their scorn for individual kings rather than for the office itself). As a priest, Ezekiel praises the Zadokites over the Levites (lower level temple functionaries), whom he largely blames for the destruction and exile. He is clearly connected with the Holiness Code and its vision of a future dependent on keeping the Laws of God and maintaining ritual purity. Notably, Ezekiel blames the Babylonian exile not on the people's failure to keep the Law, but on their worship of gods other than Yahweh and their injustice: these, says Ezekiel in chapters 8–11, are the reasons God's Shekhinah left his city and his people.


title: Book of Ezekiel

text: Ezekiel's imagery provided much of the basis for the Second Temple mystical tradition in which the visionary ascended through the Seven Heavens in order to experience the presence of God and understand His actions and intentions. The book's literary influence can be seen in the later apocalyptic writings of Daniel and Zechariah. He is specifically mentioned by Ben Sirah (a writer of the Hellenistic period who listed the "great sages" of Israel) and 4 Maccabees (1st century CE). In the 1st century CE the historian Josephus said that the prophet wrote two books: he may have had in mind the Apocryphon of Ezekiel, a 1st-century CE text that expands on the doctrine of resurrection. Ezekiel appears only briefly in the Dead Sea Scrolls, but his influence there was profound, most notably in the Temple Scroll with its temple plans, and the defence of the Zadokite priesthood in the Damascus Document. There was apparently some question concerning the inclusion of Ezekiel in the canon of scripture, since it is frequently at odds with the Torah (the five "Books of Moses" which are foundational to Judaism).


title: Book of Ezekiel

text: Ezekiel is referenced more in the Book of Revelation than in any other New Testament writing. To take just two well-known passages, the famous Gog and Magog prophecy in Revelation 20:8 refers back to Ezekiel 38–39, and in Revelation 21–22, as in the closing visions of Ezekiel, the prophet is transported to a high mountain where a heavenly messenger measures the symmetrical new Jerusalem, complete with high walls and twelve gates, the dwelling-place of God where His people will enjoy a state of perfect well-being. Apart from Revelation, however, where Ezekiel is a major source, there is very little allusion to the prophet in the New Testament; the reasons for this are unclear, but it cannot be assumed that every Christian or Hellenistic Jewish community in the 1st century would have had a complete set of (Hebrew) scripture scrolls, and in any case Ezekiel was under suspicion of encouraging dangerous mystical speculation, as well as being sometimes obscure, incoherent, and pornographic.


title: Alana Stewart

text: Alana Hamilton Stewart (; born May 18, 1945) is an American actress and former model. She has also used her maiden name, Alana Collins, and her names from her first marriage, Alana Collins-Hamilton and Alana Hamilton, professionally.


title: Alana Stewart

text: Born Alana Kaye Collins in San Diego, she grew up in Nacogdoches, Texas, and Houston, before heading to New York to become a model. She claimed to have grown up in poverty. Collins signed with Ford Models and traveled to Los Angeles for many television and commercial appearances.


title: Alana Stewart

text: In the early 1970s, she began an acting career. Her first role was a bit part in the biographical film "Evel Knievel" which starred her then-husband, George Hamilton. She later appeared in small roles in television shows such as "The Bionic Woman" and "Fantasy Island".


title: Alana Stewart

text: In 1995, she and ex-husband George Hamilton hosted their own syndicated talk show, "George & Alana". The series was cancelled the following year.


title: Alana Stewart

text: From 2006 to 2009, Stewart filmed and produced an Emmy-nominated 90-minute documentary, "Farrah's Story", chronicling her friend and fellow model Farrah Fawcett's battle with cancer.


title: Alana Stewart

text: In 2012, she guest-starred in an episode of the Caruso|Portier web-series DeVanity as Claudia Muller, the mother of Lara Muller DeVanity and Dr. Portia Muller Roth.


title: Alana Stewart

text: In 2014, Alana, who is a Republican, endorsed her friend, Independent candidate Marianne Williamson, for U.S. Congress in California's 33rd district.


title: Alana Stewart

text: Alana is a Trump supporter, having voted for him in 2016 and 2020. Unlike most of her colleagues in Hollywood, she opposes restrictions on gun ownership, aside from "stringent background checks". Post-divorce, she has lived alone and keeps her gun on her bedside table.


title: Alana Stewart

text: Alana was a signatory of the bipartisan letter calling for Walmart to allow sales of the DVD and Blu-Ray discs of the 2019 political documentary "No Safe Spaces". After Fox News called the 2020 presidential election in Arizona for Joe Biden, she was among the list of conservatives who ceased supporting the news channel and switched to Newsmax.


title: Alana Stewart

text: She married actor George Hamilton in 1972. They had one child, a son named Ashley Hamilton. The couple divorced in 1975.


title: Alana Stewart

text: In 1979, she married singer Rod Stewart. The couple had a daughter, Kimberly, and a son, Sean. Alana and Rod Stewart divorced in 1984, but she retained his surname.


title: Alana Stewart

text: In the early 1990s, Stewart discovered she had the Epstein-Barr virus after having suffered from symptoms caused by the virus for two decades. In 1994, she began speaking out about her illness and revealed that she removed her breast implants because she felt they contributed to her illness.


title: Alana Stewart

text: Alana was a close friend of Farrah Fawcett, who died in 2009 after a long battle with cancer, and she is the current President/CEO of the Farrah Fawcett Foundation. Her 2009 New York Times best seller "My Journey with Farrah: A Story of Life, Love, and Friendship" is dedicated to her journey with Fawcett.


title: Alana Stewart

text: In 2012, she published a book titled "Rearview Mirror: A Memoir", detailing her upbringing, early career as a model, her marriages and subsequent divorces, and the deaths of her mother and Fawcett.


title: Dani Dyer

text: Dani Charlotte Dyer (born 8 August 1996) is an English television personality and actress. In 2018, she appeared on "Survival of the Fittest", and later that year won the fourth series of "Love Island" alongside Jack Fincham. Since then, she has co-presented the MTV series "True Love or True Lies" alongside father Danny Dyer, as well as co-hosting a podcast called "Sorted with the Dyers" with him.


title: Dani Dyer

text: Dani Charlotte Dyer was born to Joanne Mas and Danny Dyer on 8 August 1996 in the London Borough of Newham. She has a younger sister Sunnie and a younger brother Artie, and worked as a barmaid in Loughton, Essex before appearing on television.


title: Dani Dyer

text: Dyer made her professional screen debut as an extra in the 2006 film "The Other Half" alongside her father. She also appeared as an extra in other films starring her father, including "Doghouse" (2009), "Run for Your Wife" (2012) and "Vendetta" (2013). The producer of "Vendetta" stated that she "absolutely blew away" the crew. She then independently appeared in films including "We Still Kill the Old Way" (2014), "Age of Kill" (2015) and "Bonded by Blood 2" (2017). In 2018, she was announced as a cast member for the ITV2 reality series "Survival of the Fittest", but walked from the series on the second day due to dislocating her shoulder. Later that year, she competed in the fourth series of ITV2's "Love Island". She won the series alongside Jack Fincham with 79.66% of the final vote. Following their "Love Island" win, Dyer and Fincham starred in the three-part ITVBe reality series "Jack & Dani: Life After Love Island". In 2019, she began appearing as a guest reporter on "The One Show", and in 2020, she launched a range of lip products with Vaseline. Later that year, she began co-hosting a podcast with her father, titled "Sorted with the Dyers". In June 2021, she made a guest appearance in the BBC soap opera "EastEnders" as a taxi driver named Jeanette and appeared alongside her father who portrays series regular Mick Carter.


title: Dani Dyer

text: Dyer was in a relationship with Sammy Kimmence prior to appearing on "Love Island". While on the series, Dyer was in a relationship with Jack Fincham; the pair split later that year. Dyer and Kimmence then were pictured together and it was reported that their relationship had been rekindled, which was later confirmed by Dyer. On 28 July 2020, the couple announced via social media that Dyer was pregnant with their first child. On 23 January 2021, she gave birth to a son named Santiago. She reportedly split from Kimmence after he was jailed for 3½ years after scamming two elderly men out of £34,000. In October 2021, Dyer was reported to be in a relationship with Premier League footballer, Jarrod Bowen.


title: Cell (film)

text: Cell is a 2016 American science fiction horror film based on the 2006 novel of the same name by Stephen King. The film is directed by Tod Williams, produced by John Cusack, with a screenplay by King and Adam Alleca. The film stars John Cusack, Samuel L. Jackson, and Isabelle Fuhrman. The film was released on June 10, 2016 to video on demand, prior to a limited release scheduled for July 8, 2016. "Cell" is the second film adaptation of a King story to co-star Cusack and Jackson, after the 2007 film "1408". The film's story follows a New England artist struggling to reunite with his young son after a mysterious signal broadcast over the global cell phone network turns the majority of his fellow humans into mindless vicious animals.


title: Cell (film)

text: The film received negative reviews from critics upon its release for being poorly crafted and lacking suspense.


title: Cell (film)

text: Clay Riddell is a disillusioned artist who a year earlier abandoned his wife Sharon and son Johnny in order to fulfill his dream of publishing a graphic novel. At Boston International Airport, Clay tries to board a flight, hoping to reconcile with his family. His cell phone battery dies, so he calls Sharon using a payphone. Suddenly an electronic signal (later dubbed "the pulse") is broadcast across mobile networks worldwide, turning cell phone users into rabid killers. Clay escapes the chaos in the terminal and meets a group of survivors in a subway car. The train's conductor, Tom McCourt, suggests abandoning the train and traveling through the tunnels, since power has been cut to the subway trains and the pumps keeping the tunnels dry will soon shut down with no one manning them. Clay agrees and, joined by a third man, attempts to escape the airport.


title: Cell (film)

text: Near the tunnel's exit, their companion is slaughtered by an infected man, later dubbed a "phoner", and the two escape to the street above. Clay leads Tom to his apartment. That night, they are joined by Alice Maxwell, a teenage neighbor of Clay's who killed her mother in self-defense. All three decide to escape Boston. Heading north through New England to find Sharon and Johnny, the three acquire weapons from a house and are chased by a flock of phoners to a nearby river. Hiding from the infected, they observe the flock emitting mysterious signals from their mouths and then walking off as a group.


title: Cell (film)

text: After sundown the three arrive at a private school, where they meet two survivors: headmaster Charles Ardai and a student named Jordan. Charles postulates that the phoners have developed a hive mind and are telepathic. He shows them thousands of phoners lying inert in the school's athletic field. Charles has a plan to use the stadium's gas pumps and a sprayer truck to burn the phoners, and the others agree to help. Clay and Tom drive over the phoners, spraying them with gasoline, which Charles sets ablaze. The fire spreads, causing an explosion that kills Charles. The remaining group, now including Jordan, continue north.


title: Cell (film)

text: Taking shelter at an abandoned drive-in theater, the four go to sleep, and all of them dream about a raggedy-looking man in a red hoodie, a character from Clay's graphic novel. Later they encounter a group of survivors in a roadside bar. They tell the four about Kashwak, a state park in Maine where there is said to be no cell service. After agreeing to travel there, they spend the night in the bar. Sally, one of the survivors, is awoken and infected by a group outside. She can now transmit the pulse through her mouth. The group attacks Tom and Jordan. After saving Tom from a phoner, Alice is bludgeoned in the head by Sally, whom Tom fatally shoots. The group takes Alice outside, where she succumbs to her head wound.


title: Cell (film)

text: Later, the group encounter a sleepless Ray Huizenga and his friend Denise, who say that Kashwak is a trap set by the Raggedy Man. Ray becomes increasingly agitated, muttering that the Raggedy Man is planting thoughts in his head. He gives Clay his cell phone and tells him to call the number on it when they reach the end of the road. Ray then kills himself with a bomb around his neck. In Ray's truck, the group discovers a huge quantity of C-4 explosives. When the group makes it to Sharon's house, Clay learns that Johnny has headed for Kashwak and that Sharon has turned into a phoner. After killing her, Clay drives alone to Kashwak, intent on locating Johnny, while the others continue north, leaving marks as a trail for Clay.


title: Cell (film)

text: At Kashawk, Clay finds thousands of phoners walking in an enormous circle around a communications tower. Clay sees the Raggedy Man at the center of the circle, runs him over and repeatedly shoots him. Then Clay hears his son calling to him from amongst the flock and escapes from the circle. An infected Johnny appears before him and the Raggedy Man returns to life. Clay hugs his son as he calls the number on Ray's phone, detonating the explosives in the truck, destroying the tower and the phoners. Clay and his son find the marks and follow the trail toward Clay's friends. However, the explosion is revealed to be an illusion: Clay has been infected and is now walking in the circle around the tower.


title: Cell (film)

text: The film is based on the 2006 novel of the same name by Stephen King. Dimension Films announced in March 2006 that Eli Roth would direct the project after finishing "". Roth exited the project in 2009, saying:


title: Cell (film)

text: Following Roth's departure, "Screen Rant" noted that the film "faded into the background". However, in October 2012, John Cusack was announced as the first actor to join the film, followed by the selection of Tod Williams as director in early 2013. In November 2013, Samuel L. Jackson was cast as Tom McCourt. Isabelle Fuhrman was announced as Alice on February 5, 2014, and Stacy Keach was cast in an unnamed role of a headmaster the following day. The film was shot over 25 days in January 2014 in Atlanta, Georgia.


title: Cell (film)

text: In February 2015, the producers of the film announced that Clarius Entertainment had acquired distribution rights. The company, now called Aviron Pictures, later dropped the film. Saban Films later acquired distribution rights to the film. It was to receive its world premiere at FrightFest as part of the Glasgow Film Festival but was replaced at the last minute by "Pandemic". The film was released on June 10, 2016, to video on demand, prior to opening in a limited release on July 8, 2016.


title: Cell (film)

text: "Cell" was panned by most critics. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 11% based on 57 reviews and an average score of 3.8/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Shoddily crafted and devoid of suspense, "Cell" squanders a capable cast and Stephen King's once-prescient source material on a bland rehash of zombie cliches." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 38 out of 100, based on 15 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".


title: Cell (film)

text: Jeannette Catsoulis of "The New York Times" criticized the film's "bare-bones screenplay" for being "wholly unable to deliver even a smidgen of nuance or depth", and called Cusack's performance "possibly the most detached" of his career. Owen Gleiberman of "Variety" referred to the outbreak scene in the airport as the "only unsettling scene" in the film, and wrote that "the film is about as close as you could get to a generic low-budget undead thriller". Steve Greene of IndieWire gave the film a grade of "C−", calling it "a character study with a dearth of character", and concluding that the film has "no greater message [...] except that using a Bluetooth headset to call someone from an airport bathroom stall should be punishable by zombification".


title: Cell (film)

text: Odie Henderson of RogerEbert.com gave the film two-and-a-half stars out of four, commending the performances of Cusack, Jackson, and Keach but criticizing the film's "occasional lack of storytelling clarity", calling it "rushed and unclear in its details about the pulse and its aftermath". Patrick Cooper of Bloody Disgusting called it a "forgettable adaptation" and further stated that "the story packs absolutely no punch and the solid stable of actors look bored for most of the film". Nico Lang of "Consequence of Sound" wrote that "Cell" wasted an intriguing premise and called it "unnecessarily glum and grim," as well as "pretty dumb". Bob Grimm of "Coachella Valley Independent" wrote that the movie "is easily one of the worst adaptations ever of a King story".


title: United 93 (film)

text: United 93 is a 2006 docudrama thriller film written and directed by Paul Greengrass. The film chronicles the events aboard United Airlines Flight 93, one of the four hijacked flights during the September 11 attacks and the only one not to hit its intended target due to the intervention of passengers and crew.


title: United 93 (film)

text: The film attempts to recount the hijacking and subsequent events in the flight with as much veracity as possible (there is a disclaimer that some imagination had to be used) and in real time (from the flight's takeoff). The film was made with the cooperation of many of the passengers' families, though not all agreed to participate.


title: United 93 (film)

text: "United 93" premiered on April 26, 2006, at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City, a festival founded to celebrate New York City as a major filmmaking center and to contribute towards the long-term recovery of Lower Manhattan. Several family members of the passengers aboard the flight attended the premiere to show their support.


title: United 93 (film)

text: The film opened in North America on April 28, 2006, to critical acclaim. Ten percent of the gross income from the three-day opening weekend was promised toward a donation to create a memorial for the flight's victims. The total gross intake of "United 93" was $31.4 million in the United States, and $76.3 million worldwide. The film also received two Academy Award nominations, including Best Director for Greengrass.


title: United 93 (film)

text: On the morning of September 11, 2001, four al-Qaeda members, Ziad Jarrah, Saeed al-Ghamdi, Ahmed al-Nami and Ahmed al-Haznawi pray in a Newark, New Jersey hotel, and after Jarrah makes a final phone call to his girlfriend, board United Airlines Flight 93, piloted by Captain Jason Dahl and First Officer LeRoy Homer Jr., at Newark International Airport. Among the passengers are Tom Burnett, Todd Beamer, Jeremy Glick, Richard Guadagno, Louis J. Nacke II, Lauren Grandcolas and Mark Bingham who is the last passenger to board, barely making the flight. United 93 becomes delayed due to airport traffic. Air traffic controllers lose contact with American Airlines Flight 11 which diverts toward New York City and realise it has been hijacked after hearing suspicious transmissions. Shortly after United 93 takes off after its slight delay, Flight 11 crashes into the North Tower of the World Trade Center, and United Airlines Flight 175 is also hijacked and heads toward New York City. Air traffic controllers learn that American Airlines Flight 77 has also been hijacked and watch in horror as United 175 crashes into the South Tower.


title: United 93 (film)

text: As the passengers are served breakfast on United 93, Jarrah hesitates to start the hijacking. Via an ACARS message, Dahl and Homer are notified of the WTC attacks and to beware cockpit intrusion. After Nami unsuccessfully urges Jarrah to attack, an impatient Haznawi prepares an artificial bomb in the lavatory. Ghamdi grabs flight attendant Deborah Welsh at knife point and passenger Mark Rothenberg is mortally wounded by Haznawi. As Haznawi and Nami force the passengers to the back of the plane, Ghamdi kills both pilots, despite sending out a mayday call, and Welsh, as Jarrah begins piloting the aircraft, and redirects it towards Washington, D.C., with the intention to crash it into the United States Capitol. Grandcolas (an emergency medical technician) tries to help the dying Rothenberg but Nami berates her. The hijackers jubilantly react to the success of the WTC attack. While flight attendants Sandra Bradshaw and CeeCee Lyles unsuccessfully attempt to revive Rothenberg, Bradshaw sees the hijackers moving the bodies of the pilots and Welsh and the passengers overhear this.


title: United 93 (film)

text: After Flight 77 crashes into The Pentagon, FAA National Operations Manager Ben Sliney decides to shut down all United States air space and ground all flights. Passengers on United 93 learn of the other attacks from family members via airphone. Realising the hijackers have no intention of landing, Burnett, Bingham, Beamer, Glick (a former judo champion), Guadagno and Nacke form a plan to retake the plane, with assistance from flight staff, arming themselves with weapons, and learn passenger Donald Greene is a licensed pilot and passenger Andrew Garcia is a former air traffic controller. As the group gather, Haznawi and Nami anxiously realise they are losing control and Jarrah and Ghamdi become agitated, as they are twenty minutes away from D.C. and are unable to speed up to reach their target. Passenger Christian Adams, attempting to counsel appeasement, is restrained by some of the passengers, while other passengers pray and make final calls to loved ones.


title: United 93 (film)

text: After Beamer urges the group to take action, the passengers charge a stunned Haznawi, tackle him and beat him. As Nami, Ghamdi and Jarrah panic, Bingham defeats Haznawi by bashing his skull in with a fire extinguisher and Nacke declares the bomb a fake. As Grandcolas, passengers William Cashman, Patrick Driscoll and Alan Beaven join the assault, Jarrah violently rocks the plane to disrupt the assault and Nami tries to hold them off with a serving cart, Mace and his own fire extinguisher. He too is subdued, and Glick gouges his eyes out before snapping his neck. As the group move Greene and Garcia though first-class, the passengers reach the cockpit door. Jarrah and Ghamdi are disheartened by the realisation that they will never reach their target, and debate on whether to crash the plane rather than cede control. The passengers breach the cockpit with the cart just as Jarrah puts the plane into a steep dive, reciting the takbir. Ghamdi tries to protect Jarrah, but the passengers overpower him and wrestle Jarrah for control. The aircraft inverts and crashes into a Shanksville field, killing everyone aboard.


title: United 93 (film)

text: The film ends with a series of title cards explaining that of the four airliners hijacked on September 11, 2001, United 93 was the only one that did not reach its intended target. This is followed by a dedication to all who lost their lives in the attacks.


title: United 93 (film)

text: The film was the first Hollywood feature to draw its narrative directly from the September 11 attacks of 2001. Passengers were portrayed in the film mostly by professional but relatively unknown actors. (Tom Burnett, for instance, is played by Christian Clemenson, who has since appeared on "Boston Legal" and ""). Additionally, several participants in the real-life events portray themselves in the film, including Thomas Roberts, Tobin Miller, Rich Sullivan, Tony Smith, James Fox, Shawna Fox, Jeremy Powell, Curt Applegate, Greg Callahan, Rick Tepper, and notably FAA operations manager Ben Sliney. Sliney was initially involved in the film in an advisory role. He was then cast in a small role as an air traffic controller. Later, Greengrass offered him the opportunity to play himself, which he accepted. The roles of one of the flight attendants, the two pilots, and many other airline personnel were filled by actual airline employees.


title: United 93 (film)

text: During production, the actors playing the crew and the passengers of the flight were put in separate hotels from the actors portraying the hijackers and ate their meals separately, ostensibly to create an air of antagonism in the film between the two groups. The set itself was built so that it moved the way the actual flight did. During the filming, many of the actors actually got injured, and the blood visible on their faces during the revolt scene is authentic.


title: United 93 (film)

text: Filming took place from October until December 2005, on a 20-year-old reclaimed Boeing 757 formerly operated by MyTravel Airways, at Pinewood Studios near London. The cockpit was built by Flightdeck Solutions. The location was chosen both for its financial incentives and to shield actors from unwanted public scrutiny they might have received in the United States. Action was filmed with handheld cameras, chosen for their versatility on the close-quarters sets and to create a sense of immediacy. Exterior airport sequences were shot on location at Newark Liberty International Airport, while interiors were shot back in England at London Stansted Airport. A few scenes were also shot in Washington, D.C. and Boston. Additionally, an opening sequence set in Afghanistan was shot in Morocco, but it was cut from the film before release.


title: United 93 (film)

text: During the scene where Nami is killed by the passengers in the revolt, he is shown crying. Finishing the very first take, Jamie Harding, who plays Nami, became overwhelmed that he was sobbing. In this scene, the sobbing Nami makes as Glick holds him around the head and throat and twists, breaking his neck, is authentic and not acted.


title: United 93 (film)

text: The film was given an R rating by the Motion Picture Association of America for "language, and some intense sequences of terror and violence". The film was released in the United States on April 28, 2006, and opened second in the weekend box office behind "RV", but it netted a slightly higher per-screen average.


title: United 93 (film)

text: Initial screenings ended with the closing credits line "America's War on Terror had begun". This was replaced in the release version with "Dedicated to the memory of all those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001".


title: United 93 (film)

text: There were calls for Universal to pull the film's trailers from circulation in cinemas, due to some audience members feeling startled or upset by the film's subject matter. The studio did not heed that call, although one theatre in Manhattan voluntarily pulled the trailer after audience complaints.


title: United 93 (film)

text: The Iraqi-born, London-based actor Lewis Alsamari, who plays Ghamdi, was reportedly denied a visa by United States immigration authorities when he applied to visit New York City to attend the premiere, despite having already been granted asylum in the United Kingdom since the 1990s. The reason reported to have been given was that he had once been a conscripted member of the Iraqi Army — although this was also the grounds for his refugee status after his desertion in 1993. Other sources say that he applied late for his visa and that it was not denied.


title: United 93 (film)

text: The timing of the events is changed for dramatic effect, with Jarrah making his final call to his girlfriend from the airport, whereas he did it from his hotel room, and Mohamed Atta's transmission being determined before Flight 11 crashed into the WTC; it actually happened after. In a interview, Ben Sliney said that Greengrass exaggerated other details for dramatic effect, such as him and various controllers swearing and shouting when in his recollection most people spoke quietly.


title: United 93 (film)

text: The film suggests explanations for why the hijackers waited 46 minutes after takeoff to start the hijacking, portraying Jarrah as hesitant and doubtful, to the dismay of his fellow hijackers. The hijackers' intended target is unknown, but the film follows a common assumption that it was the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C.


title: United 93 (film)

text: The cockpit voice recorder tape from United Flight 93 has never been made public; however, a transcript was made public after the film was completed, shedding more light on what actually happened in the final 30 minutes before the plane crashed. Some parts contradict the filmmakers' choices in terms of some dialogue and specific aspects of the event. For example, the pilots, Jason Dahl and LeRoy Homer Jr., are shown in the film being killed immediately during the hijacking. This was based on documentary evidence from the "9/11 Commission Report" which indicates that at least one passenger reported in a cell phone call seeing two people, possibly the pilots, lying dead or injured on the floor outside the cockpit after the hijacking. Though Dahl is shown sending out the mayday call, Melody Homer claimed to recognise her husband as the voice of the mayday hailer. Due to the then forthcoming Zacarias Moussaoui trial, Jason Dahl's wife Sandy Dahl was unable to tell the film's director, Paul Greengrass, what she believed really happened regarding her husband. Some statements made by the terrorists in the cockpit voice recorder transcript, as well as moans heard in the background inside the cockpit, raised doubts that both pilots were dead before the plane crashed. Both Sandy Dahl and Melody Homer criticized the film for not focusing on the flight crew’s actions and ignoring their beliefs their husbands tried to interfere with the autopilot.


title: United 93 (film)

text: There is some controversy between some of the family members of the passengers and the investigative officials as to whether the passengers managed to breach the cockpit before the plane crashed. The "9/11 Commission Report" concluded that "the hijackers remained at the controls but must have judged that the passengers were only seconds from overcoming them". However, many of the passengers' family members, having heard the audio recordings, believe that the passengers did breach the cockpit and struggled with the hijackers for control of the yoke.


title: United 93 (film)

text: The film has been criticized for its portrayal of German passenger Christian Adams, who is portrayed as counseling appeasement, to the point the passengers restrain him when he tries to warn the hijackers, despite the absence of any evidence that he did so. It was also reported that Adams's widow did not cooperate with the filmmakers due to the emotional pain. "Sunday Times" critic Cosmo Landesman mused, "Surely one of the passengers didn't phone home to point out that there was a cowardly German on board who wanted to give in?" Critic John Harris suggested in a "Guardian" blog, "there will surely be all kinds of cries about old European surrender monkeys, the United States' contrasting backbone etc." Erich Redman, who portrayed Adams in the film, has stated he did not intend to portray Adams as cowardly but as a man who "never made rash decisions and everything he did was always well-considered".


title: United 93 (film)

text: "United 93" was one of the most critically acclaimed films of 2006. James Berardinelli, Roger Ebert, Michael Medved, and Peter Travers all awarded it full marks on their rating scales, with Ebert calling the film "masterful and heartbreaking" and saying that it "does honor to the memory of the victims". Travers termed it "one of the most moving films of the year", in "Rolling Stone". The film holds "Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on reviews, and an average rating of , with the consensus: "Potent and sobering, "United 93" treats the subject matter with respect, never resorting to Hollywood aggrandizement." Calling it "gut-wrenching and surprisingly probative," "The A.V. Club" includes it on a list of "Great Films Too Painful To Watch Twice."


title: United 93 (film)

text: The film has a score of 90 on Metacritic, where it appears on 39 critics' top 10 lists, more than any other 2006 film on the site, (although the 2006 film with the highest average score on the site is the re-released 1969 film "Army of Shadows"). The film was ranked #1 on 47 lists (the most of any 2006 film).


title: United 93 (film)

text: At the website "Movie City News", which ranks 250 critics' lists and awards points for list-placement, "United 93" ranks as the number one film of 2006 with a score of 917.5 points.


title: United 93 (film)

text: The film has been cited as a favorite by filmmaker John Waters, who presented it as his annual selection at the 2010 Maryland Film Festival.


title: United 93 (film)

text: Only two films ("The Departed" and "The Queen") appeared on more top 10 lists of the best films of 2006 than "United 93", and no film received more #1 mentions:


title: United 93 (film)

text: Joe Morgenstern of "The Wall Street Journal" and Steven Rea of "The Philadelphia Inquirer" named it among the top ten best films of 2006.


title: United 93 (film)

text: "United 93" received numerous awards and nominations from film critics and guilds. Ultimately, the film received two Academy Award nominations, including Best Director, at the 79th Academy Awards, and six BAFTA Award nominations, including Best British Film, at the 60th British Academy Film Awards, winning two for Best Director and Best Film Editing.


title: United 93 (film)

text: "United 93" was released to DVD on September 5, 2006, in both widescreen and . Also released was a 2-disc Special Limited Edition in widescreen. A Blu-ray Disc version was released on September 6, 2011. A second Blu-ray release from Universal Studios for the film was released on June 5, 2012, as a part of Universal's "Universal 100th Anniversary" releases. This version included the same Blu-ray Disc (same transfer and same bonus features) found in the first 2011 release in addition to a DVD and digital copy included in the pack with a brand-new sleeve that was not available with the previous release. Both Blu-ray Disc sets for the film are region-free.


title: Andrew Zimmern

text: Andrew Scott Zimmern (born July 4, 1961) is an American chef, restaurateur, television and radio personality, director, producer, businessman, food critic, and author. Zimmern is the co-creator, host, and consulting producer of the Travel Channel television series "Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern," "Bizarre Foods America", "Bizarre Foods: Delicious Destinations", "Andrew Zimmern's Bizarre World", "Dining with Death", "The Zimmern List", and "Andrew Zimmern's Driven by Food", as well as the Food Network series "The Big Food Truck Tip". For his work on "Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern", he was presented the James Beard Foundation Award four times: in 2010, 2012, 2013, and 2017. Zimmern hosts a cooking webseries on YouTube, "Andrew Zimmern Cooks". His show, "What's Eating America", premiered on MSNBC in 2020.


title: Andrew Zimmern

text: Zimmern was born in 1961 to Robert and Caren Zimmern and raised in New York City in a Jewish family. As a boy, he attended James Beard's legendary Christmas and Sunday open houses with his father and father's male partner, and credits Beard's hospitality for his early culinary aspirations. He began his formal culinary training at the age of 14. He attended the Dalton School and graduated from Vassar College. He worked at several fine dining restaurants in New York as either executive chef or general manager. He has also lectured on restaurant management and design at The New School for Social Research.


title: Andrew Zimmern

text: Owing to severe drug and alcohol addiction, Zimmern was homeless for about one year. During this period, he survived by stealing purses from cafes and selling the contents. In 1992, Zimmern moved to Minnesota, where he checked into the Hazelden Treatment Center for drug and alcohol addiction treatment, where he now volunteers. He currently resides in Minneapolis. He later gained wide acclaim during his four-and-a-half-year tenure as executive chef of Café Un Deux Trois in Minneapolis's Foshay Tower. His menus received the highest ratings from the "St. Paul Pioneer Press", "Minneapolis Star Tribune", "Minnesota Monthly", and "Mpls. St. Paul Magazine", as well as national publications. Zimmern left daily restaurant operations in 1997.


title: Andrew Zimmern

text: Zimmern is a contributing editor and award-winning monthly columnist at "Mpls. St. Paul Magazine" and a senior editor at "Delta Sky Magazine". As a freelance journalist, his work has appeared in numerous national and international publications. Zimmern has served as SuperTarget's meal adventure guide, sharing his passion for ethnic foods with supermarket customers around the country. He is the international spokesman for Travel Leaders and Elite Destination Homes.


title: Andrew Zimmern

text: Prior to "Bizarre Foods", Zimmern had an extensive radio career. His shows "Chowhounds", "The Andrew Zimmern Show", and "Food Court With Andrew Zimmern" achieved wide popularity in the Twin Cities.


title: Andrew Zimmern

text: Zimmern was the food features reporter for Fox TV station KMSP-TV and was also a featured contributor on both HGTV's "Rebecca's Garden" and "Tip-ical Mary Ellen", where he handled on-air food duties for both shows. He was the food and lifestyle features reporter during the 1997 season of the UPN network's nationally televised "Everyday Living".


title: Andrew Zimmern

text: Zimmern has been a guest chef at many national charity events, food festivals, and galas, including "Food and Wine Magazine"s Aspen Festival, the Twin Cities Food and Wine Experience, and the James Beard House in New York City. He has appeared frequently on the Food Network's "Best Of...", CNN's "Money and Health", and NBC's "Today Show". He also starred in the Cooking Club of America's instructional video series.


title: Andrew Zimmern

text: Zimmern regularly speaks to professional associations around the globe on all culinary matters, from the American Federation of Chefs to the Chinese Chefs National Committee. In the fall of 2002, he was an honored guest of the People's Republic of China, traveling, lecturing, and giving demonstrations on Chinese cuisine.


title: Andrew Zimmern

text: Zimmern's book "The Bizarre Truth: How I Walked out the Door Mouth First ... and Came Back Shaking My Head" was published by Broadway Books in 2009. It is a collection of his food and travel stories from around the world. He is also the author of "Andrew Zimmern's Field Guide to Exceptionally Weird, Wild, and Wonderful Foods", released by Feiwel & Friends on October 30, 2012. His latest book is a grade level reader series called "Alliance of World Explorers, Volume 1: AZ and the Lost City of Ophir" and was released in February 2019. This book won the 2019 Gold IPPY in Juvenile Fiction.


title: Andrew Zimmern

text: Zimmern also lends his name to a stand named Andrew Zimmern's Canteen at Target Field and U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota.


title: Andrew Zimmern

text: "Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern" premiered on the Travel Channel with a pilot episode on November 1, 2006. The series has aired over 140 episodes, with Zimmern visiting dozens of countries and states. Bizarre Foods took home two CableFax awards in 2009, one for Best Television Program: Food, another for Best Online Extras for Andrew's web series "Bizarre Foods in the Kitchen".


title: Andrew Zimmern

text: In 2009, Zimmern hosted a spinoff of "Bizarre Foods" called "Andrew Zimmern's Bizarre World". A pilot and nine episodes were produced in eight countries and two states.


title: Andrew Zimmern

text: Zimmern guest-starred in a 2007 episode of "" with Anthony Bourdain in New York City; Bourdain did the same on "Bizarre Foods". Zimmern also appeared in a 2009 episode of "Man v. Food" with Adam Richman in Minneapolis where he introduced Richman to lutefisk.


title: Andrew Zimmern

text: In January 2012, another spinoff of "Bizarre Foods", "Bizarre Foods America", debuted. This time Zimmern focused on various cities in the United States and samples local cuisines and ways of life.


title: Andrew Zimmern

text: In May 2010, Zimmern won the James Beard Award for Outstanding TV Food Personality. He won another James Beard Award in 2012, a third in 2013, and a fourth in 2017.


title: Gorillaz discography

text: The discography of British virtual band Gorillaz consists of eight studio albums, three compilation albums, eleven extended plays, one remix album, and forty-five singles.


title: Gorillaz discography

text: Gorillaz were formed in 1998 by Damon Albarn of alternative rock band Blur, and Jamie Hewlett, co-creator of the comic book "Tank Girl". In 2001, the band released their first studio album, "Gorillaz", followed by "Demon Days" in 2005, "Plastic Beach" in 2010, "The Fall" in 2011, "Humanz" in 2017, "The Now Now" in 2018, and "" in 2020. In November 2011, Gorillaz released "The Singles Collection 2001–2011". In August 2021, Gorillaz released their "Meanwhile EP".


title: Maria Sakkari

text: Maria Sakkari (, ; born 25 July 1995) is a Greek professional tennis player. She has been ranked as high as world No. 3 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), which she first achieved on 21 March 2022, making her the highest-ranked Greek player in history alongside Stefanos Tsitsipas. Her career-best doubles ranking is world No. 169, achieved on 9 September 2019.


title: Maria Sakkari

text: Sakkari has won one singles title on the WTA Tour at the 2019 Morocco Open, where she defeated Johanna Konta in the final. She was also a semifinalist at the 2017 Wuhan Open, where she defeated Caroline Wozniacki en route, her first top-10 win. In 2019, she reached another Premier 5 semifinal at the Italian Open where she defeated, among other players, Petra Kvitová. In 2020, Sakkari reached the fourth round at both the Australian Open and US Open. In 2021, she has reached the semifinals at the French Open and the 2021 US Open making her the first woman from Greece to reach a Grand Slam semifinal.


title: Maria Sakkari

text: Sakkari is known for her aggressive, all-court style of play, centered around her strong serve and powerful groundstrokes. She served the sixth most aces of any WTA player in 2020, with 144 aces served in 31 matches.


title: Maria Sakkari

text: Sakkari was born on 25 July 1995 to mother Angelikí Kanellopoúlou, a former top-50 tennis player, and father Konstantinos Sakkaris, in Athens. She has two siblings: brother Yannis and sister Amanda. Her grandfather Dimitris Kanellopoulos was also professional tennis player. She was introduced to tennis by her parents at age 6 and moved to Barcelona at age 18 in order to train. She has said that her favorite surfaces are hard and clay and that her favorite shot is the serve. Growing up, her favourite players were Serena Williams, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Sakkari currently resides in Monte Carlo.


title: Maria Sakkari

text: Her first two attempts to debut on the WTA Tour were unsuccessful. At the Rio Open, she lost in the first round of qualifying to María Irigoyen, and later lost in the final stage of qualifying at Bucharest Open to Daria Kasatkina. However, on her third attempt, she not only made her debut on WTA Tour, but it was at a major, as she qualified for the US Open. In the qualifying, she beat Anastasija Sevastova, An-Sophie Mestach and Petra Martić, but then lost in the first round of the main draw to Wang Qiang. After the US Open, Sakkari entered the top 200 for the first time, reaching a ranking of 185. By the end of the year, she only played on the ITF Circuit and on the WTA Challenger Tour, where she reached semifinals at the Carlsbad Classic. Sakkari ended the year ranked 188.


title: Maria Sakkari

text: Sakkari started the 2016 season with no-passing qualification at Brisbane International and Hobart International. At the Australian Open, she first qualified, and then, in the first round of main draw, achieved a win against Wang Yafan. That win was her first at the WTA Tour, as well as her first Grand Slam match win. In the second round, she lost to Carla Suárez Navarro. At the Mexican Open in Acapulco, she was eliminated in the first round by Johanna Larsson. At the Indian Wells Open, she attempted to qualify for her first Premier Mandatory/Premier 5 tournament in the main draw, but failed in the first round of qualification. In Miami, she succeeded to qualify, but lost in the first round of the main draw to Irina-Camelia Begu.


title: Maria Sakkari

text: Her second win on the WTA Tour was at the Istanbul Cup, where she defeated top seed Anna Karolína Schmiedlová. After beating Hsieh Su-wei in the second round, she reached her first WTA Tour quarterfinal, where she lost to Danka Kovinić. In Madrid, she failed to reach the main draw, losing to Patricia Maria Țig in the final stage of qualifying. Competing the qualifying at the 2016 French Open, she missed the chance to play in the main draw, losing her first match to Grace Min.


title: Maria Sakkari

text: Sakkari got through qualifying for Wimbledon and won her first match at that tournament, defeating Zheng Saisai, but then lost in the second round to five-time former Wimbledon champion, Venus Williams. After this result, on July 11, 2016, she reached 97 in the rankings.


title: Maria Sakkari

text: In Cincinnati, she lost in the qualifying to Zheng. At the US Open, she only reached the first round, where Duan Yingying defeated her, but it was her first Grand-Slam appearance in the main draw without need to play in qualifying. At the China Open, she lost in the final stage of qualifying to Wang Yafan.


title: Maria Sakkari

text: In 2017, she reached the third round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time at the Australian Open, where she lost in the third round to Mirjana Lučić-Baroni. In both Indian Wells and Miami, she failed in qualifying. She started the clay-court season at Charleston Open, where she got to the second round, where she lost to Jeļena Ostapenko. In Madrid and Rome, Sakkari lost in the qualifying. At the French Open, she debuted in the main draw, where she lost in the first round to Carla Suárez Navarro.


title: Maria Sakkari

text: Grass-court season went better for Sakkari, reaching the quarterfinals at Nottingham Open and her first third round at Wimbledon, where Johanna Konta stopped her from going into round of 16.


title: Maria Sakkari

text: At the US Open, she reached the same stage as she did at the Australian Open and Wimbledon, making the third round for the third time. In the first two rounds, she defeated Kiki Bertens and Arina Rodionova, but was eliminated by Venus Williams in the third round. She reached her first WTA Tour semifinal at the Wuhan Open by beating Caroline Wozniacki, Elena Vesnina and Alizé Cornet, but then missed her chance to reach her first WTA final, losing to Caroline Garcia. This success propelled her into the top 50 of the WTA rankings, reaching No. 50, on 2 October 2017. Her last tournament of the season was the Tianjin Open, where Christina McHale eliminated her in the second round.


title: Maria Sakkari

text: Sakkari started 2018 season with four first-round losses, against Danka Kovinić in the Shenzhen, Kateřina Siniaková at the Australian Open, Julia Görges in the St. Petersburg, and Sorana Cîrstea in the oDoha. In Dubai, she reached the final stage of qualification, but did not make it to the main draw, losing to Samantha Stosur. In Acapulco, she recorded her first win of the 2018 season, defeating Lara Arruabarrena in the first round, but lost against Stefanie Vögele in the second.


title: Maria Sakkari

text: At Indian Wells, Sakkari managed to beat Donna Vekić, 16th seed Ashleigh Barty and 17th seed CoCo Vandeweghe, respectively. She lost in the fourth round to the eventual champion, Naomi Osaka. At the Miami Open, she defeated Aleksandra Krunić and 28th seed Anett Kontaveit, and reached the third round where she lost to Monica Puig.


title: Maria Sakkari

text: Sakkari started her clay-court season by reaching her first semifinal in 2018 in (Istanbul) where she beat Çağla Büyükakçay, Aleksandra Krunić and Arantxa Rus, respectively, before losing to Polona Hercog. She then lost in the first round of the Madrid Open to Kiki Bertens. Her next tournament was the Italian Open, where she avenged her Madrid exit by beating Bertens in the first round, and then had her second win against a top-ten player by beating Karolína Plíšková. She lost in the third round to Angelique Kerber. At the French Open, she reached the third round, after defeating Mandy Minella and Carla Suárez Navarro and then she completed third rounds at all Grand Slam tournaments. In the third round, she lost to 14th seed Daria Kasatkina.


title: Maria Sakkari

text: Sakkari lost all of her matches at grass-court season. She was defeated by Julia Görges at the Birmingham Classic, Svetlana Kuznetsova at the Eastbourne International, and by Sofia Kenin at Wimbledon.


title: Maria Sakkari

text: The US hardcourt series started well for Sakkari, reaching her first WTA final at the San Jose Classic, where she beat Christina McHale, Tímea Babos, third seed Venus Williams, and Danielle Collins before she lost to Mihaela Buzărnescu in the final. On 6 August, she reached a new career-high ranking of No. 31. After that result, she was not successful in the rest of the US Series, reaching only first rounds at the Rogers Cup and Connecticut Open where she lost to Daria Kasatkina and Zarina Diyas, respectively, as well as only second rounds at the Cincinnati Open and US Open. At Cincinnati, she beat Naomi Osaka in the first round and avenged her loss in Indian Wells earlier that year. However, in the second round, Anett Kontaveit knocked her out of the tournament. When the US Open started, she debuted in the top 30. At the US Open, she was seeded for the first time at any Grand Slam championship (No. 32), and she had to play against two Americans in the first two rounds, winning against Asia Muhammad, but then lost to Sofia Kenin.


title: Maria Sakkari

text: At the Korea Open, Sakkari made another WTA semifinal, defeating Anna Karolína Schmiedlová, Margarita Gasparyan and Irina-Camelia Begu, respectively, in first three rounds, before she was defeated by Kiki Bertens in the semifinal. At both the Wuhan Open and China Open, Sakkari failed in the first rounds, losing to Wang Qiang and Donna Vekić, respectively. In her last two tournaments in 2018, Tianjin Open and Luxembourg Open, Sakkari failed in the first round. She finished the year inside the top 50, reaching No. 41.


title: Maria Sakkari

text: Sakkari started year with a first-round loss at Hobart, where she was defeated by Magda Linette. Sakkari reached the third round at the Australian Open, defeating Jeļena Ostapenko and Astra Sharma, before she was eliminated by Ashleigh Barty. At next three tournaments, Sakkari was eliminated in the first rounds: at St. Petersburg by Julia Görges, at the Mexican Open by Monica Puig, and at Indian Wells by Christina McHale. At the Miami Open, she defeated Olga Danilović in the first round, but lost to No. 3, Petra Kvitová, in the second.


title: Maria Sakkari

text: As it regards the clay-court season, she started playing at Charleston Open, where she defeated Conny Perrin, Andrea Petkovic and second seed Kiki Bertens, respectively. Then she reached quarterfinal where she was defeated by fifth seed Caroline Wozniacki. At İstanbul Cup, she failed in first round from Veronika Kudermetova. The Morocco Open was special for Sakkari, because it has been so far her only tournament where she succeeded to win title. On her road to the final, she defeated Olga Danilović, Isabella Shinikova, Elise Mertens, Alison Van Uytvanck, and then, in the final, she defeated Johanna Konta. After winning the title, she climbed from 51 to place 39 in the WTA rankings. While in Madrid she did not have much success, reaching only first round, in Rome she firstly passed qualification and then she reached her second career-Premier-5 semifinal, but there lost to the eventual champion Karolína Plíšková. At the French Open, she was seeded for the first time there at No. 29, and she reached second round, winning against Anna Tatishvili in first round, but lost in second round to Kateřina Siniaková.


title: Maria Sakkari

text: On grass court, first she got to the quarterfinal of the Nottingham Open, where she lost to Jennifer Brady. Then at the Birmingham Classic, she was eliminated in the first round by Naomi Osaka. In Eastbourne, she beat Jessica Pegula, but Johanna Konta stopped her from going further than round one. At Wimbledon, she reached her second third round there, beating Bernarda Pera and Marie Bouzková, but then lost to Elina Svitolina in the third round.


title: Maria Sakkari

text: In San Jose, she played her second semifinal there, winning against top-seeded Elina Svitolina in the quarterfinal, but this time she did not make it to the final, losing in her semifinal match to Zheng Saisai. At Rogers Cup, she lost to Alison Riske in the first round. In Cincinnati, she reached a new Premier-5 quarterfinal, before she lost to world No. 1, Ashleigh Barty, in three sets. At the US Open, she lost in third round, again to Barty.


title: Maria Sakkari

text: Back in Europe, she only played one tournament. She played at Kremlin Cup, where in first round, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova beat her in three sets. For the first time in Sakkari's career, she qualified for some year-end championships. At WTA Elite Trophy, she lost both matches in her group, to Elise Mertens and Aryna Sabalenka.


title: Maria Sakkari

text: Sakkari was successful at the first Grand Slam tournament of year, the Australian Open, where she reached her first Grand Slam round of 16. Victories over Margarita Gasparyan (first round), Nao Hibino (second) and No. 11 Madison Keys (third) propelled her to the round of 16, where she was defeated by Petra Kvitová in three sets. At her next tournament, she continued this success. She played at the St. Petersburg Trophy, where she reached her new Premier semifinal. She won against Vitalia Diatchenko and Alizé Cornet in first two-rounds, and then in the quarterfinal, she made her new top-10 win, defeating No. 5 Belinda Bencic, before new rising star, Elena Rybakina, stopped her from reaching the final. In Dubai, she did not do well, losing in the first round to seventh seed Aryna Sabalenka. In Doha, she did much better, winning against Julia Görges and Tereza Martincová in first two rounds, but again, Aryna Sabalenka was too strong for her. After the comeback of the WTA Tour, after COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, Sakkari first played at Palermo International, where she was eliminated in first round from Kristýna Plíšková. At the Cincinnati Open, Sakkari made another quarterfinal. In round one, she defeated young American player Coco Gauff, in second round Yulia Putintseva, and then in third round, she had one of her biggest career wins, defeating Serena Williams in three sets. However, in the quarterfinal, she lost to Johanna Konta. At the US Open, she continued her great performance, reaching round of 16 for the first time there. She defeated Stefanie Vögele, Bernarda Pera and Amanda Anisimova, before Serena Williams stopped her from reaching her first Grand Slam quarterfinal. At the French Open, as the No. 20 seed, Sakkari reached her second third round; against qualifier Martina Trevisan, she had match points but missed the chance to reach the round of 16.