164 THE GREAT DIAMONDS OF THE WORLD.
to
be supposed that a diamond weighing 139 1/2 carats could be worn in a
ring, so that the "Florentine" must have been a different stone from
that here spoken of. Besides De Comines, whose account of the Duke's
diamonds is much more reliable than that of Berquem, writing 200 years
after the event, tells us that " his great diamond, which was one of
the largest in Christendom," was lost, not at the battle of Nancy, in
January, 1477, but at that of Granson in 1476, on which occasion
Charles lost "all his large jewels" (toutes ses grandes bagues), together with all his baggage.
The
story goes that this " great diamond " was lost by Charles in the
confusion of the rout, but that a common Swiss soldier found it,
together with a valuable pearl in a box. Mistaking the diamond for a
bit of glass, he threw it aside, but on second thoughts picked it up
from under a waggon where it had fallen. He then sold it for a florin
to a priest at Montigny, who in his turn disposed of it for three
francs to the Bernese authorities. At that time there was residing at
Berne a wealthy merchant, named Bartholomew May, who had many
relations both of a commercial and private character with Italy.
Having purchased the gem for 5,000 florins, and a present to the Mayor,
William von Diessland, through whose mediation the sale had been
effected, May sold it for a small profit to a Genoese dealer. From him
the Milanese Regent, Ludovico Moro Sforza, bought it for some 10,000
florins, and when the treasures of Milan were distributed, Pope Julius
II. purchased it for 20,000 ducats.
