into
Europe the ideas which the Hindoos possessed on the art of
diamond-cutting. From the Bosphorus it reached the West ; the Franks
with Baldwin, the Venetians with Enrico Dandolo, the Hanseatics by the
valley of the Danube, derived it probably from Constantinople, and
brought it to France, Italy, and Holland.
Certain
it is that from the beginnings of the fourteenth century this art was
practised with great industry in Paris and Venice ; this is confirmed
by the registry of the French commune and by the ancient Venetian
shops. Thus, in the inventory of jewels belonging to Louigi d'Angiò,
made in 1365, various diamonds are mentioned, amongst which, one having
eight facets, and another in the form of a shield.
In
1407 we find that this art made remarkable progress in Paris, under the
direction of a workman named Hermann, which name sounds more German
than French.
About
that time the Duke of Burgundy, at a banquet which he gave in the
Louvre to the King of France, presented to the noble guests, amongst
other gifts, eleven diamonds, valued at seven hundred and eighty-six
golden crowns.
We
are assured that in 1465 Bruges rivalled Paris in this respect, and
amongst the legalised experts of that city there are registered in that
year three diamond-cutters, or diamants-liper.
Finally, the same year, Louigi di Berqueen, Dative of Bruges, and renowned as a mathematician and gold-
