THE SANCI. 179
Bold
a history had to be furnished for it. Accordingly we learn that it was
lost at the battle of Morat in 1476 — and also at Nancy in the
following year; that it was found by a Swiss soldier under a cart — and
that it was taken from the frozen finger of the corpse of Charles ;
that it was sold for two francs to a priest— and that it was sold to a
French nobleman; and so on through a maze of absurdity and
contradiction.
The
diamond known as the Sanci and once an ornament of the crown of France
never belonged to Charles the Bold. It is an Indian-cut diamond, and
it was first brought to Western Europe in the reign of Henry in. of
France by his ambassador at Constantinople, the Seigneur de Sanci. This
person deserves a word or two.
Nicholas
Harlay de Sanci was born in 1546 and filled many posts of importance
during the reigns of Henry in. and Henry iv. He was a Huguenot, but
being immensely wealthy he was held in favor even by the son of
Catherine de
