The fascinating six-hundred-year history of one of the world's most
coveted gems and the royal feuds, intrigues, and betrayals it
engendered
The Sancy Diamond first came to Europe from India in the fourteenth
century, and until 1661 it was the largest white diamond-and the most
concentrated and secure form of wealth-in all of Christendom.
Alternately believed to impart invincibility to its wearer and to bring
ruin to any who owned it, the Sancy cast a seemingly mystical spell over
everyone from the king of Portugal to Henry III of France to England's
Elizabeth I to Napoleon Bonaparte and Queen Maria Luisa of Spain.
The riveting account of one of the most hotly pursued gems in history,
The Sancy Blood Diamond follows its six-century journey from the diamond
mines of Golconda to where it now modestly resides at the Louvre, among
the remnants of the French crown jewels. In a colorful, fast-paced
narrative, historian Susan Ronald describes the often violent passions
the Sancy engendered among many of the giants of European history. She
also describes the pivotal roles it played on the chessboard of European
geopolitics, and how it was used to raise armies, settle national debts,
and enhance its owners' power and prestige.
Working from primary sources, Ronald solves, once and for all, the
mystery of the Sancy's disappearances in the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries, and she explores the legend of the Sancy curse, which arose
after the violent deaths of Burgundy's Charles the Bold, England's
Charles I, France's Louis XVI, and other ill-fated owners.
