Review
“…Susan Ronald attacks her story with a great deal of gusto and erudition…" (The Sunday Telegraph, 2 January 2005)
“…An astonishing story. And one to which Ronald’s highly–original book does full justice…” (Yorkshire Evening Post, Leeds, 22 December 2004)
“…unravels a real theft from Louvre…” (The Times, 19 November 2004)
Back when pepper was the king of spices and monarchs governed Europe, jewels ruled. The more precious gems a king or queen had, the greater the chances of mounting an army to seize land, power––and more gems. Until it was cut in 1661, the 106–carat Sancy was "the largest white diamond in Christendom," a guarantee of wealth, though not of security. Ronald, a British historian, has gone on a treasure hunt to dig up every fact imaginable about the diamond’s owners from the 14th century to the present––it’s now in the Louvre, which purchased it from Lord Astor, who inherited it from his father. While she clearly illustrates the ill fortune that befell many who came into contact with the diamond, it’s hard to buy her claim that "it helped change the course of European history," though those who bought, traded, stole or coveted the Sancy––among them Queen Elizabeth I, King Charles I and Louis XIV––were Europe’s most powerful. As an introduction to mostly European history, this book is alternately enlightening and overwhelming. At times, the diamond gets lost in a snarl of names and facts, but those with some familiarity with and interest in European history may consider this a gem worth having in their library. Agent, Alex Hoyt. (Nov.) (Publishers Weekly, August 23, 2004)
“…she tells the 600–year story of the Sancy, with thefts and intrigues from India to the French monarchy.” (Oxford Times, 24th December 2004)
“…Susan Ronald attacks her story with a great deal of gusto and erudition…" (The Sunday Telegraph, 2 January 2005)
“…An astonishing story. And one to which Ronald’s highly–original book does full justice…” (Yorkshire Evening Post, Leeds, 22 December 2004)
“…unravels a real theft from Louvre…” (The Times, 19 November 2004)
"...this book is alternately enlightening and overwhelming...may consider this a gem worth having in their library". (Publishers Weekly, August 23, 2004)
Oxford Times, 24th December 2004
Publishers Weekly, August 23, 2004
Product Description
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.
From the Inside Flap
In this first comprehensive history of one of the world’s most coveted gems, historian Susan Ronald brings to vivid life the Sancy Diamond’s six–hundred–year odyssey–a labyrinthine journey that begins in the fabled mines of Golconda, India, and wends its way across three continents and through some of the most spectacular events in European history.
Once the largest white diamond in the Western world, the Sancy was thought to impart invincibility to whoever wore it. Paradoxically, it was also believed to be the source of an ancient curse that visited a violent death upon any who owned it. Over the centuries, the diamond adorned the crowns of several French royals and was worn as a lucky hatpin by King James I of England. In the fifteenth century, it was lost on the field of battle by Charles the Bold of Burgundy only to be found by a Swiss soldier who sold it for one florin to a priest from Basel. In the sixteenth century, while en route to be pawned to raise a mercenary Swiss army, it was ripped from the vitals of King Henry IV’s hapless courier, who had swallowed it in order to conceal it from robbers. Won and lost by a king of Portugal and lusted after by several Spanish monarchs, the elusive Sancy was hotly pursued for decades by England’s Elizabeth I, was stolen from the Louvre and secreted under the floorboards of a Parisian garret during the French Revolution, and was instrumental in Napoleon’s meteoric rise to power.
In The Sancy Blood Diamond, Susan Ronald traces the stone’s progress as it passes among the royal and noble houses of Europe, from John Galeazzo di Visconti, Duke of Milan, to England’s Charles I, France’s Louis XVI, a Russian prince, and, ultimately, the British Astors. Along the way, Ronald explores the origins of the legend of the Sancy curse, and, working from original sources, she conclusively solves the riddle of the Sancy’s two disappearances–one, for 120 years, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and then again, following the French Revolution.
An enthralling narrative account of a magnificent gem and the passions it spawned among many of the giants of European history, The Sancy Blood Diamond is must–reading for anyone interested in power and greed as well as for history buffs of every stripe.
From the Back Cover
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.
