Nicolas de Harlay, seigneur de Sancy (1546–1629) was a French soldier, diplomat, and gem collector.

Life

Although de Harlay belonged to the

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

branch of the family of Harlay, he adopted the

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

religion in 1572 during the massacres of the Huguenots. In the second half of the 16th century, de Harley served as the French ambassador at the court of Sultan Selim II in

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya ( Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...

, where he acquired a number of diamonds that had been mined near Golconda, now in the

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

n state of

Telangana Telangana (; , ) is a state in India situated on the south-central stretch of the Indian peninsula on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the eleventh-largest state and the twelfth-most populated state in India with a geographical area of and 3 ...

. Among these jewels were some of the largest diamonds ever seen in Europe, such as the

Sancy The Sancy, a pale yellow diamond of , was once reputed to have belonged to the Mughals of antiquity, but it is more likely of Indian origin owing to its cut, which is unusual by Western standards. The stone has been owned by a number of important ...

and its smaller sibling the

Beau Sancy The Beau Sancy is a 34.98-carat diamond originally mined in India, which is cut in a modified pear double rose-cut shape. Since appearing in Europe in the 16th century, the ''Beau Sancy'' has been owned by a number of European royal houses, amon ...

. In 1589 he obtained in

Geneva , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...

and

Berne Bern () or Berne; in other Swiss languages, gsw, Bärn ; frp, Bèrna ; it, Berna ; rm, Berna is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city" (in german: Bundesstadt, link=no, french: ville fédérale ...

sums sufficient to raise an army of mercenaries for Henry III, partly by the sale of a number of his jewels.

Henry IV of France Henry IV (french: Henri IV; 13 December 1553 – 14 May 1610), also known by the epithets Good King Henry or Henry the Great, was King of Navarre (as Henry III) from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 1610. He was the first monarch ...

made him superintendent of his finances in 1594, but in 1599 he was replaced by Maximilien de Béthune, duc de Sully. Meanwhile he had been a second time converted to Catholicism, but his influence at court waned, and he retired from public life in 1605. He survived until 13 October 1629, leaving a ''Discours sur l'occurrence des affaires''. His son,

Achille Harlay de Sancy Achille de Harlay de Sancy, Oratory of Jesus, CO (1581, Paris26 November 1646), the son of Nicolas de Harlay, seigneur de Sancy, was a French people, French diplomat and intellectual who was noted as a linguist and Orientalism, orientalist. He ente ...

(1581–1646), was

bishop of Saint-Malo The former Breton and French Catholic Diocese of Saint-Malo ( la, Dioecesis Alethensis, then la, Dioecesis Macloviensis, label=none) existed from at least the 7th century until the French Revolution. Its seat was at Aleth up to some point in th ...

Sancy diamonds

Sancy diamond

The ''Sancy'' is a pale yellow

diamond Diamond is a solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the chemically stable form of carbon at room temperature and pressure, ...

of 55.23 carats (11.046 g) bought by de Harley around 1570, who had already acquired a reputation as a gem connoisseur. Facing financial difficulties, de Sancy was forced to sell the diamond to King

James VI and I James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until ...

in March 1605 when it is thought the ''Sancy'' acquired its name. James paid the princely sum of 60,000 French crowns for the stone, which he subsequently reset into the ''

Mirror of Great Britain The Mirror of Great Britain was a piece of jewellery that was part of the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom during the reign of King James VI and I. It was pawned in 1625 and is considered lost. Description The jewel was described in a 1606 inv ...

'' with additional stones from the

Great H of Scotland The Great 'H' of Scotland was a jewel belonging to Mary, Queen of Scots comprising a large diamond, a ruby, and a gold chain. It was broken up in 1604 and made into the Mirror of Great Britain for James VI and I. Mary Queen of Scots The "H" was ...

and wore as a hat jewel. It was described in the

Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is sep ...

's 1605 ''Inventory of Jewels'' as "...one fayre dyamonde, cut in fawcetts, bought of Sauncy."F. Palgrave ed.
''Antient Kalendars of the Exchequer''
vol. 2 (London 1836), p. 305. After a storied history, the ''Sancy'' today rests in the

Galerie d'Apollon The Galerie d'Apollon is a large and iconic room of the Louvre Palace, on the first (upper) floor of a wing known as the Petite Galerie. Its current setup was first designed in the 1660s. It has been part of the Louvre Museum since the 1790s, was ...

in the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

Beau Sancy diamond

The ''Beau Sancy'' is a 34.98-carat

cut in a modified pear double rose-cut shape. It is thought that de Harley bought the ''Beau Sancy'' at the same time as the larger ''Sancy''. Like its sibling, the ''Beau Sancy'' was put up for sale by de Harley to raise funds, and subsequently bought by Marie de' Medici, later Queen of France. The jewel was later owned by the

House of Orange The House of Orange-Nassau (Dutch: ''Huis van Oranje-Nassau'', ) is the current reigning house of the Netherlands. A branch of the European House of Nassau, the house has played a central role in the politics and government of the Netherlands ...

, the

Kings of England This list of kings and reigning queens of the Kingdom of England begins with Alfred the Great, who initially ruled Wessex, one of the seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms which later made up modern England. Alfred styled himself King of the Anglo-Sax ...

, and Kings of

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...

. After 370 years in the possession of the

House of Hohenzollern The House of Hohenzollern (, also , german: Haus Hohenzollern, , ro, Casa de Hohenzollern) is a German royal (and from 1871 to 1918, imperial) dynasty whose members were variously princes, electors, kings and emperors of Hohenzollern, Brandenbu ...

, the diamond was sold in 2012 at

Sotheby's Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, an ...

auction in

for $9.57 million to an anonymous buyer.

References

;Attribution * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sancy, Nicolas de Harlay, seigneur de French diplomats French military leaders 1546 births 1629 deaths