The Sancy Blood Diamond
eBook - ePub

The Sancy Blood Diamond

Power, Greed, and the Cursed History of One of the World's Most Coveted Gems

  1. 352 pages
  2. English
  3. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

The Sancy Blood Diamond

Power, Greed, and the Cursed History of One of the World's Most Coveted Gems

About this book

The fascinating six-hundred-year history of one of the world's most coveted gems and the royal feuds, intrigues, and betrayals it engenderedThe 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.

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Yes, you can access The Sancy Blood Diamond by Susan Ronald in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in History & European History. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Information

Publisher
Trade Paper Press
Year
2008
Print ISBN
9780471436515
eBook ISBN
9780470357101
Edition
1
Topic
History
Subtopic
European History
Index
History

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title
  3. Copyright
  4. Contents
  5. Preface
  6. Acknowledgments
  7.   1 Golconda
  8.   2 Valentine and the Dukes
  9.   3 Valentine’s Revenge
  10.   4 The Last Great Burgundian Dukes
  11.   5 Playing into the Hands of Thieves
  12.   6 The Diamond Vanishes
  13.   7 The Kings and the Counting Houses
  14.   8 The Coveted Touchstone of Power
  15.   9 At the Heart of the Struggle for Power
  16. 10 The Pawn on the Chessboard of Giants
  17. 11 Three Determined Men of Dubious Character
  18. 12 The Man Who “Sweated Lies from Every Pore”
  19. 13 The Curse of Blind Ambition
  20. 14 Inalienable in Untrustworthy Hands
  21. 15 The Wooing of the Spanish Infanta
  22. 16 In the Crown of Henrietta Maria, the French Queen of England
  23. 17 Redeemed and Cursed as the Ultimate Symbol of Power
  24. 18 The Exiled Queen and the Cardinal Thief
  25. 19 Mazarin: Corrupted by Absolute Power
  26. 20 A Mere Bauble in the Sun King’s Crown
  27. 21 Just Another Symbol at the Heart of Power
  28. 22 The Hated Diamond
  29. 23 Slipping through the Deft Hands of Thieves
  30. 24 The Bonaparte Legacy
  31. 25 Spain and His Most Catholic Majesty Joseph
  32. 26 In the Hands of the Demidoffs
  33. 27 A Jewel of Historic Curiosity
  34. 28 The Last Private Owners: The New “Royals”
  35. 29 Epilogue or Epitaph?
  36. Selected Bibliography
  37. Index