Nicolas de Harlay, seigneur de Sancy As diamonds were becoming increasingly fashionable at the time, Henry arranged to borrow de Sancy's diamond to decorate his cap. Henry IV also borrowed the stone, for the more practical purpose of using it as security for financing an army. Legend has it that a messenger carrying the jewel never reached his destination, but de Sancy (by then Superintendent of Finance) was convinced that the man was loyal and had a search conducted until the site of the messenger's robbery and murder was found. When the body was disinterred, the jewel was found in the faithful man's stomach. De Sancy
Chastreix-Sancy on and between the Puy de Chabane and Mont Redon, on the west side of the Puy de Sancy, which is part of an ancient stratovolcano which has been dormant for 220,000 years. It is within the Parc naturel régional des volcans d'Auvergne and the commune of Chastreix in the Puy-de-Dôme "département" of the Auvergne "région". It is about 40 km south west of the "préfecture" of the Puy-de-Dôme "département" Clermont-Ferrand, also capital of the Auvergne. The resort is sandwiched between the Cirque de la Fontaine Salée to the south-east and the Val d'Enfer, or Valley of Hell in English,