Nicolas de Harlay, seigneur de Sancy

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Nicolas de Harlay, seigneur de Sancy (1546 - 1629), French soldier and diplomatist, belonged to the Protestant branch of the family of Harlay but adopted the Catholic religion in 1572 during the massacres of the Huguenots.

In 1589 he obtained in Geneva and Berne sums sufficient to raise an army of mercenaries for Henry III, partly by the sale of jewels, among them the Sancy diamond which in 1835 found its way to the Russian imperial treasure, and partly by leading the Swiss to suppose that the troops were intended for serious war against Savoy.

Henry IV 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 the 13th of October 1629, leaving a Discours sur l'occurrence des affaires.

His son, Achille Harlay de Sancy (1581-1646), was bishop of Saint-Malo.

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• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.