The stone's origins are disputed. Reportedly, it has been cut by Lodewyk van Bercken for Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy. Charles is said to have been wearing it when he fell in the Battle of Morat on June 22, 1476. A peasant or foot soldier found it on the Duke's person and sold it for a 2 francs, thinking it was glass. The new owner Bartholomew May, a citizen of Bern, sold it to the Genoese, who sold it in turn to Ludovico Sforza. By way of the Fuggers it came into the Medici treasury at Florence. Pope Julius II is also named as one of its owners.