(1000 ft.) about 1 m. from the left bank of the Loire. It has a modern château, in the grounds of which there is a cylindrical keep of the 15th century, the only relic of an ancient stronghold. From 1037 to 1152 the title of count of Sancerre was held by the counts of Champagne; from the latter year till 1640 it had its own counts, who were descended from Theobald IV. of Champagne, but in 1226 came under the suzerainty of the crown. In 1640 it became the property of Henri de Condé, whose descendants possessed it till the Revolution. During the religious wars it was a stronghold of Protestantism, and in 1573 was besieged by the Catholics, who did not succeed in capturing it till after nearly eight months of siege. The town has a subprefecture, a tribunal of first instance and a communal college. Good wine is grown in the vicinity.
SANCHEZ. Three persons of this name enjoyed considerable literary celebrity: (1) Francisco Sanchez (Sanctius) (1523–1601), successively professor of Greek and of rhetoric at Salamanca, whose Minerva, first printed at that town in 1587, was long the standard work on Latin grammar. (2) Francisco Sanchez, a Portuguese physician of Jewish parentage, born at Tuy (in the diocese of Braga) in 1550, took a degree in medicine at Montpellier in 1574, became professor of philosophy and physic at Toulouse, where he died in 1623; his ingenious treatise (Quod nihil scitur, 1581) marks the high-water of reaction against the dogmatism of his time; he is said to have been distantly related to Montaigne. (3) Tomás Sanchez of Cordova (1551–1610), Jesuit and casuist, whose treatise De matrimonio (Genoa, 1592) is more notorious than celebrated.
SĀNCHI, a small village in India, at which there is now a railway station on the Bombay-Baroda line. It is famous as the site of what are almost certainly the oldest buildings in India now standing. They are Buddhist topes (Pali. thūpa; Sanskrit, stūpa), that is, memorial mounds, standing on the level top of a small sandstone hill about 300 ft. high on the left bank of the river Betwa. The number of topes on this and the adjoining hills is considerable. On the Sānchi hill itself are only ten, but one of these is by far the most important and imposing of all. All these topes were opened and examined by General Alexander Cunningham and Lieut.-Colonel Maisey in 1851; and the great tope has been described and illustrated by them and by James Fergusson. This is a solid dome of stone, about 103 ft. in diameter, and now about 42 ft. high. It must formerly have been much higher, the top of the tope having originally formed a terrace, 34 ft. in diameter, on which stood lofty columns. Cunningham estimates the original height of the building as about 100 ft. Round the base is a flagged pathway surrounded by a stone railing and entered at the four points of the compass by gateways some 18 ft. high. Both gateways and railing are elaborately covered with bas-reliefs and inscriptions. The latter give the names of the donors of particular portions of the architectural ornamentation, and most of them are written in the characters used before and after the time of Asoka in the middle of the 3rd century B.C. The monuments are Buddhist, the bas-reliefs illustrate passages in the Buddhist writings, and the inscriptions make use of Buddhist technical terms. Some of the smaller topes give us names of men who lived in the Buddha's time, and others give names mentioned among the missionaries sent out in the time of Asoka. It is not possible from the available data to fix the exact date of any of these topes, but it may be stated that the smaller topes are probably of different dates both before and after Asoka, and that it is very possible that the largest was one of three which we are told was erected by Asoka himself. The monuments at Sānchi are now under the charge of the archaeological department; they are being well cared for, and valuable photographs have been taken of the bas-reliefs and inscriptions. The drawings in Fergusson's work entitled Tree and Serpent Worship are very unsatisfactory, and his suggestion that the carvings illustrate tree and serpent worship is quite erroneous.
Bibliography.—Alex. Cunningham, Bhilsa Topes (London, 1854); James Fergusson, Tree and Serpent Worship (London, 1873); General F. C. Maisey, Sanchi and its Remains (London, 1892); Rhys Davids, Buddhist India (London, 1902). (T. W. R. D.)
SANCHUNIATHON (Gr. form of Phoenician Sakkun-yathon, “the god Sakkun has given”), an ancient Phoenician sage, who belongs more to legend than to history. He is said to have flourished “even before the Trojan times,” “when Semiramis was queen of the Assyrians.” Philo Herennius of Byblus claimed to have translated his mythological writings from the Phoenician originals. According to Philo, Sanchuniathon derived the sacred lore from the mystic inscriptions on the Ἀμμουνεῖς (probably ḥammānim, “sun pillars,” cf. Is. xxvii. 9, &c.) which stood in the Phoenician temples. That any writings of Sanchuniathon ever existed it is impossible to say. Philo drew his traditions from various sources, adapted them to suit his purpose, and conjured with a venerable name to gain credit for his narrative. Porphyry says that Sanchuniathon (here called a native of Byblus) wrote a history of the Jews, based on information derived from Hierombal (i.e. Jeruba’al), a priest of the god Jevo (i.e. Yahveh, Jehovah), and dedicated it to Abelbal or Abibal, king of Berytus. The story is probably a pure invention; the reference to Berytus shows that it is late.
See Eusebius, Praep. Ev. i. 9 (Müller, Fragm. hist. Graec. iii. pp. 563 foll.).
SAN CRISTÓBAL (formerly called San Cristobal de Los Llanos, Ciudad de Las Casas, and Ciudad Real), a town of Mexico, in the state of Chiapas, on a level tableland about 6700 ft. above sea-level and 48 m. E.N.E. of Tuxtla Gutierrez. Pop. (1892 estimate) 16,000. The surrounding country is fertile and healthful and is populated chiefly with Indians. The town possesses a cathedral, hospital and other public institutions. San Cristóbal was founded in 1528 on the site of an Indian village, and afterwards was famous as the residence of Las Casas, Bishop of Chiapas. It was the capital of Chiapas until near the end of the 19th century. There are traces of an early Indian civilization in the vicinity.
SANCROFT, WILLIAM (1616–1693), archbishop of Canterbury, was born at Fressingfield in Suffolk 30th January 1616, and entered Emmanuel College, Cambridge, in July 1634. He became M.A. in 1641 and fellow in 1642, but was ejected in 1649 for refusing to accept the “Engagement.” He then remained abroad till the Restoration, after which he was chosen one of the university preachers, and in 1663 was nominated to the deanery of York. In 1664 he was installed dean of St Paul's. In this situation he set himself to repair the cathedral, till the fire of London in 1666 necessitated the rebuilding of it, towards which he gave, £1400. He also rebuilt the deanery, and improved its revenue. In 1668 he was admitted archdeacon of Canterbury upon the king's presentation, but he resigned the post in 1670. In 1677, being now prolocutor of the Convocation, he was unexpectedly advanced to the archbishopric of Canterbury. He attended Charles II. upon his deathbed, and “made to him a very weighty exhortation, in which he used a good degree of freedom.” He wrote with his own hand the petition presented in 1687 against the reading of the Declaration of Indulgence, which was signed by himself and six of his suffragans. For this they were all committed to the Tower, but were acquitted. Upon the withdrawal of James II. he concurred with the Lords in a declaration to the prince of Orange for a free parliament, and due indulgence to the Protestant dissenters. But, when that prince and his consort were declared king and queen, he refused to take the oath to them, and was accordingly suspended and deprived. From 5th August 1691 till his death on the 24th of November 1693, he lived a very retired life in his native place. He was buried in the churchyard of Fressingfield, where there is a Latin epitaph to his memory. Sancroft was a patron of Henry Wharton (1664–1695), the divine and church historian, to whom on his deathbed he entrusted his manuscripts and the remains of Archbishop Laud (published in 1695).
He published Fur praedestinatus (1651), Modern Politics (1652), and Three Sermons (1694). Nineteen Familiar Letters to Mr North (afterwards Sir Henry North) appeared in 1757.
SANCTION (Lat. sanctio, from sancire, to decree or ordain), in jurisprudence, the means provided for the enforcement of a law. According to T. E. Holland (Elements of Jurisprudence,
