Early Life
Astrologer and physician, Michel de Nostradame was born on 14 December 1503. Although his profession was that of a physician, he is best known for known for the prophecies that he published in a book entitled ‘The Prophecies’ in 1555. Prophecies that have became famous throughout Europe, and history worldwide.
Michel de Nostradame was born in the south of France in Saint-Remy-de-Provence, one of nine children to Reyniere de St-Remy, and her husband Jaume de Nostradame, a well-to-do grain dealer and part-time notary of Jewish dissent. Nostradame’s grandfather, Guy Gassonet, had converted to Catholicism a half century earlier and changed the family name to Nostradame, in part to avoid persecution during the Inquisition.
Little is known of his childhood, but evidence indicates he was very intelligent as he quickly advanced through school. Early in his life, he was tutored by his maternal grandfather, Jean de St. Remy, who saw great intellect and potential in his grandson. During this time, young Nostradame was taught the rudiments of Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and mathematics. It is believed that his grandfather also introduced him to the ancient rights of Jewish tradition and the celestial sciences of astrology, giving Nostradame his first exposure to the idea of the heavens and how they drive human destiny.
His Studies
At the age of 14, Nostradame entered the University of Avignon to study medicine. He was forced to leave after only one year, however, due to an outbreak of the bubonic plague. According to his own account, he traveled throughout the countryside during this time, researching herbal remedies and working as an apothecary. In 1522 he entered the University of Montpelier to complete his doctorate in medicine. He sometimes expressed dissension with the teachings of the Catholic priests, who dismissed his notions of astrology. There are some reports that university officials discovered his previous experience as an apothecary and found this reason to expel him from school. Evidently the school took a dim view of anyone who was involved in what was considered a “manual trade.” However, most accounts state he was not expelled and received license to practice medicine in 1525. At this time he Latinized his name—as was the custom of many medieval academics—from Nostradame to Nostradamus.
Combating the Plague
Over the next several years, Nostradamus traveled throughout France and Italy, treating victims of the plague. There was no known remedy at the time; most doctors relied on potions made of mercury, the practice of bloodletting, and dressing patients in garlic soaked robes. Nostradamus had developed some very progressive methods for dealing with the plague. He didn’t bleed his patients, instead practicing effective hygiene and encouraging the removal of the infected corpses from city streets. He became known for creating a “rose pill,” an herbal lozenge made of rosehips (rich in Vitamin C) that provided some relief for patients with mild cases of the plague. His cure rate was impressive, though much can be attributed to keeping his patients clean, administering low-fat diets, and providing plenty of fresh air.
In time, Nostradamus found himself somewhat of a local celebrity for his treatments, and received financial support from many of the citizens of Provence. 1n 1531, he was invited to work with a leading scholar of the time, Jules-Cesar Scaliger in Agen, in southwestern France. There he married and in the next few years, had two children. In 1534, his wife and children died—presumably of the plague—while he was traveling on a medical mission to Italy. Not being able to save his wife and children caused him to fall out of favor in the community and with his patron, Scaliger.
The Occult
In 1538, an offhanded remark about a religious statue resulted in charges of heresy against Nostradamus. When ordered to appear before the Church Inquisition, he wisely chose to leave Province to travel for several years through Italy, Greece and Turkey. During his travels to the ancient mystery schools, it is believed that Nostradamus experienced a psychic awakening. One of the legends of Nostradamus says that, during his travels in Italy, he came upon a group of Franciscan monks, identifying one as the future Pope. The monk, called Felice Peretti, was ordained Pope Sixtus V in 1585, fulfilling the prediction of Nostradamus.
Feeling he’d stayed away long enough to be safe from the inquisition, Nostradamus returned to France to resume his practice of treating plague victims. In 1547, he settled in his home-town of Salon-de-Province and married a rich widow named Anne Ponsarde. Together they had six children—three boys and three girls. Nostradamus also published two books on medical science by this time. One, was a translation of Galen, the Roman physician, and a second book, The Traite des Fardemens, was a medical cookbook for treating the plague and the preparation of cosmetics.
Within a few years of his settling into Salon, Nostradamus began moving away from medicine and more toward the occult. It is said that he would spend hours in his study at night meditating in front of a bowl filled with water and herbs. The meditation would bring on a trance and visions. It is believed the visions were the basis of his predictions for the future. In 1550, Nostradamus wrote his first almanac of astrological information and predictions of the coming year. Almanacs were very popular at the time, as they provided useful information for farmers and merchants and contained entertaining bits of local folklore and predictions of the coming year. Nostradamus began writing about his visions and incorporating them into his first almanac. The publication received a great response, and served to spread his name all across France, which encouraged Nostradamus to write more.
Prophecies
By 1554, Nostradamus’ visions had become an integral part of his works in the almanacs, and he decided to channel all his energies into a massive opus he entitled Centuries. He planned to write 10 volumes, which would contain 100 predictions forecasting the next 2,000 years. In 1555 he published Les Prophesies, a collection of his major, long-term predictions. Possibly feeling vulnerable to religious persecution, he devised a method of obscuring the prophecies’ meanings by using quatrains—rhymed four-line verses—and a mixture of other languages such as Greek, Italian, Latin, and Provencal, a dialect of Southern France. Oddly enough, Nostradamus enjoyed a good relationship with the Roman Catholic Church. It is believed he never faced prosecution for heresy by the Inquisition because he didn’t extend his writings to the practice of magic.
Nostradamus ran into some controversy with his predictions, as some thought he was a servant of the devil, and others said he was a fake or insane. However, many more believed the prophecies were spiritually inspired. He became famous and in demand by many of Europe’s elite. Catherine de Medici, the wife of King Henri II of France, was one of Nostradamus’ greatest admirers. After reading his almanacs of 1555, where he hinted at unnamed threats to her family, she summoned him to Paris to explain and draw up horoscopes for her children. A few years later, she made him Counselor and Physician-in-Ordinary to King Henri’s court. In 1556, while serving in this capacity Nostradamus also explained another prophecy from Centuries I, which was assumed to refer to King Henri. The prophecy told of a “young lion” who would overcome an older one on the field of battle. The young lion would pierce the eye of the older one and he would die a cruel death. Nostradamus warned the king he should avoid ceremonial jousting. Three years later, when King Henri was 41 years old, he died in a jousting match when a lance from this opponent pierced the king’s visor and entered his head behind the eye deep into his brain. He held on to life for 10 agonizing days before finally dying of infection.
Nostradamus claimed to base his published predictions on judicial astrology—the art of forecasting future events by calculation of the planets and stellar bodies in relationship to the earth. His sources include passages from classical historians like Plutarch as well as medieval chroniclers from whom he seems to have borrowed liberally. In fact, many scholars believe he paraphrased ancient end-of-the-world prophecies (mainly from the Bible) and then through astrological readings of the past, projected these events into the future. There’s also evidence not everyone was enamored with Nostradamus’ predictions. He was criticized by professional astrologers of the day for incompetence and assuming that comparative horoscope (the comparison of future planetary configurations with those accompanying known past events) could predict the future.
Death and Legacy
Nostradamus suffered from gout and arthritis for much of his adult life. In the last years of his life, the condition turned into edema or dropsy, where abnormal amounts of fluid accumulate beneath the skin or within cavities of the body. Without treatment, the condition resulted in congestive heart failure. In late June of 1566, Nostradamus asked to see his lawyer to draw up an extensive will, leaving much of his estate to his wife and children. On the evening of July 1, he is alleged to have told his secretary Jean de Chavigny, “You will not fine me alive at sunrise.” The next morning he was reportedly found dead lying on the floor next to his bed.
Most of the quatrains Nostradamus composed during his life dealt with disasters such as plagues, earthquakes, wars, floods, invasions murders, droughts, and battles. Nostradamus enthusiasts have credited him with predicting numerous events in world history including the French Revolution; the rise of Napoleon and Hitler; the development of the atomic bomb; and the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. Nostradamus’ popularity seems to be due in part to the fact that the vagueness of his writings and their lack of specific dates make it easy to selectively quote them after any major dramatic events and retrospectively claim them as true. Some scholars believe he was not writing to be a prophet, but writing to comment on events of his time and the people in it. Whatever his method or intentions, Nostradamus’ timeless predictions continue to make him popular to those seeking answers to life’s more difficult questions.
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