The Prophecies

by Nostradamus

  2.61 La Rochelle & the Gironde: Cf. 1.90; 2.1. The Gironde, an estuary of the Garonne, flows about thirty miles south of La Rochelle. O Trojan blood: Cf. 1.19. La Flèche: Toulon (Telo-Martius in Latin)?

  2.62 Mabus: May allude to the northeast French border town of Maubeuge, also known as Mabuse (as in the nickname of Flemish painter Jan Gossaert). The town was destroyed by François I in 1543 and by Henri II in 1553.

  2.63 Ausonia: Italy. Parma: The War of Parma of 1551?

  2.64 Cévennes: Huguenot stronghold in southern France.

  2.65 Hesperia: Western land (sometimes Spain). Insubria: Cisalpine Gaul; Lombardy.

  2.69 the three parts: Cf. Caesar’s Gallic War: “All of Gaul is divided into three parts”—the Belgian, the Celtic, and the Aquitanian. the great Hierarchy: The Church of Rome (symbolized by the “cope,” an ecclesiastic garment), as opposed to the secular power of the Monarchy.

  2.70 The spear of the sky: Comet. Cf. 2.15; 2.41; 2.42; 2.43; 2.62.

  2.72 Rubicon: Julius Caesar’s successful crossing of the Rubicon in 49 B.C.E., here contrasted to French reverses in Italy (as in the disastrous battle of Pavia of 1525). Cf. 2.26; 4.5; 4.75; 8.7; 10.72.

  2.73 Lake Fucino: East of Rome, in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Lake Garda: In northeastern Italy, in the Republic of Venice. Port’Ercole: Major French port on the southern Tuscan coast. (For Ogmion = Hercules, see note to 1.96). Endymion: The lover of the Moon. Usually identified as Henri II, the lunar (or “Selin”) monarch. See notes to 4.77; 6.42; 6.78; 10.53; 10.58.

  2.78 This mighty Neptune: The Baron de la Garde (believed by Nostradamus to be of mixed French and “Punic” blood), working in concert with the Ottoman fleet, was late in arriving at the 1554 battle in which the Imperial admiral Andrea Doria devastated Corsica and Sardinia. Cf. 2.5; 2.59.

  2.79 CHYREN: A standard anagram for Henri II (from “Henryc,” the Provençal form of his name). Cf. 4.34; 6.27; 6.70; 8.54; 9.41. Here perhaps conflated with Charles V, who during his expedition to Tunis of 1535 freed thousands of Christian prisoners held by the Ottoman admiral Barbarossa. Cf. 5.69.

  2.81 The Urn: Aquarius (i.e., midwinter). Deucalion: Son of Prometheus; Greek equivalent of the biblical Noah, hence a metonym for the Flood. Cf. 10.6. Phaëthon: The Manifest One, epithet applied to the Sun, and to Jupiter and Saturn.

  2.84 Dalmatia: Held by the Venetians.

  2.85 Ligustic sea: The waters off the Ligurian coast.

  2.86 Fleet shipwrecked: News stories of 1538: Barbarossa defeats the fleet of Charles under the command of Andrea Doria at the battle of Preveza (line 1); Vesuvius erupts (line 2); Süleyman the Magnificent dispatches the Ottoman fleet into the Red Sea (line 3); Gaucher de Dinteville is taunted as a sodomite by Jean du Plessis; François I arranges a duel, but when Dinteville fails to appear, the affair of honor is called off (line 4).

  2.90 changing Hungary’s regime: The Ottomans under Süleyman the Magnificent captured the twin cities of Buda and Pest in 1526, killing King Louis II of Hungary; the kingdom was then disputed between John Zápolya and Ferdinand of Hapsburg, presumably the enemy brothers Castor and Pollux of line 4.

  2.93 Libitina: Roman goddess of death. May allude to the sack of Rome by the Imperial troops in 1527, when the Tiber was in flood and the pope (the “ship captain” of line 3) held prisoner in the Castel Sant’Angelo. Cf. 2.57; 5.81; 10.27.

  2.94 Lion of the seas: Emblem of Venice?

  2.96 flaming torch: A meteorite, like the one Nostradamus saw fall near Salon on March 10, 1554.

  2.97 The city where the two rivers pool: Lyon, at the confluence of the Rhône and the Saône—where Pope Clement V was coronated, under catastrophic circumstances, in 1305.

  2.98 spattered by the blood: An evil omen, as in Livy’s History of Rome (XXI, 63).

  2.99 Boreas: The north wind.

  CENTURY III

  3.1 The great Neptune: Another exploit of the Baron de la Garde: in 1545, he passed through the Strait of Gibraltar with twenty-five galleys on his way to attack the coast of England in July. Cf. 2.5; 2.59; 2.78. The enemy red: The armed forces of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V wore red crosses as their insignia.

  3.2 the Divine Word: The consecrated host. A reaffirmation of the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation, as against the Protestant denial of the Eucharist (most notoriously, in the “Affaire des placards” of 1534). Cf. 2.27; 7.36; 8.99.

  3.3 Mars & Mercury & the Moon conjoined: This triple conjunction occurred in 1554. Corinth, Ephesus: Cf. 2.52.

  3.5 the failing of these two great lights: A lunar eclipse was visible in eastern Europe on March 22, 1540, followed by a solar eclipse apparent to the Balkans and Greece on April 7. What prices: François I’s new salt tax was introduced in 1541, followed by general inflation.

  3.8 the Cimbrians: Plutarch’s Parallel Lives described the invasion of Spain by the Cimbri.

  3.12 Eb…. Tib.: The rivers Ebro, Tagus, Tiber.

  3.15 a child France shall betray: Should the current king Henri II die, the throne would pass to the twelve-year-old dauphin François, under the regency of Catherine de Médicis.

  3.16 The English prince: Henry VIII, who had died in 1547?

  3.17 The Aventine Hill seen aflame: The Great Fire of Rome, 64 C.E.? Above Flanders skies shall suddenly dim: The solar eclipse of January 1544?

  3.18 Reims: A site sacred to French royalty.

  3.20 the great Baetic river: The river Guadalquivir in Spain.

  3.21 Crustumerium: Ancient Sabine town on the Conca River. dragged from the waters by a hook: Cf. Job 41:1: “Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook?”

  3.23 France, if you pass beyond the Ligurian sea: Evokes the disastrous military campaigns of France in Italy under Louis XII, François I, and Henri II. Cf. 3.24.

  3.27 Shall so inflame François for Arab matters: François I instituted the study of Arabic under the direction of Guillaume Postel at the Collège des Lecteurs Royaux in 1541.

  3.28 A young female reigning on for ages: The lowborn empress Theodora (ca. 500–548) of the Byzantine Empire?

  3.30 Shall be attacked in bed: Exemplary assassinations: the Duke of Parma killed in his bed at Piacenza on the orders of Emperor Charles V in 1547; the Byzantine emperor Nicephorus Phocas killed at the behest of his wife in 969.

  3.31 Araxes: River marking the boundary between Turkey and Persia. May allude to the eastern campaigns of Süleyman the Magnificent (r. 1520–66) in Media and Armenia.

  3.32 He who put all Aquitaine in the grave: High Constable Anne de Montmorency, who put down the salt-tax revolt in Aquitaine in 1548? Cf. 9.1.

  3.35 Europe’s farthermost western reaches: The British Isles.

  3.36 When the city condemns the heretic: According to Prévost, Savonarola, condemned as a schismatic and heretic in Florence in 1498.

  3.42 two teeth in its throat: Cf. 2.7.

  3.44 pet dog: Crouzet observes that the dog is traditionally the emblem of Christian fidelity and faith.

  3.46 Plancus town: Lyon, which had witnessed a meteor falling on the city on April 5, 1528. Cf. 8.6.

  3.47 Mytilene: The Greek isle of Lesbos.

  3.51 a great murder: That of Claude de Lorraine, first Duke of Guise in 1550?

  3.52 Cock shall see the Eagle waver on wing: The cock was the emblem of France, the eagle the emblem of Charles V’s Holy Roman Empire.

  3.53 Agrippine: I.e., the city of Cologne (Colonia Agrippinensis in Tacitus).

  3.55 one eye: Read by some of Nostradamus’s contemporaries in 1561 as predicting King Charles IX’s loss of an eye. The lord from Blois shall have killed his friend: Cf. 3.51.

  3.56 Plague, thunder & hail: The various omens that appeared at the death of François I in 1547?

  3.57 Seven times you’ll see the British people change: According to Prévost, may allude to the violent deaths of Simon de Montfort, Edward II, Richard II, Henry VI, Edward V, Richard III, and Lady Jane Grey between 1265 and 1555 (i.e., 290 years), the date of the publication of this qu
atrain. Bastarnian: Refers to the region between the sources of the Vistula and the mouth of the Danube.

  3.58 the mountains of Noricum: Region to the north of the Adriatic. saurom.: Sarmatians, inhabitants of the region stretching from the Vistula to the mouth of the Danube and eastward to the Volga. Pannon.: Pannonians, inhabitants of the region between the former Yugoslavia and Hungary.

  3.60 Mysia, Lysia & Pamphylia: Regions of today’s Turkey.

  3.61 cross-bearers: Probably alludes to the contemporary Catholic persecution of the Waldensians in the region between the rivers Rhône and Durance (also called “Mesopotamia” in Nostradamus’s Présages). Cf. 2.48; 2.53; 3.99.

  3.62 From the Duero he shall cross the Pyrenees: Hannibal’s route toward Rome.

  3.64 OLXA∆ES: Transport ships.

  3.65 When the mighty Roman’s tomb is dug up: According to Bandini’s Dell’ obelisco di Cesare Augusto (1549), the tomb of Augustus Caesar was discovered in 1521, the same year that Pope Leo X died from poisoning, his blood captured in a chalice in which votes were later collected to elect his successor. Cf. 5.7; 6.66.

  3.66 He shall not die a deserved death nor by chance: Cf. Virgil Aeneid IV, 696: “Nam quia nec fato merita nec morte peribat.”

  3.67 A new sect of philosophers: Probably refers to the Anabaptist sects of southern Germany. Cf. 3.76; 4.31; 4.32.

  3.68 Chersonese: Ancient name of the Gallipoli Peninsula.

  3.69 born back at the Half-Swine: I.e., etymologically, in Milan.

  3.70 Ausonia: Italy.

  3.71 Those trapped within towns: I follow Brind’Amour’s reading here. Previous editions read “isles” instead of “towns.”

  3.73 When the lame-footed one ascends the throne: From Plutarch’s “Life of Agesilaus.” Leotychides was the rival of the lame Agesilaus.

  3.77 October seventeen twenty-seven: Either October 1727 or October 27, 1700, neither of which corresponds to a specific astronomic conjunction or major historical event.

  3.79 The chain of never-ending destiny: From Aulus Gellius’s Attic Nights, quoted in Nostradamus’s preface: “Destiny is a certain eternal and immutable series of events that both constantly revolves in a chain and brings with it those unending sequences of consequences to which it is appropriate and attached.” The Phocaeans’ port shall be broken: The breaking of the chains that closed the port of Marseille; could refer to the invasion of the city by Alfonso V of Aragon in 1423.

  3.87 Go not near Corsica: Allusion to the disastrous defeat of the French fleet by Andrea Doria in Corsica in 1553.

  3.88 That all Marseille shall be trembling with fear: May refer to the 1524 invasion of Marseille by the renegade Charles de Bourbon on behalf of Charles V.

  3.90 The great Satyr & Hyrcanian Tyger: Exotic animals sent in 1533 to François I (via the Ottoman privateer Barbarossa) by Süleyman the Magnificent—who was at that point campaigning in Carmania (in Persia)—in order to seal the Franco-Ottoman alliance against Charles V’s Holy Roman Empire. Cf. 4.85. the Tyrrhenian port Phocaean: Marseille.

  3.91 The tree that was dry as death for years: Cf. Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars (II, 92), announcing the reign of Augustus: “On the isle of Capri the fallen branches of a very ancient oak, already drooping to the ground, sprang to life at his advent.” Here rhymed with the death of François I in 1547 and the accession of the young Henri II.

  3.92 Slow Saturn again making a return: From Virgil’s Fourth Eclogue. Cf. 2.46. Brodde: From the Latin Ebrodunum, a region of the Alps. the eye: The monarch (from Horapollo).

  3.93 Tricastin: Area around Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux, north of Orange on the east bank of the Rhône.

  3.95 The Borysthenes: Inhabitants of the Dnieper region.

  3.96 the Tarpeian Rock: Steep cliff of the Capitoline Hill in Rome from which those sentenced to death were flung to their doom.

  3.97 Phoebe: The Moon, whose cycle was to be completed in 1887.

  3.99 Alleins & Vernègues: Two villages in today’s Bouches-du-Rhône. The conflict between the two camps: I.e., between Catholics and Protestants in France. Mesopotamia: Cf. 3.61.

  3.100 Among the the Gauls: The victory of Vercingetorix over Julius Caesar at Gergovia in 52 B.C.E.?

  CENTURY IV

  4.3 Sagunto: Halfway down the east coast of Spain, at the foot of the Peñas de Pajarito.

  4.4 Libyans & cocks: Alludes to the naval alliance between the French (“cocks”) and the Ottoman corsairs (“Libyans”) against Charles V. Cf. 1.18; 2.5; 2.59.

  4.8 At the vigil of Saint-Quentin: Falls on October 31, that is, at La Toussaint.

  4.10 Struck in head by a stanchion: Collapsing structures: cf. 2.92; 3.40; 6.37; 6.51. lays a healing balm: The laying on of hands, one of the traditional thaumaturgic gifts of the kings of France.

  4.11 the great cope: The papacy. The twelve red ones: Cardinals.

  4.15 The eye of the sea: A seaport, via Cicero’s De natura deorum (III, 91).

  4.16 The frank city: Protestant stronghold of La Rochelle, pardoned by François I in early 1543 for its opposition to the salt tax. Cf. 2.1; 5.35.

  4.18 those most versed in lore celestial: Cf. 8.71.

  4.19 Insubria: Milanese holdings in Lombardy. Hainaut…Liège: Cf. 2.50.

  4.20 With the lily: I.e., the fleur-de-lis, traditional emblem of royal France.

  4.23 Chalcis: Port of the isle of Euboea; cf. 2.3. Magnesia: East part of Thessaly, facing Euboea. Port Selin: Cf. 1.94; 2.1. Port’Ercole: Cf. 2.73.

  4.25 Sublimates: In alchemy and modern chemistry, fluids in the gaseous state having neither independent shape nor volume and being able to expand indefinitely.

  4.26 The swarming bees: Quatrain written in Provençal.

  4.27 Mausole: The ancient Mausoleum of the Julii in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, situated at the entrance to the ruins of the Greco-Roman city of Glanum. SEX.: From the inscription on the Saint-Rémy mausoleum: SEX.L.M.IULIEI C.F. PARENTIBUS SUEIS (Sextus, Lucius, Marcus, sons of Caius Julius, to their parents). pyramid: A spindle of stone in the old quarry at Glanum, locally known as “la Pyramide.” the Danish prince: Ogier, the son of Godfrey of Denmark, offered as a hostage by the latter to Charlemagne? Artemis temple: Queen Artemisia had the original Mausoleum built for her husband.

  4.28 When Venus is blotted out by the Sun: In alchemical terms, copper and gold.

  4.29 The Sun hidden: Mercury (a “second heaven,” “Hermes”) alchemically transformed by fire (“Vulcan”) into gold (“Sun”).

  4.30 The to soar or fall in value: Fluctuations in the price of precious metals. (Sun and Moon symbols in my version retained from the 1555 edition.) Cf. 1.40; 5.72.

  4.31 midnight on the mountain high: See the German Anabaptist locale of 3.67.

  4.32 “All things in common among friends.” (Greek letters retained from 1555 edition.) From Erasmus’s Adages. Cf. 3.67.

  4.33 Jove…Venus: Alchemically, Jupiter (Jove) represents tin, Venus copper, Neptune water, Mars iron.

  4.34 King CHYREN: Usually Henri II; see note to 2.79.

  4.36 Romagna: Part of the Papal States.

  4.37 Monech, Gennes: Monaco, Genoa.

  4.39 The men of Rhodes shall cry out for more aid: The isle of Rhodes, home of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, was seized by the Turks in 1522. The common cause given new hope by Spain: Charles V installed the expelled Knights of St. John on Malta in 1530 and captured Tunis in 1535.

  4.41 captured hostage: A Roman ploy (390 B.C.E.) described by Plutarch (“Life of Romulus,” “Life of Camillus”).

  4.42 Seyssel: Town on the Rhône just below the Protestant center of Geneva (and thus not far from Lausanne).

  4.44 For notables: Quatrain written in Provençal.

  4.45 The conflict: Probably the French rout at the battle of Pavia (1525), during which François I, momentarily deserted by his brother-in-law, the Duke of Alençon, was captured. Cf. 2.26; 4.75; 8.7; 10.22.

  4.48 The Ausonian plain: The lands around Milan were invaded by locusts in 1542, the yea
r of a solar eclipse.

  4.51 Ganges: Village near Montpellier.

  4.53 His son…drowned in the well: Final line of the 1555 edition of the Prophecies.

  4.54 The first of the French kings: François I, who married Eleonor of Austria (and of Castile), the sister of Charles V, in 1530?

  4.55 When the crow shall caw: Suetonius (XII, 15, 23), describing the omens announcing the death of Emperor Domitian.

  4.57 But shall ban all the writings: From Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars (XII, 1, 10) on Domitian.

  4.58 blood shall lave the Etruscan plain: Evokes the Ottoman corsair Barbarossa’s raids on the Tuscan coast in 1543, during which he married the daughter of the governor of Gaeta, who converted to Islam and followed him back to Turkey. Cf. 5.3.

  4.59 Nira: Leoni suggests that, given the mention of Geneva, this might be a misprint for “Iura,” i.e., the nearby Jura mountains.

  4.61 knocked from his rightful place: High Constable Anne de Montmorency (1493–1567) fell from power in 1541, replaced by the dukes of Guise, “foreigners” from Lorraine. Orl.: Orléans.

  4.62 An ambitious colonel: The Huguenot sympathizer Gaspard II de Coligny (1519–1572), named Colonel General of the French Infantry in the late 1540s and later admiral of France? Cf. 6.75; 8.57. discovered beneath the leaves: Cf. the death of the rebel Absalom in II Samuel 18.

  4.67 Saturn & Mars: Saturn and Mars were conjoined in Aries and close to the Sun in mid-March 1556. There was a comet that same spring and a major drought during the summer.

  4.72 Arecomicians: A Volcae tribe of the Narbonne region whose capital was Nîmes. Cf. 1.79. Saint-Félix: Southeast of Toulouse, in 1167 the seat of an Albigensian assembly. All the other towns mentioned are located in Aquitaine.

  4.74 Brunnovices: Region of Roman Gaul near Mâcon.

  4.75 he shall vanish: See note to 4.45 on the battle of Pavia.

  4.76 Nictobriges: People of the region of Agen.

  4.77 SELIN monarch: The moon-king Henri II (r. 1547–59). “Selene” is the Greek equivalent of Diana, goddess of the hunt and of the Moon—and the name of Henri II’s confidante and mistress, Diane de Poitiers (1499–1566), as in her celebrated crest “H-D.” To distinguish himself from the sun emblem of Emperor Charles V, Henri adopted the (crescent) moon as his device. Cf. 6.42; 6.78; 8.31; 10.53; 10.58. Blois: Ancestral castle of the royal Valois family.