Michel de Nostredame, often known as Nostradamus, was a purported seer, astrologer, and physician from France. Nostradamus’ book Les Propheties, originally published in 1955, is his most famous work. It consists of 942 poetry quatrains that are said to foretell future occurrences.
He is said to have foreseen some of the most well-known future occurrences. The Apollo moon landings in 1969, the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986, the death of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997, and the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001, according to popular authors, he predicted some of the major events that occurred at the time of each book’s publication. Some say that Nostradamus foretold the COVID-19 outbreak in the 16th century, which made news in 2021.
The comment from Nostradamus went popular on social media. “There will be a twin year (2020) from which will arise a queen (corona) who will come from the east (China) and who will spread a plague (virus) in the darkness of night, on a country with seven hills (Italy), and will turn the twilight of men into dust (death), to destroy and ruin the world,” according to Nostradamus. The international economy as we know it will come to an end.” However, the authenticity of the quotation from Nostradamus cannot be established.
When did Nostradamus come into being ?
In December of 1503 Nostradamus was born. His actual birth date is unknown. His birthday is said to be on the 14th or 21st of December. He was born in the French province of Provence, in the town of Saint-Remy-de-Provence. He was a French citizen. His father, notary Jaume de Nostredame, and mother, Reyniere, had him. His family was initially Jewish, but about 1459-60, his father converted to Catholic Christianity. He adopted the Christian name “Pierre” and the surname Nostredame after his conversion. He was said to have a large family. Delphie, Jean, Pierre, Hector, Louis, Bertrand, Jean II, and Antoine were some of his known siblings. Jean de St. Remy, his maternal great-grandfather, schooled him throughout his boyhood.
Prophecies of Nostradamus
At the age of 14, he enrolled at the University of Avignon to pursue his bachelor degree. He was forced to depart Avignon a year later when the university shuttered its doors due to a plague epidemic. From 1521 until 1523, he left Avignon and wandered the countryside for eight years, exploring herbal cures. He went on to work as an apothecary. He enrolled at Montpellier University to get a PhD in medicine.
The university rules prohibited Nostradamus when the student procurator, Guillaume Rondelet, found that he had been an apothecary. He continued to work as a pharmacist and became well-known for inventing a “rose pill” that was said to protect people from the plague.
He continued to travel after his wife and children died, travelling through France and maybe Italy.
In 1545, he returned to Marseille and aided famed physician Louis Serre in combating a huge plague epidemic. He subsequently tackled illness epidemics on his own in Salon-de-Provence and Aix-en-Provence, the provincial capital. He eventually relocated in Salon-de-Provence, where he married for the second time. He traveled to Italy and started to shift his focus from medicine to occultism.
In a 1550 almanac, he Latinized his name to Nostradamus for the first time in print. Following the popularity of the almanac, he planned to publish one or more each year. At least 6,338 prophesies and eleven yearly calendars are known to have been included in them. He started work on a collection of 1,000 mostly French quatrains, which would become the mostly undated prophesies for which he is best known today. Les Propheties is the title of a book containing the quatrains (The Prophecies). Its first issue, which had 353 quatrains, was released in 1555. In 1558, the third edition, with roughly 200 quatrains, was supposedly produced. After his death in 1568, it was published. Plagues, earthquakes, wars, floods, invasions, murders, droughts, and warfare are all mentioned in the quatrains.
From 1550 until his death, the Almanacs were produced yearly. He made vague references to nameless threats to the royal family. Queen Catherine called him to Paris to explain the horoscopes and to draw them for her children. He was appointed as her son, the young King Charles IX of FranceCounselor ,’s and Physician-in-Ordinary. He is known to have produced at least two works on medical science as a professional healer. When he resided in Agen, Nostradamus married a lady. His wife’s true identity remains a mystery. Henriette d’Encausse is a possible name for her. With his wife, he has two children. In 1534, he lost his wife and children, likely as a result of the plague.
When he arrived at Salon-de-Provence in 1547, he married Anne Ponsarde, a wealthy widow. Pnsarde and he had three daughters and three boys together. Between 1556 and 1567, the couple bought a twelfth part in a massive canal project. Adam de Craponne spearheaded the initiative to build the Canal de Craponne, which would use the river Durance to irrigate the mostly waterless Salon-de-Provence and the neighboring Desert de la Crau.
Death, according to Nostradamus
Nostradamus’ gout, which had been bothering him for years and making mobility difficult, had evolved into edema by 1566. In late June, he called his lawyer to draft a comprehensive will, bequeathing his whole estate as well as 3,444 crowns. On the morning of July 2, he was apparently discovered dead on the floor near to his bed and a bench. In 1566, he died on the 1st or 2nd of July. He was originally buried at the local Franciscan church in Salon, but following the French Revolution, he was reinterred in the Collegiale Saint-Laurent, where his tomb still stands today.
Facts
Cresquas, his father, was an Avignon grain and money broker. The faculty library still has his expulsion record from the University of Montpellier, BIU Montpellier, Register S 2 folio 87. In late 1561, he was temporarily imprisoned at Marignane for breaking a recent royal order by printing his 1562 almanac without first obtaining authorization from a bishop. His fans said he foresaw the Great Fire of London, the French Revolution, Napoleon’s and Adolf Hitler’s rise to power, both world wars, and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Popular writers regularly claim that he foresaw key events such as the Apollo moon landings in 1969, the Space Shuttle Challenger accident in 1986, the death of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997, and the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001 when their books were published. Several documentaries and movies have been made on his life. His essays have always piqued the curiosity of the press.