Nostradamus: The Life, the Legend and the Quatrains That Refuse to Die

The man known as Nostradamus was born Michel de Nostredame on 14 December 1503 in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, a typical market town in the south of France that would become famous for its association with the seer. His family, although of Jewish heritage, had converted to Catholicism a few decades before Michel's birth. This move was not motivated by spiritual discovery but rather the avoidance of mortal danger, fearing retribution from the Catholic Inquisition.

Growing up, Michel had the benefit of a wealthy and supportive family. His grandfathers were both educated men, one a physician and the other a grain merchant with side hustles in maths and astrology. The pair of them gave the young Michel a first-class education by the standards of the day: Latin, Greek, Hebrew and maths, all topped off with a pinch of celestial observation.

Michel, bolstered by his academic childhood, assumed his future lay in higher education. So, in or around 1519, he enrolled at the University of Avignon. However, the arrival of the plague forced the university to close, leading Michel to spend the next few years travelling around France, taking various jobs to fund his needs. Michel appears to have worked as an apothecary during this period, becoming fascinated with herbs and their curative properties. He became skilled at creating remedies for his customers, including concoctions that some claimed were powerful enough to treat the plague.

He later gave university another go, this time enrolling at Montpellier. His time here was cut short when the university discovered he had worked as a lowly apothecary, a trade considered beneath a scholar. They subsequently expelled Michel. The historical records are unclear on whether he ever returned to higher education. What is clear is that he resumed his apothecary work, building a practical reputation that no lecture hall could have given him.

Even in death, Nostradamus invites embellishment in a way that very few other historical figures manage.

Michel married around 1531 and had two children. Tragically, within a few years of starting his family, the plague struck. It took his wife and both children, not only a devastating personal trauma, but also a significant blow to his professional reputation. His critics scoffed that this man, who had been lauded for his apparent ability to cure the plague, could not even save his loved ones.

He spent the next few years of his life journeying through France and possibly Italy. Reportedly, he had a roadside encounter with a group of Franciscan monks. Among their number was a man named Felice Peretti. Michel is said to have dropped to his knees, proclaiming that Felice would one day become the Pope. Peretti was elected Pope Sixtus V in 1585, nineteen years after Nostradamus died, meaning he never knew whether his roadside proclamation had come true. Some cite this as proof of his predictive powers, but it seems more of an historical anecdote rather than one of his written prophecies.

Around 1547, Michel ceased his travelling and opted for a more settled life in Salon-de-Provence. Here, he fathered two children with his new wife, wealthy widow Anne Ponsarde, and began his writing career in earnest. He achieved critical and commercial success with his series of almanacs, which sold very well in Europe. He also produced annual publications offering astrological predictions and medical advice, coupled with his thoughts on current affairs. This is the point when Michel became known by his nom de plume, Nostradamus.

Nostradamus' seminal works, The Prophecies (Les Prophéties in French), the books upon which his fame is based, began appearing in 1555. The first edition contains 353 quatrains, each consisting of four-line verses written in a deliberately obscure mixture of Middle French, Latin, Greek, and symbolic imagery. In some instances, he invented vocabulary. The complete collection, which was published after his death, totals 942 quatrains organised into ten sections of one hundred verses called Centuries.

The strange mix of languages, imagery and made-up words in his books raises a key question. Why did he make the verses so challenging to read? Nostradamus himself shed some light on the issue in The Prophecies, where he reprinted a letter to Cesar, his son. He asserted that his deliberately veiled language was simply a form of protection, both for himself and for those reading his works. He feared that if his prophecies were too easily understood, there could be panic among the population. Also, he was keen to avoid the attention of the Church in case they sanctioned him for blasphemy.

There is another, more obvious explanation. By making his words more mysterious and difficult to interpret, he was helping create a situation where his writings could literally mean anything. Indeed, for someone in the prediction business, this would certainly be a smart move: a prediction that can mean different things to different people has a much better chance of coming true.

Nostradamus had the benefit of writing in a time when astrology and astronomy overlapped. He was able to cite celestial observations and prophetic interpretations side-by-side without contradiction. Whatever people's views on the value of his prophecies, his works have significant merit as historical documents.

Another question worth asking at this point is, why did Nostradamus endure so successfully when contemporary seers producing similar content fell by the wayside? One part of the answer could be an incident in 1555 when Catherine de Medici, the Queen of France, summoned him to Paris. She had developed a keen interest in both astrology and prophecy and had questions about one of his verses, Century 1, Quatrain 35, which she felt referenced her husband, King Henry II.

The verse in question describes a young lion defeating an older one within a cage of gold, with one eye being pierced and a cruel death following. Just four years later, Henry II was fatally injured in a joust. A lance shattered and a splinter passed through his gilded visor, piercing his eye. He died in agony ten days later.

Now, it is not known how concerned Catherine actually was about the quatrain, if indeed she was. But once Henry had died, it was possible for people at the time to revisit the prophecy and match the actual events with Nostradamus' vague words. Since the quatrain had been written four years before the death of Henry II and matched the details of his demise, it gave significant credence to his powers of prophecy. And this is how the quatrains almost always work: the prophecy is written, an event takes place and all the details fall into place. Once the outcome is known, the prophecy can be understood. Nostradamus, either by design or luck or both, was able to construct his verses in such a way as to tap into the human desire to find meaning in events.

Whatever her views on the quatrain and the death of her husband, Catherine decided to keep Nostradamus in her employ. He was given the prestigious roles of royal physician and astrologer, and his duties also included casting horoscopes for the royal children. It is not known how much time he actually spent at court, but as his health deteriorated, he appears to have retreated to his home in Salon-de-Provence.

Nostradamus was able to continue his writings until his ailments became too severe and he was confined to his room. He is known to have suffered badly from gout, a condition that, given its likely severity, probably progressed to congestive heart failure by the end of his life. It is reported that on the evening of 1 July 1566 he told his secretary Jean de Chavigny that he would not be seen alive the following morning. The next day he was found dead aged 62, apparently having fallen while attempting to get out of bed. His final prophecy?

As per his final wishes, he was put to rest upright in the wall of the Collegiate Church of Saint-Laurent in Salon-de-Provence. He was determined to avoid a traditional burial, where his detractors would be able to walk over his grave.

Centuries later, during the French Revolution, some later accounts claim his tomb was opened by soldiers believing they would find magical treasures within. To their disappointment, all they found apart from his skeleton was a medallion around his neck bearing the date of his exhumation. A fantastic story, but almost certainly apocryphal. Even in death, Nostradamus invites embellishment in a way that very few other historical figures manage.

Thanks to a reputation and legacy that has only increased over the years, there exists today a significant industry built around Nostradamus' verses. Such is the appetite for his prophecies that some authors have sold millions of books on the subject. Every generation can find its own interpretations in the same way, thanks to the vagueness of his words and the knowledge of events that have already taken place: the Great Fire of London, Hitler, the September 11 attacks and even the COVID pandemic can all find a home there. Supporters can confidently claim to identify the particular event in his verses, since no one can gainsay the intended meaning of the quatrains.

Peter Lemesurier, who has spent decades studying Nostradamus, believed many of the prophecies to be wrong. A fluent French speaker, he worked from the original texts rather than the translations and concluded that the verses rely on historical cycles and classical sources rather than genuine foresight. He debunked the notion that Nostradamus even intended to prophesy events centuries in the future, instead having contemporary events in mind.

Despite such reasoned arguments against his writings, there remains a popular appetite for Nostradamus' prophecies. This tells us what people actually want from them. It is not so much predictions of things to come that appeal, but rather explanations of what has happened in the past. They want to believe that history has a shape that can be understood, that events are not random. Nostradamus fits the bill. He led a remarkable life, had a huge intellect and his quatrains offer a fascinating window into his life and times.

We will be returning to specific prophecies soon, focusing on the most famous ones. We will examine what the verses actually say versus what they are claimed to say. The space in between is often where the real story lives.