Famous or Infamous? — Nostradamus

Prophet or Fraud?

Michel de Nostredame (1503–1566), known as Nostradamus, was a French physician and astrologer whose cryptic quatrains have been linked to fires, revolutions, tyrants, assassinations, and disasters for nearly five centuries. Was he a true seer of ages to come — or a master of ambiguity who wrapped vagueness in poetry?

The Healer Before the Seer

Born in Provence, Nostradamus studied medicine and treated plague victims across France. He favored fresh air, clean water, and herbal remedies when many physicians still prescribed bloodletting. Admirers remembered a practical healer; tragedy struck when his first wife and children died in an outbreak, a loss that turned him more deeply toward astrology and esoteric study.

The Visions and the Prophecies

In the 1550s he began publishing Les Prophéties: hundreds of four-line poems (quatrains) in deliberately obscure language — French spiced with Latin, Greek, and anagrams. He said the veil protected him from persecution. Later readers tied his verses to events such as:

The death of King Henry II of France (a “young lion” piercing the eye of the old in a joust).
The Great Fire of London (1666) and other urban conflagrations.
The rise of Hitler (read into “Hister” in one quatrain).
The French Revolution, world wars, and even modern terrorist attacks.

Fame in His Lifetime

He was no obscure mystic. In 1556, Queen Catherine de’ Medici summoned him after rumors spread that he had foreseen Henry II’s death. He later served as court astrologer, casting horoscopes for the royal children and enjoying powerful patronage that shielded his work.

The Skeptics’ Case

Vagueness: The quatrains are symbolic and elastic; many “hits” are matched in hindsight.
Recycled history: Several verses echo classical sources and recent events rather than foretell new ones.
Language games: Mixed tongues, anagrams, and metaphors make nearly any reading plausible.

A modern critic quipped: “Nostradamus didn’t predict the future — he wrote horoscopes for history.”

The Believers’ Case

Devotees argue that some alignments are too precise to dismiss — especially Henry II’s death and the uncanny “Hister/Hitler” resonance. They see a physician-astrologer using scrying, star craft, and inspired trance to glimpse coming ages. A 17th-century admirer wrote: “He was touched by a fire that showed him the fate of kings.”

Symbols & Associations

Color: Midnight blue — the stargazer’s sky.
Symbols: Quatrain, astrolabe, candlelit study.
Title: The Seer of Salon.