Nostradamus

Background

Michel de Nostredame, born in December 1503, was a French astrologer, physician, and renowned seer best known for his book “Les Prophéties” (published in 1555), a collection of 942 poetic quatrains supposedly forecasting future events. Nostradamus’ father’s family had been Jewish before converting to Catholicism a generation before Nostradamus was born.

He studied at the University of Avignon for a year before being forced to leave due to a plague epidemic. He worked as an apothecary for several years before enrolling at the University of Montpellier to undertake a doctorate but was expelled almost immediately when his work as an apothecary (a manual trade prohibited by university laws) was discovered. In 1531, he married young, but his wife and two children died due to the plague epidemic in 1534. Before remarrying Anne Ponsarde, with whom he had six children, he fought alongside doctors against the plague. He created an almanac in 1550 and, due to its success, continued to create them for subsequent years as he started working as an astrologer for numerous wealthy patrons.

“Les Prophéties,” published in 1555, depended heavily on historical and literary precedent and was met with mixed reviews at first. He had severe gout near the end of his life, which progressed to edema. He died on July 1 or 2, 1566. Over the years, ever since the publication of his “Les Prophéties,” Nostradamus has gained many followers, who, like much of the popular press, believe he correctly predicted many major world events. Academics deny that Nostradamus possessed authentic supernatural prophetic abilities, claiming that the associations made between world events and Nostradamus’ quatrains resulted from misreadings or mistranslations. Those same scholars also argue that Nostradamus’ predictions are distinctly ambiguous, meaning they could be applied to almost anything and are ineffective for deciding whether their author possessed true prophetic powers.