Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grimm
Speaker 1: and Mild from Aaron Manky Listener Discretion advised France fifteen
Speaker 1: sixty four, and the country is to be perfectly honest
Speaker 1: A bit of a mess. Fourteen year old King Charles
Speaker 1: the Ninth has just formally ended his regency, but the
Speaker 1: young monarch has no real interest in governing. After all,
Speaker 1: he is just fourteen years old. His ineptitude means the
Speaker 1: former regent, his mother, Catherine de Medici, continues to be
Speaker 1: the dominant power in French politics. Before the regency's official dissolution,
Speaker 1: Catherine managed to address the country's increasingly violent religious conflict
Speaker 1: by brokering the Edict of Imboise, which ended the first
Speaker 1: stage of the French Wars of Religion and brought on
Speaker 1: a brief period of official peace between the Hugonots or
Speaker 1: French Protestants and Catholics. In an effort to enforce the
Speaker 1: edict and to rally support for the crown in the
Speaker 1: wake of the unrest, Catherine and Little Charles set out
Speaker 1: in March of fifteen sixty four for a two year
Speaker 1: Grand Tour of France. The tour took the pair and
Speaker 1: their roughly twenty thousand person entourage across the country, from
Speaker 1: Paris to Provence, Brittany to the Bourbonet. Each stop on
Speaker 1: the tour was carefully planned to strengthen loyalty in the provinces,
Speaker 1: but there is one stop designated for the King and
Speaker 1: Queen Mother's personal agenda. In October, the tour reached the
Speaker 1: quiet southern town of Celan de Provence, home of the
Speaker 1: famed physician and occultist no Stradamus. That iconic name is
Speaker 1: likely known by a majority of modern listeners, but even
Speaker 1: at the time of the royal visit, no Stradamis's infamy
Speaker 1: had already spread throughout the country and beyond its orders.
Speaker 1: In fact, the validity of his predictions had become another
Speaker 1: point of contention in the religious conflict. Protestants were arguing
Speaker 1: he was a fraud. Catholics believed he had a divine gift. Catherine,
Speaker 1: a devout Catholic, came to sell on seeking a message
Speaker 1: from the stars delivered through no Stradamis. Later, writing to
Speaker 1: the Constable of France, Catherine happily recounted that the astrologer
Speaker 1: quote promised all kinds of good things to the King
Speaker 1: my son, and that he shall live as long as you.
Speaker 1: That prediction would come true, but not in the world
Speaker 1: way Catherine brightly anticipated. Today, more than four centuries after
Speaker 1: no Stradamus's death, his prophecies continue to be a subject
Speaker 1: of discussion. Have they predicted major world events or are
Speaker 1: they simply vague enough to be easily applicable to any
Speaker 1: number of situations. But there's one more question, perhaps most
Speaker 1: interesting of all, were his prophecies even original. For all
Speaker 1: of this debate, the man behind the predictions remains to
Speaker 1: many a mystery. I'm Dana Schwartz, and this is Noble Blood.
Speaker 1: The famous future astrologer was not born Nostradamus the Great
Speaker 1: and Powerful or Old Nasty if you've been listening to
Speaker 1: the Rain Recap series over on the Noble Blood Patreon. Instead,
Speaker 1: his parents called him Michelle de Nostre Dame when he
Speaker 1: was born in fifteen o three in sin Remi de Provence.
Speaker 1: Michelle was only the second generation to be born with
Speaker 1: the last name Nostr Dame. His paternal grandfather had been
Speaker 1: a Spanish Jew forced to convert and take a Christian
Speaker 1: name around fourteen fifty five due to hostile New edicts,
Speaker 1: so his grandfather, Gui Gassonet became Pierre de Saint Marie
Speaker 1: before settling on Pierre de Nostradame. The surname meaning our
Speaker 1: lady Michelle Nostre Dame's Jewish heritage will come up later
Speaker 1: in debates surrounding his legitimacy, so remember that point. It's
Speaker 1: traditionally believed that Michelle started his education young, taught by
Speaker 1: his maternal great grandfather, who was a physician. Those early
Speaker 1: studies are said to have focused on Latin and yes
Speaker 1: some astrology, which at the time was a respected scholarly
Speaker 1: tradition with a long history, although the Renaissance period saw
Speaker 1: increasing skepticism of astrology and those who practiced it. Later
Speaker 1: in life, Nostredam would claim to still treasure the astrolabe
Speaker 1: he inherited from his great grandfather. Sometime between the ages
Speaker 1: of fourteen and sixteen, Michelle left for the nearest major city, Avignon,
Speaker 1: where he sought higher education at the local university. In
Speaker 1: Nostradamus's day, university curriculum consisted of the trivium, which was grammar,
Speaker 1: rhetoric and logic, followed by the quadrivium geometry, arithmetic, music,
Speaker 1: and astrology. However, our young scholar never got the chance
Speaker 1: to advance to the quadrivium's astrology lessons because in fifteen
Speaker 1: twenty a plague outbreak forced the Universe Diversity to close
Speaker 1: its doors covid Era students, I'm sure can relate in
Speaker 1: a later diary entry, Nostrodamis reflected on life following the
Speaker 1: university closure quote. I spent most of my young years
Speaker 1: on pharmaceutics and the knowledge and study of natural remedies
Speaker 1: across various lands and countries, constantly on the move to
Speaker 1: find out the source and origin of plants involved in
Speaker 1: the purposes of the healing art. That is a long
Speaker 1: sentence to say he became a self taught traveling apothecary.
Speaker 1: Perhaps he was inspired by his close encounter with the plague,
Speaker 1: or maybe he was following in his great grandfather's footsteps.
Speaker 1: By fifteen twenty nine, schools had reopened their doors. We
Speaker 1: know this because fifteen twenty nine was the year Michelle
Speaker 1: enrolled in the University at Montpellier to study for his
Speaker 1: medical doctorate. His written enrollment confirmation pen in shaky Latin,
Speaker 1: remains in the university's library to this day. Though this
Speaker 1: may be a point of pride for that university. Now,
Speaker 1: the reception no Stradamis received at the time was quite different.
Speaker 1: In fact, he was expelled shortly after arriving. The confirmation
Speaker 1: of his expulsion also still exists in library records, reading quote,
Speaker 1: he whom you see crossed out here has been an
Speaker 1: apothecary or quack, and through the students we have heard
Speaker 1: him speak ill of doctors end quote. This was the first,
Speaker 1: but certainly not the last, time no Stradamus would be
Speaker 1: called a quack. While being an apothecary was deemed inferior
Speaker 1: to being a doctor, it was also forbidden for university
Speaker 1: students to have practiced a quote manual trade. Academic snobbery
Speaker 1: and no Stradamis's over confidence were a bad mix. So
Speaker 1: no Stradamus returned to the life of a traveling apothecary
Speaker 1: for the next few years, following Hippocratus's famous advice to
Speaker 1: quote seek out old wives or alternative remedies. In fifteen
Speaker 1: thirty one he settled into a stationary life in Agen,
Speaker 1: where he was invited to be the personal apothecary of
Speaker 1: a famed scholar he had befriended. There, he married his
Speaker 1: first wife, Henriette, with whom he had two children. His
Speaker 1: time there, as his time had been in Avian and Montpellier,
Speaker 1: was once again destined to be brief. By fifteen thirty four,
Speaker 1: Michell nostdam faced the triple loss of his wife, son,
Speaker 1: and daughter, all to another plague outbreak. The mortality rate
Speaker 1: of the sixteenth century plague epidemics was still lower than
Speaker 1: that of the Black Death in the fourteenth century, but
Speaker 1: the effects were still devastating. Known treatments were ineffective, and
Speaker 1: a famous piece of advice at the time for doctors
Speaker 1: was quote get out fast, stay well away, come back late.
Speaker 1: I don't remember that part of the Hippocratic oath, but
Speaker 1: I am no doctor. If you can't find a doctor,
Speaker 1: you might as well turn to a less respected professional.
Speaker 1: After two years spent as the aid to a prominent physician,
Speaker 1: a Montpellier alum no less in Marseille, Nostrodamus's service were
Speaker 1: procured by the city of x in Provence. Our apothecary
Speaker 1: was likely motivated to aid where others fled for an
Speaker 1: number of reasons. A chance at renown, certainly, but also
Speaker 1: the chance for medical discovery almost certainly. The chance to
Speaker 1: fight the same disease that took his family away. It
Speaker 1: was there that he treated residence with his would be
Speaker 1: famous rose pill. I wouldn't recommend trying this at home,
Speaker 1: but if you're curious as to how a rose pill
Speaker 1: is made, you can turn to Nostrodamis's fifteen fifty five
Speaker 1: best selling medical cookbook Wellness Influencers, pumping out a book
Speaker 1: tail as all as Time. The rose pill formula calls
Speaker 1: for quote one ounce of the sawdust shavings of cypress
Speaker 1: wood as green as you can find, six ounces of
Speaker 1: florentine iris, three ounces of cloves, three DRAMs of sweet calamus,
Speaker 1: and six DRAMs of aloes wood. Next, take three or
Speaker 1: four hundred years unfolded red roses, fresh and perfectly clean,
Speaker 1: and gathered before dewfall. From there, the concoction is to
Speaker 1: be shaped into a lozenge and left to dry. But
Speaker 1: as a bonus, he notes that the mixture may also
Speaker 1: be made into a perfume. Quote add as much musk
Speaker 1: or ambergrease as you either can or wish. If these
Speaker 1: two are added, I do not doubt that you will
Speaker 1: produce a superbly pleasant perfume. This same cookbook part of
Speaker 1: a rapidly growing genre of recipe books, often called books
Speaker 1: of secrets, marketed to DIY minded readers, many of them women.
Speaker 1: Also includes formulas for teeth whitening, hair coloring, and a
Speaker 1: love tonic so powerful that Nostrodamis claimed a few drops
Speaker 1: placed in a woman's mouth while kissing her would trigger
Speaker 1: a burning passion. When described how big the rose pill,
Speaker 1: no Stradamis dedicates time to recounting the horrors he witnessed
Speaker 1: in X, as the plague tore apart, families and graveyards overflowed,
Speaker 1: but he notes that his concoction provided relief, protecting its
Speaker 1: users from infection. We can't say for certain or with
Speaker 1: any likelihood, that the pill was an actually effective preventative measure,
Speaker 1: but as in many cases, what mattered was that people
Speaker 1: believed in it. That rose pill was the catalyst that
Speaker 1: set no Stradamis on the path to fame, and he
Speaker 1: soon became known as the plague Doctor. In reality, it
Speaker 1: appears that the X plague naturally subsided after around nine months,
Speaker 1: which was a typical timeline. While his prowess may have
Speaker 1: been exaggerated, no Stradamis rightfully deserves credit where it's due,
Speaker 1: for staying where many doctors fled, and for trying what
Speaker 1: hadn't been tried. He continued to help a number of
Speaker 1: other cities over the next few years before settling in
Speaker 1: the town that he would call home for the rest
Speaker 1: of his life, Celon. By this point he was in
Speaker 1: his early forties, and alongside his new success, it appears
Speaker 1: he sought another chance at a stable family life. On
Speaker 1: November eleventh, fifteen forty seven, he married his second wife,
Speaker 1: a wealthy widow named Anne Ponzard. It was in the
Speaker 1: years following his second marriage that Nostrodamus became interested in
Speaker 1: the occult. He hadn't formally studied astrologies since childhood, but
Speaker 1: the field was becoming increasingly more popular as well as
Speaker 1: more controversial. His major influences included fifteen fifty's book on
Speaker 1: the Nature of the Times and Their Changes, which used
Speaker 1: planetariyr patterns to define the world by cycles, the last
Speaker 1: of which would conclude with a predicted and notably inaccurate apocalypse,
Speaker 1: as well as the rising success of annual almanacs, which
Speaker 1: provided predictions and warnings for the year ahead. Though they
Speaker 1: were first introduced about a century earlier, almanacs were now
Speaker 1: so popular that two to three dozen were being published
Speaker 1: every year. With the country's increasing religious tensions, as well
Speaker 1: as economic and political strife, it was no wonder that
Speaker 1: people sought guides to the future. Nostradamus wrote his first
Speaker 1: almanac in fifteen fifty, and would continue to write one
Speaker 1: every year until his death. It was in his first
Speaker 1: almanac that we see the pen name Michele Nostre Dame
Speaker 1: mus as opposed to Nostradame. In trading his French surname
Speaker 1: for or a Latin one, he aligned himself with the
Speaker 1: great thinkers of antiquity, a practice adopted by many scholars
Speaker 1: of the Renaissance. No copies of his first publication have survived,
Speaker 1: but the predictions it contained were recorded by his secretary.
Speaker 1: One reads, throughout Gaul, meaning France, there shall be certain
Speaker 1: uprisings which shall be appeased by stern Council, fairly vague,
Speaker 1: but pretty predictably likely. Another report quote in the autumn
Speaker 1: heavy rains, which shall be the cause of many setbacks,
Speaker 1: shall even confound some very great enterprises. The third prediction claims,
Speaker 1: at this time, whether in wars or in illness, love, honor,
Speaker 1: and fear shall be the reason why people shall not
Speaker 1: be oppressed but shall live in peace. Those are all
Speaker 1: decidedly short, vague, and reliable rain in autumn groundbreaking, But
Speaker 1: as the years progressed, we'll see his predictive style change
Speaker 1: predictions will become wordier, heavier, and increasingly grounded in the
Speaker 1: movements of the planets. His almanacs sold well, but they
Speaker 1: didn't particularly stand out compared to the many other successful almanacs.
Speaker 1: His more lucrative source of income was a new practice
Speaker 1: horoscope readings for wealthy clients. As opposed to other astrologists. However,
Speaker 1: he did not draw up these charts himself, instead asking
Speaker 1: the client to provide the material. His apothecary practice also continued,
Speaker 1: but you wouldn't be wrong to wonder where the shift
Speaker 1: from medicine to occultism came from. After his childhood studies,
Speaker 1: Michelle hadn't shown an interest in astrology for his entire
Speaker 1: young adult and adult life, but now in middle age,
Speaker 1: he was a practicing astrologist with visions of the future.
Speaker 1: This transition wasn't something Nostradamis wrote about in his journals,
Speaker 1: so we're left to analyze for ourselves. There's the cynical
Speaker 1: angle that he saw the field becoming more lucrative and
Speaker 1: wanted a piece of the pie. And there's also the
Speaker 1: more optimistic angle that he was an inherently curious person,
Speaker 1: constantly seeking new ways to understand the world around him.
Speaker 1: I would argue it's probably a mixture of both, and
Speaker 1: indeed many scholars of the time saw medicine and astrology
Speaker 1: as intertwined. Fifteen fifty five would be the year Nostradamis
Speaker 1: began to see real success in his new practice. For
Speaker 1: the fifty five almanac, no Stradamis had the idea to
Speaker 1: write his predictions in verse, which not only set him
Speaker 1: apart from his contemporaries by calling back to the voices
Speaker 1: of ancient prophets, but poetic language also helped keep things
Speaker 1: open to interpretation. It's also in the fifteen fifty five
Speaker 1: edition that no Strodamus first claims to be divinely inspired
Speaker 1: quote by divine spirit, soul filled with prophecy, War, famine, plague,
Speaker 1: and upheaval shall come by floods droughts, while blood shall
Speaker 1: stain both land and sea. Peace packs, prey lets be born,
Speaker 1: and princes die. He does not explicitly state his predictions
Speaker 1: came from God. That would be a step two controversial
Speaker 1: in certain circles, but any reader who wanted to believe
Speaker 1: that could certainly sense the true intent behind his words.
Speaker 1: Besides religious wars, lightning strikes, and crocodiles, Yes, Nostradamis predicted
Speaker 1: an incident involving a mysterious crocodile. One particular prediction stood
Speaker 1: out among the others that year the King, he wrote
Speaker 1: at the time, still referring to Catherine de Medici's husband, Henry,
Speaker 1: the second quote shall beware of some one or many
Speaker 1: of his court, lest they seek to do which I
Speaker 1: dare not put in writing, as the stars in accordance
Speaker 1: with occult philosophy demonstrate. A few years later, the astrologer
Speaker 1: Laurent Videl, who ironically taught the subject at Avignon where
Speaker 1: Michel was forced to abandon his studies before he reached
Speaker 1: the astrology courses, published a scathing indictment of Nostrodamis, in
Speaker 1: which he questioned that very prediction quote you say that
Speaker 1: you dare not declare what would happen that year? Why
Speaker 1: did you resort to such ruses? If not so that
Speaker 1: you should be sent for from the court. You knew
Speaker 1: perfectly well the king would want the truth. In other words,
Speaker 1: you're only being COI, so the king will summon you.
Speaker 1: Whether or not Videl was right about Nostradamis's intentions, he
Speaker 1: was wrong about one thing. In particular, it was not
Speaker 1: the king whose attention he caught, but rather the queen's.
Speaker 1: In the summer of fifteen fifty five, Nostradamis received the
Speaker 1: Queen's summon to attend court in Paris. According to the
Speaker 1: contemporary Chronique Lionnaise, he apparently quote feared greatly that harm
Speaker 1: would have been done to him, for he said himself
Speaker 1: he was in great danger of having his head cut off.
Speaker 1: Evidently it was not his head Nostradamis had to worry about,
Speaker 1: but his feet. He was only at court a short
Speaker 1: amount of time before he was bedridden with a bad
Speaker 1: flare up of gout. As later reported by his son Caesar,
Speaker 1: Nostradamis actually read the charts of Eager Nobles right there
Speaker 1: from his bed. In a letter, Nostradamis wrote, as a
Speaker 1: fine reward from the court, I became ill there. The
Speaker 1: Queen paid me thirty crowns and there's a fine sum
Speaker 1: for having come two hundred leagues, having spent a hundred crowns,
Speaker 1: I made thirty. This may seem an oddly irreverent tone
Speaker 1: from a man who was highly respected by the Queen,
Speaker 1: but that letter was written to a man to whom
Speaker 1: Nostradamis owed money, and so he sought to downplay his wealth.
Speaker 1: He does, however, make sure to tell the man how
Speaker 1: much he sung his praises to Catherine. According to a
Speaker 1: later account from Nostradamis's son, the seer's duty on that
Speaker 1: first trip was to examine the birth charts of the
Speaker 1: three princes who would become Francis the second, Charles the ninth,
Speaker 1: and Henry the third. The Queen was evidently pleased, and
Speaker 1: Nostradamis's son later reported that his father returned to Ceylon
Speaker 1: a hero, haralded by the people, as quote the most
Speaker 1: famous prophet in all of France. The next project for
Speaker 1: this most esteemed Frenchman was his magnum opus, The Prophecies,
Speaker 1: released in three volumes from fifteen fifty seven to fifteen
Speaker 1: fifty eight. Rather than predicting a single year's events, as
Speaker 1: was the task of his almanacs, he would predict thousands
Speaker 1: of year's events. He was certainly not the first to
Speaker 1: attempt such an undertaking, but he would be the first
Speaker 1: to time to do so in French, the language of
Speaker 1: the people. It was such a major project, in fact,
Speaker 1: that upon publication it included a dedicatory letter to King Henry.
Speaker 1: The second. Published treatises during this time were frequently dedicated
Speaker 1: to existing or potential patrons. By addressing his work to Henry,
Speaker 1: Nostradamis communicated his lofty ambitions to both the king and
Speaker 1: to his readers. He was making the inaccessible ancient art
Speaker 1: of prophecy accessible, and I mean that in a more
Speaker 1: literal sense as well. He was essentially translating the existing
Speaker 1: work of the ancients into French. As described by Peter
Speaker 1: Lemosier in his biography The Unknown Nostradamus, Michelle's writing directly
Speaker 1: reflected the major events and developments first told by ancient
Speaker 1: prophets and later reproduced in fifteen twenty two's Mirabilis Lieber,
Speaker 1: which was a popular collection of predictions from numerous Christian
Speaker 1: saints and diviners in Latin. Of course, in his book's preface,
Speaker 1: no Stradamis writes that his prophecies concerned future events quote
Speaker 1: about which the divine Being has granted me knowledge by
Speaker 1: means of astrological cycles. He contradicts himself in the same preface, however,
Speaker 1: writing quote, even though my son I have used the
Speaker 1: word prophet, I have no wish to attribute myself a
Speaker 1: title of such lofty sublimity. At present here, at present
Speaker 1: means in the present work. In his biographer's words, the
Speaker 1: material was quote certainly not Nostradamus's copyright. Only in the
Speaker 1: matter of detail of the who and where and when
Speaker 1: was his own hand and evident. Even then, his predictions
Speaker 1: relied on the expectation that history would repeat itself. For example,
Speaker 1: he wrote numerous times that Europe would be invaded from
Speaker 1: the east and south by massive Muslim forces. There are
Speaker 1: passages fully plagiarized from historical sources, including Livy, Plutarch, and
Speaker 1: other classics. This all sounds rather scandalous to our modern ears.
Speaker 1: Revealed no stra Damis plagiarized his predictions, but this was
Speaker 1: actually a very common practice at the time, seen more
Speaker 1: as paying homage to the great than infringing on their
Speaker 1: intellectual property. In one quatrain that would become particularly famous,
Speaker 1: Nostradamis mirrors the deposition of the Byzantine emperor Isaac the
Speaker 1: sec Angelus. It reads in Nostradamus's standard verse style quote,
Speaker 1: the young young lion shall surmount the old on Marshall
Speaker 1: battlefield in a single duel. His eyes he'll put out
Speaker 1: in a cage of gold. Two forces joined, and then
Speaker 1: a death most cruel. Nostrodamus was right that history would
Speaker 1: repeat itself, but in a way no one could have expected.
Speaker 1: In fifteen fifty nine, a tournament was held honoring the
Speaker 1: marriage of Henry the Second and Catherine's daughter Elizabeth to
Speaker 1: King Philip the Second of Spain. King Henry was an
Speaker 1: avid jouster and decided to participate in a festive triple
Speaker 1: joust with his captain of the Scottish Guard, Gabriel of Montgomery.
Speaker 1: In the third round, Gabriel's lance splintered and pierced Henry's
Speaker 1: eye so severely it penetrated his brain. Despite their best efforts,
Speaker 1: the royal doctors found there was nothing to be done
Speaker 1: when the king died ten days later. There are some
Speaker 1: clear parallels to Nostradamus's verse. For example, both jousters had
Speaker 1: lions as their emblems. While Marshall Battlefield isn't exactly the
Speaker 1: same as a celebratory joust, Henry did lose his eye,
Speaker 1: wearing a gilded helmet and suffering an agony for ten
Speaker 1: days before finally succumbing to brain damage. I would certainly
Speaker 1: qualify that as a death most cruel At the time, however,
Speaker 1: those parallels were not drawn. Instead, some people wondered why
Speaker 1: Nostradamis failed to predict anything about the death of a king.
Speaker 1: In the letter at the beginning of his book addressed
Speaker 1: to Henry, Nostradamis even described the king as quote most invincible.
Speaker 1: While Nostradamis had his fair share of denouncers, mainly fellow
Speaker 1: astrologists who saw him as a hack, this snaffoo wasn't
Speaker 1: enough to hinder his rise. Even in England, diplomats discussed
Speaker 1: quatrains referencing the ascension of Queen Elizabeth and the marriage
Speaker 1: between Mary, Queen of Scots, and Henry's young successor, Francis
Speaker 1: Nostradamis Mania officially swept the country. Foreign ambassadors were reporting
Speaker 1: back to their home countries that it was becoming difficult
Speaker 1: to conduct any business in France. For the country's collective
Speaker 1: mind was fixated on one thing. International clients were also
Speaker 1: rolling in, including the crown Prince of Vienna and a
Speaker 1: prominent Duke of Savoy. Catherine herself became a regular client,
Speaker 1: asking for readings for the new King Francis and for
Speaker 1: his younger brother, Charles. No Stradamis's fifteen sixty almanac election
Speaker 1: ugly predicted the early death of King Francis the Second,
Speaker 1: which occurred in December of that year. If you recall
Speaker 1: this episode's introduction, the early years of Francis's younger brother,
Speaker 1: Charles the Ninth Regency saw the country on the brink
Speaker 1: of civil war. In the end of fifteen sixty one,
Speaker 1: Nostra Damis wrote to a friend that the troubles had
Speaker 1: reached Salon and that he and his family had been
Speaker 1: forced to rent a safe house in Avignon, as his
Speaker 1: famed mysticism made him suspect in the chaos. Michelle failed
Speaker 1: to get the required license from a bishop for the
Speaker 1: publication of his fifteen sixty two almanac, and he was
Speaker 1: thrown into prison at the castle of Margnen. The Governor
Speaker 1: of Provence left his sentencing to Charles the Ninth and
Speaker 1: No stra Damis was freed. Thus this began his reputation era.
Speaker 1: He always had his detractors, but upon his release from prison,
Speaker 1: the movement against him gained more traction than ever. A
Speaker 1: famous published critique called him and I will be adding
Speaker 1: this phrase to my personal vernacular a twenty four carot liar.
Speaker 1: Another pamphlet sought to discredit him on account of his
Speaker 1: Jewish origins, while additionally framing him as something of a courtester.
Speaker 1: I who was there meaning court at the time, know
Speaker 1: perfectly well that there was nobody there who was not
Speaker 1: convinced that you had come there expressly in order to
Speaker 1: receive by way of reward, all the mockery that all
Speaker 1: your poor little treatises and fantastic statements richly deserved. That's
Speaker 1: such a good takedown, you know. The guy who wrote
Speaker 1: that would have killed on Reddit. But the heart of
Speaker 1: this entire revie debate was between Protestants and Catholics. After
Speaker 1: Pierre de Ronsard, a Catholic poet with royal patronage, composed
Speaker 1: a flattering portrait of Nostradamis, a Protestant pamphlet was published
Speaker 1: denouncing Ronsard by appealing directly to Queen Catherine, it read, Ronzard,
Speaker 1: you fool, how dare you take to heart this damned
Speaker 1: Nostra Damis and his art calling him true and for
Speaker 1: a maniac's word betray the revelation of the Lord. As
Speaker 1: a brief aside, takedowns being written in verse feels like
Speaker 1: the sixteenth century forbearer of rap battles. Catherine, as we know,
Speaker 1: paid those detractors no mind, and she soon embarked on
Speaker 1: her trip with King Charles to Salon, where we began
Speaker 1: this episode. Michelle's son Cesar was only ten at the time,
Speaker 1: but he would recount that visit in his later years. Apparently,
Speaker 1: Nostradamis asked to examine Charles's younger brother Henry to assess
Speaker 1: his future prospects. He pronounced that, according to the placement
Speaker 1: of the moles on his body, he would not only
Speaker 1: become king, but rule for a long time. When the
Speaker 1: young prince did ultimately succeed to the throne, it said,
Speaker 1: he would often recall the occasion with amusement. As for
Speaker 1: Nostra Damis's other prediction that Charles would live as long
Speaker 1: as the Constable of France, that also came true, albeit bleakly.
Speaker 1: He died three years later in his seventies, and King
Speaker 1: Charles only lived for another seven years, dying at just
Speaker 1: twenty three years before Charles's death, however, Nostra Damis was
Speaker 1: called upon to bless the proposed union between the new
Speaker 1: French king and Queen Elizabeth of England, who was twice
Speaker 1: his age. Whether or not no str Damis saw a
Speaker 1: bright outcome, it appears he had no choice but to
Speaker 1: say he did. The proposal was sent to England with
Speaker 1: a copy of Charles's birth chart and no Stradamis's commentary.
Speaker 1: Elizabeth delicately refused the proposal and is said to have replied, quote,
Speaker 1: my Lord is too great for me, and yet too
Speaker 1: small still. No Stra Damis had gained enough acclaim with
Speaker 1: Catherine de Medici that he was appointed Privy Councilor and
Speaker 1: physician in ordinary to the King and awarded a grant
Speaker 1: and pension. The Spanish ambassador, reporting the quote lunacy of
Speaker 1: what is going on here to his king, wrote quote,
Speaker 1: he has all the guile in the world, and only
Speaker 1: ever says what is pleasing to whomever it may be.
Speaker 1: The ambassador continues, quote the Queen said to me to
Speaker 1: day do you know, noster Damis assured me that in
Speaker 1: fifteen sixty six a general peace would reign across the world,
Speaker 1: and that the Kingdom of France would be the most peaceful,
Speaker 1: and that the situation would settle down, and while saying
Speaker 1: that she had an air of earnestness, as if somebody
Speaker 1: had been quoting Saint John or Saint Luke at her
Speaker 1: end quote. Despite what outsiders thought of him, though noster
Speaker 1: Damis had made it to the top, but not long
Speaker 1: after arriving, his chronic gout became increasingly more painful. In
Speaker 1: a December fifteen sixty five letter to a colleague, he wrote, quote,
Speaker 1: at Arl recently a fiery arrow was seen, a kind
Speaker 1: of falling star. He believed this meant varied woes were
Speaker 1: to plague the land, including invasions, drought, and famine. But
Speaker 1: maybe he should have been looking inward. In his final
Speaker 1: surviving letter, he wrote an update to Catherine, predicting a
Speaker 1: vastly different future than the falling star portold quote, I find,
Speaker 1: by various celestial patterns drawn up in this place, that
Speaker 1: all shall be in peace, love, union, and concord, even
Speaker 1: though there shall be some great contradictions and differences, but
Speaker 1: in the end everybody shall return content of mouth and heart.
Speaker 1: Perhaps he simply forgot to mention the invasions, drought, and
Speaker 1: famine that the falling Star had told him about. But
Speaker 1: really a prediction of peace, love and concord is pretty safe,
Speaker 1: because if you say that everything will be okay in
Speaker 1: the end and things aren't okay yet, it just means
Speaker 1: the end hasn't come. No Stradamus completed his final almanac
Speaker 1: for fifteen sixty seven only a fortnight before his end
Speaker 1: came in the beginning of July fifteen sixty six. He
Speaker 1: did not predict his own death, but November fifteen sixty
Speaker 1: seven's entry was posthumously edited by his secretary to fit
Speaker 1: the circumstances of his passing. That's the life of no Stradamus.
Speaker 1: But keep listening after a brief sponsor break, to hear
Speaker 1: a bit about how his prophecies have been interpreted in
Speaker 1: modern times. There are numerous events in more recent history
Speaker 1: that people believe had been predicted by Nostronamus, including the
Speaker 1: French Revolution, the death of Princess Diana, and the rise
Speaker 1: of Adolf Hitler. The latter is a particularly interesting one,
Speaker 1: as Nostradamus became a figure of government propaganda. Astrology was
Speaker 1: gaining popularity again in nineteen thirties Europe and publishers were
Speaker 1: putting out multiple Nostre Damis books a year. The New
Speaker 1: York Times reported that men and women of all social stations,
Speaker 1: including officers at the front, were turning to Nostradamis's prophecies
Speaker 1: for insight. One of his quatrans stands out quote beasts
Speaker 1: wild with hunger shall swim the rivers. Most of the
Speaker 1: hosts shall move against ister. He'll have the great one
Speaker 1: dragged in iron cage. When the child the German Rhine
Speaker 1: surveys Ister spelled Hister in the old French was referring
Speaker 1: to another name for the Danube River, but the twentieth
Speaker 1: century mind saw a clear reference to the name Hitler.
Speaker 1: On the eve of war, France's propaganda agency sought to
Speaker 1: publish a favorable interpretation of Nostradamis. Centuries after he was
Speaker 1: sought out by Catherine, Nostradamus was once again tasked with
Speaker 1: predicting a hopeful future for France. Seeing the effectiveness of
Speaker 1: that strategy, the Nazis began to publish their own interpretations
Speaker 1: of Nostradamis's quatrains, and Hitler himself was interested in astrology.
Speaker 1: That didn't stop the Allies from using him in their propaganda.
Speaker 1: In fact, their new plan was to make no Stradamis
Speaker 1: a movie star in the US, with MGM producing short
Speaker 1: films about the seer. As said by the studio's production supervisor,
Speaker 1: the vision was to quote make a given verse say
Speaker 1: what you wanted it to say in terms of the times,
Speaker 1: and in terms of the interest, and in terms of
Speaker 1: the dramatic value of your interpretation. It's something to keep
Speaker 1: in mind when you see people making grand predictions on
Speaker 1: the Internet, people reading into clues and symbols and signs
Speaker 1: that throughout history, vague enough predictions have been used as propaganda,
Speaker 1: and we've always been looking to the stars for answers.
Speaker 1: Noble Blood is a production of iHeartRadio and Grim and
Speaker 1: Mild from Aaron Mankey. Noble Blood is hosted by me
Speaker 1: Dana Schwartz, with additional writing and research by Hannah Johnston, Hannaswick,
Speaker 1: Courtney Sender, Amy hit and Julia Melaney. The show is
Speaker 1: edited and produced by Jesse Funk, with supervising producer rima
Speaker 1: il Kaali and executive producers Aaron Manke, Trevor Young, and
Speaker 1: Matt Frederick. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app,
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.