Michel de Nostre-Dame, alias Nostradamus, was born on 14 December 1503 in the small town of
St-Remy, Provence. He came from a rich family in the middle of the Catholic Inquisition.
He was the oldest of 6 children. His father, Jaume, was a merchant and a notary.
At that time, anyone found guilty of heresy against the Catholic Church was immediately
arrested and tortured until conversion or death. The church banned all astrology, alchemy
and prophecy and since Nostradamus was a Jew, he was always living in the fear of being
caught. He was always running from authority.
Nostradamus learned the art of alchemy from his family and he had great disposition for
mathematics and astrology. His father pushed him to pursue medical study so he can live a
correct life. In 1525, he left Montpellier to fight the Black Plague. Normally, doctor’s
usually pushed patients faster to death instead of curing them. Nostradamus introduced the use
of the “hygienic” method. He always had perfectly clean clothes. That way he cured thousands of
sick people without ever get the disease.
In 1529, when the Plague started to disappear, Nostradamus returned at the university to teach.
Three years after, he had to leave because his methods were found too non-conformist. So he gets
back to the fight against the Plague..
In 1537 his family died even if he was considered one of the best doctors of the time.
The population found strange that he couldn’t cure his family and started to denunciate him to
the authority. In 1547 he had to left for Italy. Three years later he meet, in Milan, a specialist
of vegetal alchemy called Jules-César Scaligero who teach him the virtues of jam. He conduct
some experiments on vegetal jam and when he return to France, in 1552, he publish his
“Traite des confitures et fardements”.
The 11th of November 1547, he married Anne Ponsard, a young widow of Salon-de-Provence
and established a small clinic.
The 3rd of May 1555, Nostradamus publishes the first edition of “Les Centuries”. The success
is instant and he his called to Dijon to explain himself in front of the parliament.
The same year, Catherine de Medicis, invite the “Mage de Salon” to analyze the horoscope
of the royal family. In 1557, a new edition of “Les Centuries” is published containing new
quatrains, sixtains and presages.
The 3rd of June 1559, in the middle of a tournament, a young man named Gabriel de Montgomery
kills King Henry II. Nostradamus predicted that in the quatrain I-35:
"Le lion jeune le vieux surmontera,
En champ bellique par singulier duelle,
Dans cage d'or les yeux lui crèvera,
Deux classes une puis mourir mort cruelle."
From that time the reputation of Nostradamus as a seer became worldwide (That mean all Europe).
He continued to predict lots of royal events and successions like Henri IV, Francois II,
Charles IX and Henry III.
The 17 of June of 1566 he wrote his testament and on the 2nd of July, at 62 years, 6 months
and 10 days: he is found dead near his bed and chair … exactly like he predicted in one of his
quatrains. His epitaph was:
"Dieu très grand. Ici les os du très illustre Michel de Notre-Dame,
estimé digne entre tous les mortels de décrire suivant le cours des astres et
de l'univers tout entier, d'une plume presque divine, les événements de l'avenir.
Il a vécu 62 ans, 6 mois, 10 jours, et mourut à Salon en 1566."
In 1791, when National Guards hoping to find a treasure opened his tomb, it is said
that they found the exact date of the tomb profanation.
In early 1900, another manuscript from Nostradamus was discovered. The title was
“Les hieroglyphes de Horapollo” and it was an interpretation of Egyptians hieroglyphs.