The true prophecies or prognostications of Michael Nostradamus, physician to Henry II. Francis II. and Charles IX. Kings of France, and one of the best astronomers that ever were. / A work full of curiosity and learning. Translated and commented by Theophilus de Garencieres, Doctor in Physick Colleg. Lond.

ANNOT.

Both the Sense and the words are plain.

LXVIII.

ANNOT.

This is a very remarkable one, which hath been fulfilled since the happy restauration of his sacred Majesty King Charles II. now Reigning: For the endevours of the North, (viz. the Dutch) have been very great. The ocean; like a gate, hath been open to all kind of Armies, to play their pranks upon. His Majesty, and Kingdom, have been happily restored.

LXIX.

ANNOT.

This signifieth, that the French King, through the discord that is in the Spanish Monarchy, shall cause his Scepter to flourish upon three parts of the Netherlands; notwithstanding the assistance of the King of Spain, who is called here the Cap of the great Hierarchy; that is, the great defender of the Popedom and Popery.

LXX.

ANNOT.

All this Stanza signifieth nothing but a fearful Thunder and Lightning, called here, the Dart of Heaven, that shall do a great deal of mischief; for as he saith, some shall die speaking, there shall be a great execution, the Thunderbolt shall stick in the Tree, the people that was fierce, shall be humbled, and a Monster purged by expiation, that some notorious wicked person shall be consumed by that Cœlestial fire.

LXXI.

ANNOT.

It is hard to judge what he meaneth by that Forreign Nation, which shall be relieved in Sicily, by the banished, nor what King is that which shall submit to reason; let it be left to every body’s private judgement.

LXXII.

ANNOT.

A French Army shall be distressed, if not destroyed in Italy. The Romans, that is, those under the Pope, that shall take their part, shall be put to flight, and this battle shall be fought by the River Thesin. Another shall be fought by the River Rubicon, whose event shall be doubtful, that is to say, it shall hardly be known who got the victory.

LXXIII.

ANNOT.

There is a Lake in Italy called Lacus Fucinius; the Lake of Geneva is called Lacus Lemanus; the meaning then of this obscure Stanza, is, (if I understand any thing) that a Monster shall be born with three Arms, near one of those Lakes, which shall be a sign of great Wars: what he meaneth by the three Crowns to the great Endymion, is unknown to me.

LXXIV.

ANNOT.

Sens and Autun are two Cities in France, the Pyrenean Mountains, are those which divide France from Spain.

LXXV.

ANNOT.

This is a prediction of a mighty Famine, wherein men shall eat up one another, when an unwonted Bird shall be seen and heard to cry, being perched upon one of the biggest pieces of Ordinance.

Antropophage is a Greek word, signifying a Man-eater, from ἄνθροπος, homo, and φαγος, comedens, of which sort of men there be too many already.

LXXVI.

ANNOT.

The Senate or Parliament of Burgundy, sits at Dijon, among them there is always a Church-man, that is one of the Judges, to see that nothing be done to the prejudice of the Church. I suspect that it is he, that is called here Sacriste, and who shall reveal the business to the Enemies. The two first Verses need no explication.

LXXVII.

ANNOT.

It is a Town Besieged, where after a repulse given to the Besiegers, they shall get in by the Treason of some within, who shall run away through the Conduits or Channels of the Town.

LXXVIII.

ANNOT.

To understand this, you must know that Henry the II. King of France, having renewed his Alliance with the Grand Seignior Sultan Solyman, he asked him succours for to take Nice, which he pretended to belong to the Earldom of Provence. To that purpose the Marshal of Brissac went from Court with the Kings Army in the year 1557. to set upon Nice, Savona, and Genoa, and so to hinder the Spaniard from coming by Sea in Piemont, and the Milanese. The Turk sent him a good Fleet, consisting of 105. Galleys, and 14. Galliots.

The French Fleet consisted of 26 Galleys, of which the great Prior was Admiral, who went with them from the Castle of Yf, the 9. of June 1558.

Being at Sea, and not knowing where the Turkish Fleet was, he went to and fro to seek it out, at last he found it pillaging and plundering the Island of Minorica. The Turks had already taken the chief Town, where 800. Turks were killed, which so incensed the rest, that they set the Town on fire; then going up and down the Countrey, they took 5000. Prisoners, and if the Lords of Carces and Vence had not stayed them, they would have ruinated the whole Island.

Then forsaking the Island, they joyned with the French, but the perfidious Bassa being bribed by the Genoeses, and those of Nice, went slowly to work, and at last retreated without doing any thing for the French. This is the relation of Cæsar Nostradamus, in his History of Provence under Henry the II. and according to this the Author saith, that the great Neptune in the middle of the Sea, shall joyn French and African blood. Neptune signifieth the Mediterranean Sea.

The Islands shall be put to the Sword, by the taking of Minorica, after which the Turks being bribed, went slowly to work, and in conclusion did nothing of consequence.

The third and fourth Verse adds, that this Bassa’s slow rowing, shall do them more prejudice then the concealed evil; that is, shall do more damage to the French by his hidden design of the Bassa of not serving the French; because this slowness of the Bassa spoiled the French activity, lessened their provisions, and at last discouraged them; whereas if the Turks had not come, the French Galleys alone were able to take Nice.

LXXIX.

ANNOT.

This Prophecy was fulfilled in the year 1571. upon the seventh day of October, when that famous Battle of Lepanto was fought between the Christians and the Turks, the General of the Christians being Don Juan of Austria, whom he calleth here the frizled and black Beard.

In this Battle the Christians lost 7566. men, and the Turks about 32000. besides 220. Ships of all sorts, and all the Christian slaves released that were in them. By the Selyne Banner is understood that of the great Turk, whose name at that time was Selyne. By the great Cheyren is understood Henry the II. King of France, who redeemed many slaves, for Cheyren by transposition of Letters is Henry.

LXXX.

ANNOT.

After the Battle of St. Laurence, the Prisoners taken by the Spaniard were the Constable of France, the Dukes of Montpensier, of Longueville, the Marshal S. André, Ludovic Prince of Mantua, the Rhingrave Colonel of the Germans, the Earl of la Rochefoucaud, and several other persons of quality.

They were Prisoners from the 10th of August 1557. to the third of April 1559. that is, one year and eight Months; during which time the Pope’s Nuncios, Christierne Dutchess Dowager of Lorraine, the Constable, and Marshal St. André endeavoured to make the peace.

Among them the Constable was chief, and Philip the II. King of Spain gave him leave to go to and fro upon his Paroll; and of him it is our Author speaketh in the first Verse; After the Battle the eloquency of the wounded man, that is after the Battle of Saint Laurence, where the Constable of Monmorency was wounded in the hip. His eloquency procured the peace, which was concluded in a short time, for had it not been for the death of Queen Mary of England, that happened upon the 15 of November 1558. it should have been concluded three Months after the conference that was begun in the Abbey of Cercamp near Cambray.

The third Verse saith, that the great ones shall not be delivered, because during the Treaty of Peace, Philip the II. would not hearken to take any Ransom, but they were kept Prisoners till the Peace. It is the meaning of the fourth Verse, when it saith, but shall be left to the Enemies will, viz. the Spaniards who gave them liberty after the Peace.

LXXXI.

ANNOT.

All is plain but the last Verse, the sense of which is, that the things before spoken, shall happen when the Sun is newly come out of the sign of Libra.

LXXVII.

ANNOT.

The two first Verses signifie, that an hungry Wolf seeking for a Prey, shall be caught in some trap, where being almost famished, the Prey shall assault him. The last two Verses being obscure and not material to any thing I have neglected them.

LXXXIII.

ANNOT.

This Prophecy is concerning the City of Lion in France, which is a Town of an exceeding great Trade, and is threatned to suffer an alteration, and a decay by War.

The last Verse is concerning a great Mist or Fogg, which shall be upon Mont-Jura and in Suabeland.

LXXXIV.

ANNOT.

All those places mentioned, in the first Verse are seated in Italy; the Author saith that in that Countrey it shall not rain for the space of six Months and nine days, which if it be past, or to come, I know not.

The two last Verses signifie, that a strange Nation shall come into Dalmatia, and overrun and spoil all that Countrey.

LXXXV.

ANNOT.

I could scrape no sense out of the first three Verses; the last signifieth, that a noise of Arms shall be heard in the Skies, and that the Ligustrian Sea, which is that of Genoa, shall be made red with blood, when the former prodigy hath appeared.

LXXXVI.

ANNOT.

In the two first Verses is foretold a great storm by the Adriatick Sea, in which a Fleet shall be dispersed, and many suffer Shipwrack.

The two last Verses relate the great fear Ægypt was in, when the great Turk Sultan Selyn went to conquer it.

The last Verse is concerning a Herald, which was surrendered to the contrary party, and by them was appointed to perform that office in their behalf.

LXXXVII.

ANNOT.

This Prophecy is concerning Gustavus Adolphus King of Swedeland, who is called German Prince, because his Ancestors came out of Germany, he came out of a remote Countrey, that is Swedeland, he came upon a gilded Throne, that is a Ship gilded, he shall make slavery and waters meet, because as soon as he was Landed he began to conquer, and to subdue that Lady (viz. Germania) that was no more worshipped since as she was before.

LXXXVIII.

ANNOT.

The Circumference of that ruinous building, was the French league against Henry III. and Henry IV. which numbers being joyned together, make seven, mentioned in the second Verse.

By the strange Warlike man, in the third Verse, is understood Henry IV. because he was not born in France, but in Navarre, and therefore called a stranger, who subdued both Paris and Aix, seated under the constellation of Aries. If you had not rather, by the name of the Ram, or Aries, understand the Duke of Mayenne, who was head of the league.

LXXXIX.

ANNOT.

We must suppose here three Kings of Europe, two of which shall become friends, and by their agreement, the new Land, that is, either the Plantations, or the Trade either in the East or West Indies, shall flourish, their prosperities shall be related and told to the third King, who shall be a bloody and cruel man.

XC.

ANNOT.

There shall happen a great change in the Kingdom of Hungary, caused by the birth of one, and the death of another.

The meaning of the second Verse is, that it will be more tolerable to go to War, than to Law.

The last verse signifieth, that this dissention shall happen between two Brothers; because Castor and Pollux were such.

XCI.

ANNOT.

These are Prodigies that shall be seen, a little before that a great Calamity shall happen.

XCII.

ANNOT.

This is a continuation of the former, relating more Prodigies that are to happen.

XCIII.

ANNOT.

This is plain.

XCIV.

ANNOT.

The first Verse signifieth that the Countrey about the Pau, (which is the greatest River in Italy) shall receive great damage by the French.

The second, that the Maritine Lion, viz. the Hollanders shall fear in vain. The third and fourth are plain.

XCV.

ANNOT.

This needeth no interpretation.

XCVI.

ANNOT.

This is easie.

XCVII.

ANNOT.

Although there may be many Cities watered with two Rivers, yet I know none more famous than Lions in France, where two famous Rivers, the Rhosne and the Saone meet together, and I believe this is the place that our Author forewarneth the Pope to come to, for fear of his death, and that of his attendants.

XCVIII.

ANNOT.

I suppose this to be spoken of a Jewish Priest, who going about to practice the Ceremonial Law, in a Countrey where it is forbidden, shall be put to death for his bold confidence.

XCIX.

ANNOT.

Since the Reign of Henry the II. King of France, the Historians do not mention that the Countrey about Rome hath been troubled by the French Armies. It was only in the time of Paul the IV. who was assisted by the French Troops, under the conduct of the Lord Strozy, and Captain Monluc, therefore this Stanza belongeth to the time of that Kings Reign.

And indeed what he foretelleth here, came to pass in the year 1556. for the Countrey about Rome was vexed by the French Nation, who went about then to take the places, which the Duke of Alba had taken from the Pope, and thereby caused those disorders, which commonly are incident to War.

The second Verse saith, the Countrey shall be too much vexed, and not a little, because Monluc, whom the Author calleth the quick Gascon, did continually torment the Enemies, which could not be done without a great prejudice to the Countrey; Moreover, his Troops being for the most part Gascons, and consequently active men; the Soldiers did more harm than ordinary.

In the first Verse he saith, that this Countrey about Rome was marked by an Augury, to be the place upon which the sad effect of the Augury should fall, which proved true; for the first of March 1556, appeared a Blazing Star, which did presage to that Countrey of Rome, its disaster.

Roman Countrey in which the Augur did interpret, that is to say, which the Augur did signifie, and presage should be vexed by the French Nation.

Afterwards the Author saith, that the same French Nation, or Celtique, shall fear the hour when Boreas should drive to far the Fleet, that is to say, shall fear much, when the Baron de la Garde was so troubled with the storm (as we have said) and in truth it was Boreas, or the Northwind, that drove him into St. Florents road.

C.