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.

I.

ANNOT.

This to my judgement is concerning the Siege of Candia, in which the Venetians for the space of about twenty years desired and expected succours from the Christian Princes, which came so slowly, that the City was fained to surrender upon honorable terms, which is the meaning of the first Verse, There shall be a remnant of blood unspilt.

II.

ANNOT.

The whole sense of this is, that by reason of some bodies death, France shall make war against Spain by Sea and Land, and put Spain in great trouble.

The fourth Verse saith, that some of the greatest Ladies in France shall be carried away, but the question is, whether by the Spaniards, or (which is more probable) by their own Husbands going to war against Spain.

III.

ANNOT.

Arras and Bourges are Cities of France. As for brodes, we have said before that it signifie brown men, such as are the Gascoins, inhabiting the Province of Aquitania near Spain.

Saguntus is a City in Spain, that was destroyed by the Romans.

IV.

ANNOT.

This considerable Prince was Philip the II. King of Spain, who was vexed to see the Cocks, that is the French, and Libiques that is the Turks joyned together, under Barbarossa to commit so many Rapes and violences upon his Subjects.

V.

ANNOT.

We have said before that by Divine Word, we must not understand the second person of the Trinity, but a Divine or Theologian, called in Greek θεόλογος, which also signifieth Divine Word. Therefore the meaning of the first Verse is, that under the Goverment of some eminent Divine, (be like a good Pope) the Cross shall have peace, that is, the Christian Religion shall be in Peace, and persecution shall cease. The last three Verses are plain.

VI.

ANNOT.

Everybody may be as wise as I in the interpretation of this.

VII.

ANNOT.

This is easie to be understood, if we remember that Charles IX. King of France, younger son to Henry II. died of a foul disease, and his Mother Catharine of Medicis died of grief.

VIII.

ANNOT.

This great City was the City of St. Quentin in Picardy, taken by assault by Philip the II. Anno 1557.

IX.

ANNOT.

The words and sense are plain.

X.

ANNOT.

This Prophecie must needs be concerning England or France; for there is but those two Kings that challenge the cure of the Kings-evil.

XI.

ANNOT.

Every one may interpret this as well as I, provided that by the twelve red ones, he understandeth twelve Cardinals.

XII.

ANNOT.

This Prophecie is concerning an out-landish Army that shall invade France, and though numerous, yet shall be put to flight, and shall not be much pursued: therefore it shall incamp again, and collect and gather again its Troops, and afterwards shall be wholly driven out of France.

I am much mistaken if this Prophecie came not to pass, when the Duke of Parma at the head of a Spanish numerous Army came into France in favour of the League; for Henry IV. met him at the siege of Roven, beat him off, and suffered him to retire quietly, and as the common saying is, made him a Golden Bridge, to retreat into the Low-Countries again.

XIII.

ANNOT.

This hath a connexion with the precedent; for while the Prince of Parma was busied in France, news was brought to his Camp, that the Hollanders had taken Antwerp, which discouraged his whole Host, and made him retire with all speed.

The Word Phalange signifieth a Battailion or part of an Army, which being expressed here by the word double Phalange, signifieth, that both Horse and Foot deserted the Duke of Parma upon the hearing of this news.

XIV.

ANNOT.

The two first Verses are plain.

The two last signifie, that a youth shall come to the Kingdom, soon, that is, by reason of the sudden death of the chief man, and late; because being but young, he shall Reign so long, that he shall be famous, and feared by Sea and Land.

XV.

ANNOT.

This Prophecie was fulfilled at the famous Siege of Ostend, which lasted three years and three Months; for the Hollanders that brought relief to the Town, did for covetousness sell the ammunition to the Spaniards that besieged it, for which complaint being made by the States to the Prince of Orenge, Maurice of Nassaw, as also that they did the like to Newport, which he had besieged; he replyed smartly, do you not know that your Countrey men would Sail into Hell, were it not for fear to have their Sails burnt.

XVI.

ANNOT.

Here you must observe that the Author being a Papist, speaketh this concerning the City of Geneva, which he saith from a free City became a slave, when it shook off the Duke of Savoy’s domination, and became a retreat to the Protestants, whom he called the banished and dreamers.

In the third Verse, by the King changed in his mind that shall not be so froward to them, he meaneth, Henry IV. who having changed the Protestant Religion, to be a Roman Catholick, did undertake their protection against the Duke of Savoy their Prince.

Hence followeth the explication of the fourth Verse, when he saith, that of one hundred they shall become more than a thousand; for in few years the Protestants became so numerous, that they drove the Roman Catholicks wholly out of the Town, and so have remained to this day Masters of it.

XVII.

ANNOT.

Beaune, Chalons, and Dijon, are Cities in France, Nuis is a Town in Germany near the Rhyne, three or four Leagues below Colen.

For the rest, every one may make his own interpretation, for it is hard to guess who this Duke should be, or that Fish either, that shall have a Cormorants Bill after whom the door shall be shut.

XVIII.

ANNOT.

This is plain, and signifieth no more then a persecution against the Professors of Heavenly sciences, such as are Astrologers, Astronomers, &c.

XIX.

ANNOT.

This is still concerning the Duke of Parma’s Army, when he came into France against Henry the IV. in favour of the League, for his Army wherewith he Besieged Rouen, was compounded of all those Nations; the greatest part of which were Italians, called here Insubrians, from the Latin word Insubria, which signifieth the Countreys of Savoy and Piemont.

XX.

ANNOT.

This only foretelleth a great Famine and Inundation in France, signified here by the Flower de Luce.

XXI.

ANNOT.

This needeth no Interpretation.

XXII.

ANNOT.

This is plain.

XXIII.

ANNOT.

Here we must observe four things, the first is, that Calais is called by the Author, The long rest of the secure place. Because then viz. in the year 1555. it was yet in the power of the King of England, and had been quietly before, for the space of 287. years, that is, from the year 1347. till the year 1555. and was so still, till the year 1557. when the Duke of Guise took it, whence we gather that it was a secure place that had enjoyed so long a rest.

The second is, that those of Diepe did watch for the Spaniards, in the passage between Dover and Calais, therefore the Author saith, They shall seek Port Selyn, Selyn Port or Harbour is always taken by the Author for an Harbour in the Ocean.

The third is, that the great fight between the French and the Spaniards was by fire, so that most part of the Ships on each side were burnt, and the Spanish and French Souldiers did cast themselves into the Sea, to save their lives in their enemies Ships, where they were slain.

The fourth is, that those of Diepe being extraordinary skilful in Sea-fights had made great quantity of artificial fires, to cast into the Spanish Ships, but the Ships grapling one with another, they were burnt on both sides.

Upon those four circumstances the two first Verses say, that the Legion in the Fleet Calcineth magnes, that is Loadstone burnt, and shall burn Pitch and Brimstone, to make Artificial fires.

The third and fourth Verse say, that this Sea Legion shall seek an Harbour in the Ocean, which shall be a secure place, by a long rest, that is Calais. She will seek that Selyn Harbour to shelter her self, because Calais did then belong to the English, but by reason of the narrowness of the Sea, the French watched for the Spaniards there, and to shew that they sought onely for Calais to meet the Spaniards, they carried the Spanish Ships which they took into Diepe, and not into Calais.

The French Impression hath a fault here, putting Port Hercle instead of Port Selyn, which is a manifest error, for the taking of Port Hercle by the Florentines the 14. of June 1555. was by a Land Army, besides, that Port Selyn is always taken by the Author for a Port in the Ocean.

XXIV.

ANNOT.

Every one may understand this as well as I.

XXV.

ANNOT.

This is of the same nature as the foregoing.

XXVI.

ANNOT.

The Author having made this Stanza in the Provencal Language, that was his Mother Tongue, which hath very little relation to the rest of the French tongue, hath put me to some trouble to understand it; at last I found the meaning to be this, that when a great swarm of Bees shall light on some place, and it shall not be known whence they came, then shall be seen a Jay under a Vine, and a City shall be betrayed by five several Nations.

XXVII.

ANNOT.

Salon, Mansol, Tarascon, Desex, are Towns in Provence and Languedo.

By the Arch, here is meant the Triumphal Arch of Caius Marius, which he erected after the defeat of the Cimbres and Teutons, and remaineth to this day in that Province, within two or three Leagues off the Town of Orenge.

Artemis is an Epethete of Diana, so called ’πο τοῦ ἀερὰ τεμνειν, a secando aerem.

XXVIII.

ANNOT.

If this Book cometh ever into the hands of Hermes’s Disciples, I shall desire they would consider diligently this Stanza, and the three following; for they are all concerning the Elixir of the Philosophers, or the making of the Philosophers stone. To begin with this:

When Venus shall be covered by the Sun.

This is the Astral point, so much sought after by the Philosophers, for the beginning of their work, without the knowledge of which they cannot begin their work, or come to any good.

Under the splendor of it shall be an occult form, that is, under that conjunction lyeth a great mystery.

Mercury in the fire shall discover them, viz. Mercury of the Philosophers, made by Cœlestial fire.

And by a Warlike rumor shall be provoked; that is, the Planet of Mercury shall be provoked to mix his variable and changable disposition with theirs, by his Aspects, Oppositions, Conjunctions, &c. It is not possible to speak more plainly.

XXIX.

ANNOT.

Here I must lead the Reader with Ariadnes Thread, that he may extrecate himself out of this Labyrinth.

The Sun shall be hid and Eclipsed by Mercury; that is, Gold shall be Eclipsed and dissolved by the Philosophers Mercury, which is the Key and foundation of all the work.

And shall not be set but for the second Heaven; that is, shall not be used till you come to the second part of the work, which is that of the Furnace.

Hermes shall be made a prey to Vulcan; that is, the matter and composition of the Elixir, shall be put upon the fire in a Furnace.

And after that the Sun shall be seen pure, shining, yellow; that is, in conclusion after projection made, thou shalt see pure, shining, and Yellow Gold.

XXX.

ANNOT.

The Moon will not have the Sun above eleven times; that is, the Moon of the Philosophers will not imbibe their Sun above Eleven times.

Then both shall be encreased and lessened in degree; that is, both shall be encreased in quality, and lessened in quantity.

And put so low that a little Gold shall be sowed up; that is, the powder of projection, or Philosophers stone shall be so small in Bulk, that one may sow it about him, and hide it in his Cloths.

After famine and plague the secret shall be discovered; that is, somebody shall die, with famine or plague, about which the secret shall be found and discovered.

XXXI.

ANNOT.

Sophe in Greek signifieth a wise man or Philosopher, who shall find the Philosophers stone, when the Moon shall come to the full in the night upon a high Mount. His Disciples shall perswade him to make himself immortal, they being perswaded that the Elixir cureth all diseases.

The last Verse saith, His eyes to the South, his hands and body to the fire; that is, this Chymist or Adeptus, shall retire into some Southern Countrey to work.

I cannot omit here that a conceited Chymist in Paris, whose name was Haumont, in English, Highmount, could not be disswaded but our Author spake of him in this Stanza, and that he could not die till he had got the Philosophers stone, but to other matters.

XXXII.

ANNOT.

Panta, Choina, Philon, are three Greek words, παντὰ χοινα φιλῶν, which signifie in Latine, omnia inter amicos communia, and in English, all things are common among friends. The rest is easie.

XXXIII.

ANNOT.

These terms being Astronomical and Astrological, it is hard to guess at the Authors mind.

XXXIV.