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.

By the first Verse is understood an ancient building, which shall be finished and brought to perfection, I suppose it to be the Louvere, which hath been a building in the Reign of seven Kings. But before it be throughly finished, some ruine shall fall upon a great man and kill him; one declared innocent of the fact shall be accused of it after his death, and he that shall be guilty of it shall escape by hiding himself in a Wood in misty weather.

XXXVIII.

ANNOT.

A bloody black man shall be put into the hands of the vanquished, by those that were enemies to peace, after they have conquered Italy, whence shall proceed fire and blood, and water coloured with blood.

XXXIX.

ANNOT.

The Lake Trasymene in Italy, is that near which Annibal got that famous Battle upon the Romans. The rest is as plain as the words can bear.

XL.

ANNOT.

This foretelleth the fall of an Archbishop of Ments, in Latine Moguntia, who is the first Ecclesiastical Elector, and shall be deprived of his dignity by a covetous and powerful Prince to satisfie his covetousness, at which those of Colen his neighbours shall be so incensed, that they shall throw that covetous person into the Rhine.

XLI.

ANNOT.

This signifieth onely a conjunction of the Dutch, Danish, and English Forces, to attempt something in Italy, which shall prove fruitless, and cost a great deal of Money.

XLII.

ANNOT.

We have said before, that when ever the Author speaks of Ognion, he meaneth the King of France, the meaning therefore of this whole Stanza is, that Henry the II. Son to Francis the I. whom he calls here great Selin, shall do more in Italy then his Predecessors had done, which proved true, and he governed his Kingdom with a prudent dissimulation.

XLIII.

ANNOT.

By the two first Verses, he meaneth without doubt the City of Paris, for it is watered by those two Rivers the Seine and Marne, that joyn together at the head of it, but how this City should become unhabited is the great question, and chiefly by the means here alledged, viz. of the English signified by the Thames, and other Martial people, the Guards deceived in thinking to repulse the enemy.

XLIV.

ANNOT.

Nantes is a City in France, Iris is the Rainbow, Saxony is a Province in Germany; the rest is plain.

XLV.

ANNOT.

This signifies that the Governour or Vice-Roy of a Kingdom shall refuse to consent to his Kings Deeds; the rest needeth no interpretation.

XLVI.

ANNOT.

I cannot find what he meaneth by Non-seggle; by the Eagle he meaneth the Emperour, and by the Frog the King of France, for before he took the Flower de Luce, the French bore three Frogs.

XLVII.

ANNOT.

Brussel is a Town of Brabant, and so is Maline; Dolle is one of Burgundy; and Langres another of France.

XLVIII.

ANNOT.

I know not what he means by the old City, unless it be Rome, by reason of its antiquity.

XLIX.

ANNOT.

Some parties of the Popes side, shall subdue those bordering upon Danubius, and drive away the Priests, turn all things topse-turvy, make slaves, and take a booty above the value of 100000. Rubles. A Ruble is a piece of Gold of the great Mogul, worth two or three pound sterling.

L.

ANNOT.

It is the strange wickedness of a woman, that shall incestuously be got with Child by her Son in Law, and when she is delivered, shall kill her Child, and throw him into a Well; a while after the water beginning to corrupt, a search shall be made of the cause, and then the Childs Bones shall be found, which shall cause a great stir, and for to know this wicked woman, he saith, that the Planet of Mars shall be the ascendant in her Horoscope.

LI.

ANNOT.

The words of this prediction are plain and easie, and signifie no more than what often happeneth, and may happen yet, viz. that where a concourse of people shall be to see a new show, the Pillars and walls of the Building shall fall, and people perish by the ruine, (as if it were by a Miracle) the King and thirty of the spectators shall be preserved.

LII.

ANNOT.

By the Trojan hope, is meant a King of France, who after he hath been marryed six Months, shall have a Child still born.

LIII.

ANNOT.

The great Celtique Prelate, was the Cardinal of Lorrain, Brother to the Duke of Guizse, who being suspected by the King, went away by night to Rome.

By fruitfull Brittain, is understood the province of that name in France, which by the means of the Duke of Mercure, her Governour shall be unsuspected by the King.

LIV.

ANNOT.

By Liturgie, I suppose he meaneth under pretext of Religion. The rest is easie to be understood.

LV.

ANNOT.

Chelme is a German word, that signifies a Rogue. By Marnegro, is meant the Black Sea, or Nigropont. By pulling a Spunge, I suppose the great quantity of Spunges that stick to the Rocks in that Sea.

Tripolis, Chios, and Trapezon, are places in the Turkish Dominions.

LVI.

ANNOT.

A great Army gathered about Narbon, shall so much terrifie the Spaniards, that Parpignan a Town of theirs shall be desolate, and left empty by the Governour, here called the blind d’Arbon, then Barcelon, which is a Sea-Town in Catalonio, belonging to the Spaniards shall come to its succours, and chase the enemy by Sea.

LVII.

ANNOT.

This is a person of great quality, and near of blood to a King, who being a Cardinal, cruel and dreadful, shall be Elected Pope, I suppose Clement the VII.

LVIII.

ANNOT.

Here is nothing difficult but the word Selene, which is the Moon from the Greek σεληνη.

The meaning is, that at such a time when the Sun is Ecclipsed by the Moon, Sienna and the Islands about it shall be at liberty.

LIX.

ANNOT.

The sense of this Stanza and the words are plain.

LX.

ANNOT.

We have said many times before, what is meant by the word Celtique. The Port of Blavet is that of the River of Bordeaux.

LXI.

ANNOT.

This needeth no interpretation.

LXII.

ANNOT.

The two first verses are too mistical for me; the third signifieth, that by gallops; that is, by Troops of Horses, the Leaguers, viz. those that held the party of the League, shall be routed by the Kings Cavalry. The fourth, that Savone and Albingue, two Towns of the Genoeses, shall be put to much trouble by those of Monech and Monaco, another Town near them, belonging to the Prince of Monaco, a Genoese of the house of Grimald.

LXIII.

ANNOT.

The second and fourth Verses perswade me, that this Stanza came to pass in the time of Catharine of Medicis, wife to Henry II. because she lived long, and the King died in the bed of Honour, and thus he saith, that she was left to Reign alone; because her four Sons were all little ones, so that she alone was Regent in France.

The second Verse saith, The holy one being extinguished, first, in the Bed of Honour.

By this word the only one, the Author meaneth not the only Son, but the only one living, such as Henry II. was to her, who was extinguished in the Bed of Honour, and died of the wound he received at Tilting.

The third Verse saith, that after his death, her mourning lasted seven years, that is, from the first of August 1559. to the first of August 1566. because that all those 16 Months that Francis II. she had nothing but continual sorrow, by the conspiracy of Amboise, the secret practises of the King of Navarre, and Prince of Condé his Brother, by the insurrection of the Protestants, when Charles IX. visited his Kingdom, Anno 1556. after which she put off her mourning.

The fourth Verse signifieth, that she should be long lived; for she lived above 60 years, He saith also, that she was Regent by great luck, that is, great luck for her self, but not for the Kingdom, for it was most unhappy in her time.

LXIV.

ANNOT.

This is a description of the sad and calamitous estate of France, in the time of the Civil wars, when no agreement could be kept on the Roman Catholicks side, witness the several Peaces that were made and broken, the Massacre of Vassa, and that infamous perfidy committed by them on St. Bartholomews day, being the 24 of August, Anno 1572.

LXV.

ANNOT.

This Stanza affordeth us a commical History, which is, that about the year 1601. when there sprang up in France a Kind of Friers, who bosted themselves to be the true observers of the Rule of St. Francis, and that the Cordeliers and Capushines did not keep it so exactly, but they had need of a great reformation; the King Henry IV. granted them a Convent at Beaufort, and upon his example many other places desired them, they went to possess themselves of the house of la Blamet, near Angiers; but the Cordeliers being loath to be dispossessed by these new comers, called Recollets, did besiege them by main force, broke open the Gates, scaled the Walls, the besieged did not defend themselves by words or exorcismes, but with good Stones and Flints, so that if the people had not come, the fray would not have ended without murder, some of them were put in Prison, others kept in Custody: this is the meaning of the Author, when he saith, There will be half an open War between the Gray and the sad Gray; for the Cordeliers have a Gray habit, and the Recollets a sad Gray.

LXVI.

ANNOT.

The meaning is, that when they shall go about to make a foundation of a house, for a new Sect of Friers; they shall find the bones of a famous Roman in a Marble Sepulchre, and that in April the Earth shall quake, whereby many shall be swallowed up.

LXVII.

ANNOT.

This needeth no Interpretation.

LXVIII.

ANNOT.

The Lord de Thou doth judiciously observe, that the Pope being unacquainted with things belonging to War, as to Money, Victuals, and Ammunition, was easily persuaded by Cardinal Caraffa to make war against Spain, for without being provided of all these things, he put his Armies into the Field, nec satis perpendens quám a pecuniâ, milite ac cæteris rebus ad bellum necessariis imparatus intempestive arma sumeret.

In the 15. Book of his History: the Duke of Vrbin had commission to raise 6000. Foot and 300. Horses in the Dukedom of Spoleto, and in Mark of Ancona. John Caraffe the Popes Nephew was made General of the Army, and being but Earl of Mortor, was Created Duke of Palliano, by the confiscation of the goods of Mark Antony Colonna. Camillo Ursini was made General of the Forces in Rome, and in the Territory thereof; Blasius of Monluc, the Mars of his time, and by birth a Gascon, was sent by the King to help (with his advice and courage) the Romans, who are always fitter for the Breviary, then for the Sword.

Besides these Forces raised within the Church Dominions, Charles Caraffa gathered all the Bandittes of Naples and Florence, and raised some Regiments of Switzers that came to succour the Pope.

With these Troops the Pope seized upon the most important places and persons belonging to the Spanish party, as the Coloneses and the Vitelly.

These asked succours of the Emperour Charles the V. who presently commanded Ferdinand of Toledo Duke of Alba to succour them. He was then tasked in the Piemont and Milanes, to resist the French that were then under the conduct of the Marshal of Brissac.

To conclude his design the better, he wrote many Letters to the Pope and the Colledge of Cardinals, full of respect and submission, desiring them to moderate their passion against the Spanish party, but the Pope being angry by several reports, answered him, complaining of many things, which made the Duke resolve to the war, and to be there in person.

He took his occasion as a prudent Captain, when the news was brought to him that the Popes Forces were in mutiny against their General for want of pay, and made a great tumult in the night, hearing that he was approaching with a great train of Artillery. Bzovius saith, that the Earl of Montor regarded more his profit then the Popes Interest, and kept back a great part of the money that was to pay the Souldiers, whence proceeded this tumult, which helped much the Duke of Alva’s business.

This is the explanation of the two first Verses of this Stanza, concerning the mutiny of the Souldiers that were in the Popes service, during which mutiny the enemy d’Alba did not fail to vex Rome; this word the enemy d’Alba doth not signifie the enemy of the Duke of Alba, as if one should say in Latine Hostis Albanus. He did then vex Rome; for in a short time he took Ponte Corvino, Frusino Anagnia, Marino, Lavaci, Prœneste, Tivoli, Ostia, Neptuno, Alba Vico-Varro, Monte Fortino, and almost all the places of the Roman Territory.

This did streighten Rome so much, that the General Camillo Ursini made several Trenches within the Walls of Rome, instead of preserving the outworks, as Montluc would have persuaded him to do; the alarums were so great at Rome, that Montluc was fain to encourage the Romans, and to make a Warlike Speech to them, which is inserted in his Works.

Moreover, the same Duke began to seduce the Principals of Rome by his friends that he had in it, but particularly by the cheat that he put upon the Pope; for his design being to prevent the French Forces, and to surprize the Pope, he resolved to go streight to Rome, and to bring his design the better to pass, he sent Pyrrhus Coffrede to the Pope, to see if there was any way of agreement, to the end that upon this proposition the Pope should mistrust nothing. In the mean time the Duke of Alba was coming near Rome, at which the Pope was so angry, that he put this Embassadour in Prison, where he was kept till the conclusion of the Peace; in this sort were the principal men of Rome seduced, having no thought of the Spaniards approaches, this is the relation of the Lord de Thou, Lib. 16.

LXIX.

ANNOT.

The words of the first Verse, before it be long, is the Key of the Stanza, because we infer from thence it was shortly to happen, as in truth it did at the latter end of the year 1556. when the Duke of Guise came into Piemont to joyn with the Marshal of Brissac. Then the troops of the Marshal seeing those of the Duke better paid then they were, forsook the Marshal, the History saith there was above 1500. of them, and that the Marshal paid the Souldiers of his own money to stay them.

The great pitty was, when he had no more to give, he was compelled by the Kings order it self, and against his own inclination to raise some moneys upon the Countreys. Secondly, to take some Towns and give the plunder to the Souldiers. Thirdly, to permit the Souldiers to pillage the Countrey.

The Author was willing to foretell this, because there was never a man more strict in keeping the Martial discipline, then this General was.

The Marshal of Brissac being thus abused, some of his troops forsook him to follow the Duke of Guise, being for the most part naked and starved with cold, hunger and thirst, which makes the Author to specifie hunger, cold and thirst; want having compelled them to disband, they went over the Mountains, not of Piemont, but the Apennines of Montserrat, and whatsoever thing they found was a Fish for their Net.

LXX.