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.

This foretelleth that a King of France shall take Avignon, which is a City in France belonging to the Pope. And that some of the people beginning to murmur and mutiny, he shall cause five of them to be thrown over the Walls into the Rhosne, which is a swift River that passeth by. Nole must be some place thereabouts.

XXXIX.

ANNOT.

I can understand nothing else by Prince Bizantin, but some Prince of the house of Gonzague, who derive their pedigree from that of the Palæologues, formerly Emperours of Constantinople, called in ancient time Bizantium. As for the Prince of Tholose, there having been none this two or three hundred years since that Country was devolved to the Crown of France; but the King himself, I suppose he must be understood here; so that the sense of this Prophecie, (if any be) is, that the King of France shall take something from the Duke of Mantua, who is the head of the Gonzagues, as he hath done formerly several times.

By the faith of Foix, is understood the late Duke of Rohan, who descended from the house of Foix, and who did war against the said Duke of Mantua at that time, when the King of France, Lewis XIII. would not suffer his Brother the Duke of Orleans to Marry the Princess Mary, Daughter of the Duke of Nevers, of the house of Gonzague, and lately Queen of Poland.

XL.

ANNOT.

Here the Author hath kept his mind to himself, as for my part, being ignorant of his barbarous words, I had rather leave the sense of this to the judgment of the Reader, than by an incongruous and far fetched interpretation make my self ridiculous.

XLI.

ANNOT.

This Prophecy seemeth to regard particularly the Pope, who having played the Hypocrite before his Election, eating nothing but Barley bread, that he might be reputed a Spaint, shall after his Election shall tyrannise upon a sudden, and trample upon the Throat of the greatest Monarchs, as they have done formerly, and would do yet if they could.

XLII.

ANNOT.

The construction of this must be thus made. The Chiefs of Orleans, (which is a famous Town in France) shall come to vex their own (I suppose) Citizens. And near that place called Saint Memire, shall be a fight, where one of those chief ones shall be killed, or die in his Tent, and shall be denyed under pretence of being asleep.

XLIII.

ANNOT.

I think that instead of decision it should be division, and then the sense is easily made up, thus; that through the division of two Bastards, the Nephew of the Blood shall occupy the Kingdom, which Nephew afterwards in a fight at Lectoure, (which is a strong Town in Gascony) shall be put to the worst, and compelled to fold up his Ensigns.

XLIV.

ANNOT.

A man needeth a good pair of Spectacles to see through all this, what I understand in it is that this Bastard of Ogmyon, by whom he meaneth the King of France, ought to submit the Fort of Pau to Navarre, and good reason too; for Navarre is the Kingdom, and Pau only the chief Town of one Province of it, called Bearn.

XLV.

ANNOT.

The Prince of Condé, whose name was Lewis, and the youngest of the Children of Charles of Bourbon, the first Duke of Vendosme, father to Anthony of Bourbon, King of Navarre, went away from the Court in the time of Francis the second King of France, and came into Bearn to the King his Brother. He was summoned many times by Francis II. to come to Court; but finding his name to be amongst those that intended to surprise Lion, he durst not venture.

Nevertheless he was perswaded by his Uncle the Cardinal of Bourbon, and came to the Court at Orleans. It is easie to believe that he fained himself to be hurt by a fall from his Horse, or that really he was so; having his Arm in a Scarf, and his Leg swadled up, in which posture he came to testifie his obedience to the Kings commands.

In this posture of a wounded man, whether really and fictitiously he came from Palais, which by mistake is printed Calais; the Printer being ignorant, that in Bearn, where the Prince had sheltered himself, there is a Castle called Palais, which was the place that the Prince used to live in.

Being come to Court he was presently arrested, arraigned and condemned to death. Nevertheless the Kings sickness proving mortal, the execution was suspended, and his life saved. After that the Prince sought all occasions to revenge himself, and began about Easter in April following. It was not by an open Rebellion against the King, but under pretence to maintain the Protestant Religion: therefore the Author saith, that this life saved shall bleed in the Temple; because the Princes pretext was the Temple and the Church; that is Religion. Hence the fourth Verse is clearly understood. Resteth the third Verse, which saith, that his life was differred till the Watch word; because the Queen seeing the King her Son upon his death bed, caused secretly the execution of the Sentence to be differred, that she might make use of the King of Navarre, and of the Prince his Brothers favour, against the house of Guise, for the obtaining of the Regency.

Moreover I observe, that in the year 1562. the Prince of Condé began openly to rebel, surprising the City of Orleans the 29 of March, which was Easter day that year, which sheweth the truth of the fourth Verse.

XLVI.

ANNOT.

By this Pol Mensolée, he meaneth some proper name. Tarare is a great Mountain near the City of Lions, that hath two principal ways to go through, which here he calleth Straights; for indeed they are very dangerous for Thieves and Murderers. The rest is but a threating of War between the Emperour and France, when there shall be three Brothers in France.

XLVII.

ANNOT.

I think that the Impression is false here; for instead of Despolle, which is a barbarous word, and signifieth nothing, I would have it in French Despoville, in English robbed of all; so that Trasmenian Lake is that Lake in Italy not far from the Town of Perugia, where Hannibal gave that notable overthrow to the Romans, and killed above 20000. of them, with their consul Flaminius.

That man whom he calleth here robbed of all, shall kill some Germans; for Tudesco in Italian, is a German, the two last words are barbarous.

XLVIII.

ANNOT.

The multiplicity of barbarous and insignificant words, makes this incapable of any construction, if any body will exercise his wit thereupon, I shall willingly lend him my ear.

XLIX.

ANNOT.

Satur in Ox; that is, Saturn in Taurus, Jupiter in Water; that is, Jupiter in Aquarius; Mars in arrow, is Mars in Sagitarius; when these things shall happen. The sixth day of February shall bring a great mortality. Tardaigne is a fictitious name, unless he intended Sardaigne. Bruges is a Town in Flander, Ponterose is some place, where he saith, that the chief Barbarin shall die, the chief Barbare was the Pope Urban the eighth; but because I do not know the particularities of his death, and the place of it, I cannot make the rest good.

L.

ANNOT.

The difficulty here, is what is meant by that word Cappadille, for my part I think he meaneth Italy, for some times the Italians use by way of admiration to say Capoli, or Capadillo. Sagunce is a Town in Spain, which for the love of the Carthaginians withstood the Romans a great while, till they were brought to an extremity of famine, and then set fire in their Town.

LI.

ANNOT.

This is an express delineation of Charles the V. Empire, who at the latter end of his days retired into a Monastery, reserving unto himself for his subsistance the revenue of the Kingdom of Castille, expressed here by Cordua, which is a City of Spain.

LII.

ANNOT.

The first Verse and the interpretation is easie.

Amboise is a Town in France upon the River of Loire.

The two last Verses being inperfect, admits of no interpretation, onely to let the Reader know that Poitiers is a very great City in France, and Capital of the Province of Poitou.

LIII.

ANNOT.

There is two Towns called Bolloin, one is in Italy, the other in France, the last is that which is meant here; for Cardinal Richelieu who is the man that did so high things, and the like of which was never in Hierarchy (that is in the Clergy) a little afore his death had vowed if he recovered his health to go in Pilgrimage to Bulloin, where there is a famous Temple for Miracles, (as they say) dedicated to our Lady, which is called here the Sun, by an allusion to that passage of the Revelation: And there appeared a Woman cloathed with the Sun; but the said Cardinal was prevented by death.

LIV.

ANNOT.

This is a Prognostication concerning a King of France, meant here by the great Cheiren Selin, who under pretence of a Treaty of Marriage, shall recover in his journey these two Towns Saint Quintin and Arras, for the Shambles are called in Latine Macellum. Quod ibi mactentur pectora quæ mercatoribus venundantur.

LV.

ANNOT.

It is an accident that hath often happened to a Commander of an Army, to find himself either by his own oversight, or by the policy of his enemies, shut up between two Rivers, having upon neither of them a Bridge at his command; as it did happen once to the Prince of Condé, the Grandfather of this, in the time of the Civil war for Religion, who was forced by it to dissolve his Army, and bid every one shift for himself, so that they almost all escaped by several small parties, some going one way some another, at such time it is an ordinary shift to make use of empty Vessels and Caskes to make a Bridge, as our Author doth mention here.

LVI.

ANNOT.

I dare not comment upon this, for fear it should be said of me, what was said of the Glose of Accurtius; obscura per obscurius.

LVII.

ANNOT.

I never knew nor heard of any body to whom this Stanza might be better applied, then to the late Usurper Cromwel, for from a simple Souldier, he became to be Lord Protector, and from a Student in the University he became a graduate in Oxford, he was valliant in Arms, and the worse Churchman that could be found; as for vexing the Priests, I mean the Prelatical Clergy, I believe none went beyond him.

LVIII.

ANNOT.

This prognosticateth a great division in England between Brothers, about the Title and Kingdom of England, insomuch, that in conclusion one shall be surprised by night, and carried away into France.

LIX.

ANNOT.

This foretelleth of some considerable person, who shall be twice set up, and brought down again. The second Verse is pronounced after the manner of the old Oracles, as

For no body can tell here whither the East shall weaken the West, or otherways. The last two Verses are easie.

LX.

ANNOT.

The first in France is the King, the first in Romania is the Pope, who it seemeth shall joyn together by Sea and Land, and come against Paris, who shall call the English to its help, insomuch, that strange deeds shall be done by that great company. As for Terax, it seemeth to be the proper name of some man, who by ravishing a woman called here the Norlaris, shall spoil her and cause sad consequences. Norlaris by transposition of Letters is Lorrain.

LXI.

ANNOT.

This signifieth that one pretending to a Kingdom, shall never attain to it by often removing his place, until all his seats be settled, that is, untill his wandring be ceased. And a gift brought by him to the King of France from Portugal, signified here by the Tag, which is the River of Lisbon the Capital City of it, from which gift shall proceed misery.

LXII.

ANNOT.

The greatest Temple of the Rhosne, is that of the City of Lion, which is seated upon that River of Rhosne, which when it shall be robbed and spoiled, then shall come a horrid Pestilence, which our Author attributeth to the injustice of the King then Reigning, who shall neglect to punish those Sacriledges.

LXIII.

ANNOT.

This is the description of a sad Tragedy, which to understand, you must joyn all the Verses together, and make it one sense. The Adulterer wounded without a blow, is one that shall get a disease, (suppose the Pox) his wife finding fault with it, he shall murder her, and her Son; she not being quite dead shall strangle another Child (which it seemeth she had by this Adulterer) and for this fact eight shall be taken prisoners and immediately hanged, by which you must suppose the fact to be done in France, for there they Judge and Hang immediately, whereby in England they must stay till Sessions-time.

LXIV.

ANNOT.

This seemeth to have a great relation to our late unhappy troubles in England, when the Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Glocester were transported into the Isle of Wight, which are the two of the seven, (for the Queen hath had seven children) and the Kings Majesty and his Highness the Duke of York, were driven into the Low-Countreis, being in a manner in dispair of ever coming again, and those Countreys were much the better for the harbouring of them; in the last Verse by Nompelle I understand Anagrammatically Monpelier, which being taken, there is no more hope in the League, as it did happen in the time of Henry the IV. King of France, who never saw the League or Covenant quite routed, till that Town was taken; for it is familiar enough to those kind of Prophets to make an ὕστερον πρώτερον, and joyn things past, to those that are to come, to darken the Readers understanding, and as the Scripture saith, Ut videntes non videant.

LXV.

ANNOT.

The words of this Prophecy are plain enough, and because I cannot learn in History that such things have come to pass yet, therefore I reckon it among those de futuro.

LXVI.

ANNOT.

In the year 1555. Ferdinand Alvaro of Toledo Duke of Alba, being sent by Charles the V. into Italy to resist the French, arrived in June at Milan, and having gathered together, all his Forces, Besieged the Town St. Jago, but Henry II. King of France sending some succours by the Duke of Aumale, he raised up his siege, and put his Army into Garrisons. The Duke of Alba leaving the Field in this manner, the Duke of Aumale besieged Vulpian, wherein were 1000. souldiers in Garrison, under the command of Cæsar of Naples, besides the Inhabitants. Never was a place so furiously assaulted, and so manfully defended, so that the French were many times beaten back; but at last after 24. days siege the Duke of Aumale did gloriously take it.

The Author foretelling the time of this victory, said it was when the writing D. M. in big letters was found, that is to say, about the 11. of September after the Equinox, because in the Ephemerides, the Meridional descension of the Planets, and chiefly of Sol, Venus, and Mercury is marked with these two Letters D. M. which descension cometh to pass after the Equinox of Autumn towards the end of September. At the same time was discovered an ancient Cave, wherein was found one of those Lamps, that cannot be put out, and burns continually without any addition of Oil, by an invention that is lost. Such another was found in the time of Alexander the VI. and Adrian the VI.

The Town of Vulpian was at that time tried by a King and a Prince, viz. Henry the II. and the Duke of Aumale Prince of Lorrain, and Brother to the Cardinal of Lorrain, and to the Duke of Guise.

The Author addeth, that besides these three things, viz. the finding of the letters D. M. The Cave discovered the siege of Vulpian; there happened a fourth one, viz. that a Queen and a Duke should consult together in a Summer-house, about the important affairs of the Kingdom. To understand this, we must suppose that Pope Paul the IV. willing to secure his own person and the Ecclesiastical State against the Spanish faction, and that of the Colonese, did seize upon many places belonging to the said Colonese, and knowing besides that the Spaniards being of the Coloneses party, would not fail to come upon him, he disposed the King of France to come to his succours, so that the Queen having a particular confidence in the Duke of Guise, did consult with him about this business in some Summer-house, which the French call a Pavillon.

LXVII.

ANNOT.

It is very hard to say what the Author meaneth by these disjunctives Par. Car. Nersaf, all what can be gathered by what follows, is, that there shall be a great variance and strife about an Election, (I suppose of a Pope as it useth to be) and that Nersaf shall have the good will of the people, and yet none of them shall be Elected.

As for the fourth Verse, it is to be noted first that Ferrara is a strong Town in Italy belonging to the Pope, and Colonna is the name of the chief Family in Rome, now whether Ferrara shall be a protection to Colonna, or Colonna to Ferrara, we leave it to the Reader to judge, because the Verse hath a double sense.

LXVIII.