More than five hundred years after his birth, the prophesies of Nostradamus continue to intrigue, fascinate, and confound. Should we label him a prophet or a fraud? Was he the greatest psychic known to man, or a charlatan, whose verses can be too easily manipulated?

His supporters maintain that he predicted the French and Russian revolutions, two World Wars, the rise and fall of Napoleon, the dominance of Hitler, and many other catastrophic world events. His detractors claim that his mixed language quatrains are so ambiguous that they can be used by the credulous to fit the facts after the event.

Is it possible that his four-line verses, written in a mixture of French, Hebrew, and Latin, deliberately obscured by the use of anagrams and abbreviations, could predict events in countries unknown during the middle ages?

Michel de Nostredame was born on 14th December 1503 in St. Remy de Provence. Although Jewish, his family took the wisest course during a time of religious intolerance, and converted to Catholicism. His great-grandfather encouraged him to study astrology, celestial sciences, and Hebrew, in addition to Greek and Latin.

At the age of fourteen he left home to study at Avignon, and five years later, in 1522, he enrolled at the University of Montpellier to study medicine. Shortly after his graduation, bubonic plague struck Montpellier, and the young doctor had his first opportunity to practice his skills.

Nostradamus could not claim to cure plague, but it appears that outbreaks were less virulent when he was the physician, and his fame as a plague doctor spread. For the next four years he traveled all over southern France, treating plague victims. Eventually, when the outbreak had finally run its course, he returned to Montpellier to obtain his doctorate.

He only practiced as a doctor for a year before setting off on his journeys again. During his travels he received a letter from Julius Caesar Scalinger, one of the foremost physicians and scholars of the day, inviting him to visit the Bishop of Agen, who was interested in some of his ideas. Whilst in Agen he married, his wife’s name is unrecorded, but we know that she bore Nostradamus two sons.

Sadly in 1537 plague struck, and although he saved many, his wife and children died. Older doctors ridiculed him for his arrogance in believing his methods superior to standard practice, when he could not even save his own family. Shortly afterwards charges of heresy were brought against him, concerning a remark he had made some time previously about a religious statue. Clearly Agen was no longer a comfortable place to be, and for several more years he wandered throughout Europe.

It was during this phase of his life that stories began to circulate about his supposed clairvoyant abilities. In Ancona, Italy, he prostrated himself before a young Franciscan monk, Felix Peretti. The startled monk, a former swineherd, asked Nostradamus to explain his actions. He replied that he was kneeling before his holiness, much to the amusement of the other monks. Felix Peretti was elected Pope Sixtus 1V in 1585.

On another occasion Nostradamus was supposedly the guest of a skeptic, the Seigneur de Florinville. The Seigneur asked which of two pigs would be eaten that night. Nostradamus answered that a wolf would devour the white pig, and the black pig would be served at table. Determined to prove Nostradamus wrong, Florinville ordered the slaughter of the white pig. The cook complied and the white pig was roasted.

During the meal Florinville asked which pig they were eating, and Nostradamus answered: “the black pig.” Delighted, Florinville sent for the cook and asked him which pig was on the table. He was astounded when the cook explained that a tame wolf had entered the kitchen and devoured the white pig, he had then slaughtered and cooked the black pig. Florinville was a skeptic no longer.

When Nostradamus returned to France he settled in Salon, and in November 1547 he married Anne Gemelle. His wandering days were over. He began to write, and the first book of his prophecies was published in 1555. He grouped his quatrains in sets of 100, known as the centuries. The book contained over 350 predictions (three complete centuries plus 53 quatrains of the fourth).

Nostradamus became so popular that Queen Catherine de Medici summoned him to Paris. He was appointed as personal physician to Henri II, despite one of his quatrains predicting the death of the King.

The young lion shall overcome the older

On the field of combat by single combat.

In a golden cage he shall put out his eye,

Two wounds from one, then he shall die a cruel death.

(Century. 1 – Quatrain 35)

The King was killed when a lance splintered pierced his eye during a tournament. He died as a result of his injuries.

Nostradamus made many predictions for his own time, and hundreds for events many years into the future. The following quatrain is interpreted as the start of the French revolution, the uprising of the people, followed by the King listening to Marie Antoinette, and finally betraying his promise not to leave the Tuileries.

Under the pretext of freeing the people,

The people themselves will usurp power.

He shall do worse because of the trickery of a young whore.

He shall betray in the field, delivering a false promise.

(Century. 5 – Quatrain 5)

The royal couple escaped from the Tuileries, and was heading for a hiding place in Varennes, when their coachman lost his way in the forest of Reines. The captured Queen was dressed in white, the King in gray.

By night there will come by the forest of Reines

A married couple, by a devious route.

A Queen – white stone, a monk-king in gray at Varennes.

Elected Capet, causes tempest, fire and bloody slicing.

(Century. 9 – Quatrain 20)

Is this Napoleon?

An Emperor will be born near Italy,

Who will cost his empire dearly.

They will say when they see his allies,

That he is less a prince than a butcher.

(Century. 1 – Quatrain 60)

Could this be Hitler?

Wild and hungry beasts will cross rivers.

The greatest battles shall be against Hister.

He will cause great men to be dragged in a cage of iron,

When this son of Germany respects no law.

(Century. 2 – Quatrain 24)

For our own time, perhaps the most intriguing is the following quatrain.

Sooner or later you will see great changes made.

Extreme horrors and vengeance.

As Islam is thus led by its angel,

The heavens draw near to the balance.

(Century. 1 – Quatrain 56)

The final word should go to Nostradamus himself, who had a superstitious fear of people walking on his grave, and gave instructions that he be buried upright. On his death, in 1566, his wishes were carried out and he was interred in the wall of the church of Cordeliers. After his death his fame increased and rumors began to spread that important papers had been secreted in his coffin.

In 1700 the authorities at Salon bowed to pressure and gave permission for his coffin to be examined. No papers were found, but a medallion was discovered hanging from the skeleton. It was inscribed: 1700.

Recently the History Channel started to air a program that analyzes of all of the 2012 theories.  It calls this new series the “Nostradamus Effect“.  Nostradamus is so well known for all of his future predictions that you might refer to him as the “Father of Future Predictions”.

You can view that program now by clicking here.