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Dessoubs Jonchere du dangereux passage
Fera passer le posthume sa bande,
Les monts Pyrens passer hors son bagaige
De Parpignam courira duc à tende.
Tende is a tiny village in France, near the Italian border. The Dukes of Tende were therefore likely the Dukes of Savoy. La Jonchère is also a tiny village, south of Nantes.
I cannot determine what this quatrain means, so will have to let the reader decipher it.
Esleu en Pape, d’esleu sera mocque,
Subit soudain esmeu prompt & timide,
Par trop bon doulx à moutir provocqué,
Crainte eslante la nuit de sa mort guide.
There are several popes this could apply to. Pope Gregory XIV, who reputedly cried in horror when he was elected and who suffered from bouts of malaria is one possibility, the authority of the papacy rested on Facchinetti, who would become Pope Innocent IX. Leo XI who took ill as soon as he was crowned and died within a month, is another possibility. Pius VII is also a possibility, the mocking coming from Napoléon Bonaparte; though I do think he died peacefully in his bed. Last is John-Paul I, around whom a number of conspiracy theories still survive regarding his sudden nighttime death, exactly one month after his election.
Soulz la pasture d’animaux ruminant
Par eux conduicts au ventre herbipolique
Soldatz caichez les armes bruit menant,
Non loing temptez de cité Antipolique.
Note on Translation: Nostradamus here makes the second and fourth lines rhyme, as per the demands of the rhétoriqueurs. Therefore, I am uncertain as to the true meanings. I hazard the guess that herbipolique would be better translated by herbivore, and that Antipolique is better translated by Antibes. But the polique part of both leads me to conclude that he is referring to political circumstances. So, it sounds like the second line refers to either some sort of action by vegetarians or commoners who are forced to live off of vegetables, and the fourth line refers to some sort of reaction by the city of Antibes. The quatrain seems to support this, but it is inconclusive.
I suspect this is the future, yet, I am uncertain. I leave this to the ingenuity of the reader.
Urnel Vaucile sans conseil de soy mesmes,
Hardit timide, car crainte prins vaincu,
Accompaigné de plusieurs putains blesnes
A barcellonne aux chartreux convaincu.
Urnel is a Romani verb. It means “to float.” It is also a name. Vaucile is ambiguous. It is likely an anagram.
Chartreux is Carthusian Monks. It is an order that was established in the 9th century by St. Bruno. They live a retired, contemplative life.
This quatrain seems to be describing a man who “floats” on the times and currents of history, one who has no advice of his own to utilize or give. He is a frightened individual, accompanied by several female prostitutes. It seems that a Carthusian abbey in or near Barcelona will (or has) play(ed) a roll in this quatrain. Of course, this could be referring to a nation, most likely Spain. If it is Spain, then the most likely fulfillment was that of Franco, who was bold during the Civil War, but fearful thereafter – though what the prostitutes were is beyond my guess.
Pere duc vieux d’ans & de soif chargé,
Au jour extreme filz desniant les guiere
Dedans le puis vif mort viendra plongé,
Senat au fil la mort longue & legiere.
Guiere on line 2 is obviously altered to rhyme with legiere on line 4. I took the liberty to interpret guiere as guerre or war. Many commentators have translated it as gnouf, jug, which does not make any sense to me. Other than that, I must leave this to the reader to decipher.
Heureux au regne de France, heureux de vie
Ignorant sang mort fureur & rapine,
Par non flateurs fetas mys en envie,
Roy desrobe trop de foy en cuisine.
There are two ways to translate Ignorant in line 2. The first is the traditional way, ignorant. The second is insensible, or simply deliberately ignoring. This is the key to the quatrain, because it was impossible for kings to be truly ignorant.
Though there are strong arguments for Louis XVIII, who was a known glutton, I think this is best fulfilled by Louis XV. In the end, Louis XVIII did care somewhat, even if it was only to keep himself in power. Louis XV did not.
Louis XV was known in his life as the Beloved. But he was quite a scandalized and troubled king. Yes, he was a highly intelligent with an impeccable judgment, but he lacked the confidence needed to run the country effectively or the stamina to see his decisions through. He preferred to leave the country to administrators he trusted so he could indulge his foibles. This was of no real problem while the minister was Cardinal de Fleury, who had not only the intelligence and judgment but also the confidence and the ability to see his decisions carried out. But after Fleury died the king tried to directly rule his kingdom. He tried to reform the government, most notably the finances. But it failed. Following an assassination attempt, he simply gave up. Giving himself over to a life of pleasure, to his mistresses and to his food, he pretty much ignored the dealings of the government. During the latter part of his life, Louis would indolently steer the ship of state through disastrous waters. The War of the Austrian Succession was a success, but he gave away everything France had won; France had fought the war, endured plunder, slaughter and bloodshed, for nothing. The situation in France was deteriorating yet Louis did not care; he had his food and his mistresses, he was happy.
La royne Ergaste voiant sa fille blesme,
Par un regret dans l’estomach encloz,
Crys lamentables seront lors d’Angolesme,
Et au germain mariage fort clos.
Note on Translation: I was unable to find the word ergaste or ergast anywhere. However, I found an old English word, Ergot, also spelled Ergat. It came from an old French word ergoteur or ergoter. While I cannot be absolutely certain, I think it was also spelled ergateur and is close enough to what Nostradamus said. Of course, it could be that this is an anagram of Nostradamus, one that has multiple meanings. If so, I have found one of them. Besides, the rest of the quatrain, especially the third and fourth lines, makes the interpretation obvious.
The queen is Marie Antoinette. The arguing part occurred when government commissioners arrived at the Temple Fortress under orders to separate Louis XVII from the rest of his family. Marie Antoinette argued strongly against this, only conceding when the commissioners threatened to kill her daughter. The daughter, Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte, aka Madame Royal, became very pale. A portrait of her completed soon after she was allowed to leave France shows how extremely pale she was.
The regret that the princess endured was great. Even before she was separated from her mother, she had deep regret and loss over the death of her father, Louis XVI. The separation of her from her mother would only add to her loss and anguish. She was, in her own words, the most unhappy of people in the world.
She would eventually be allowed to emigrate and rejoin her uncle, the Comte de Provence and self styled (and future) Louis XVIII. He wanted the princess to marry his cousin from his other brother’s side, Louis-Antoine, Duc de Angoulême. This she agreed to willingly, as it gave her a family once again. However her other uncle, the compte de Artois, father of the duc and future Charles X, was opposed to this. In a very interesting quirk that Nostradamus caught, Charles lived in Germany at that very time. He would eventually move to England and live there with his son and daughter-in-law, the princess, but at that time he had not yet moved there.
La ranc Lorrain sera place à Vendosme,
Le hault mys bas & le bas mys en hault,
Le filz d’Hamon sera esleu dans Rome,
Et les deux grands serontmys en deffault.
The house of Lorraine was the other, and original, name of the house of Guise. Charles, the Cardinal de Lorraine and his nephew, Charles de Lorraine, the new Duc de Guise, the two great ones of line 4, were the clear losers. Vendôme is one of the titles of the House of Bourbon, here it refers to Henri de Navarre, Henri IV of France.
The second line refers to the complete switch of fortunes. Early on in the Religious Wars, it was the House of Lorraine, with its dukes of Lorraine and Guise, who had the upper hand. The house of Bourbon, being weak and protestant, was not expected to win. It was only towards the end of the tragic wars that the house of Bourbon finally gained the upper hand.
The third line refers to Pope Clement VIII The part about Hamon is a direct reference to Baal-Hamon, or Baal Hammon, the god of Carthage where a type of legalism ruled – Clement’s father was a noted jurist.
The last line refers to both Clement and to Felipe II of Spain. Clement sent bittersweet letters to Henri IV, he did not want a protestant to rule on the throne. Felipe wanted to put his daughter, Isabella. Henri’s conversion to Catholicism got the people to abandon the Catholic League and to join him, this also gained the reluctant blessing of Clement and completely thwarted Felipe’s ambitions.
Jour que sera par royne saluee,
Le jour apres le salut, la priere,
Le compte fait raison & valbuee,
Par avant humble oncques ne feut si fiere.
This quatrain can apply to nobody other than Elizabeth I of England, one of England’s greatest rulers. Earlier in her life, Elizabeth played it safe. When the Jean Grey fiasco occurred, Elizabeth sided with her half sister, Mary Tudor, in her quest for the throne. Mary was, however, an arch Catholic, forcing Elizabeth to play it safe by attending Catholic mass and taking a Catholic stance. England grew to hate Queen Mary and her husband, the arch-Catholic Felipe II of Spain. She finally died without a child and Elizabeth, who had humbly supported Mary and accepted Catholicism during her sister's reign, was crowned with great ceremony and rejoicing.
Immediately after the coronation Elizabeth went to work on the critical issue of the day. In France, Germany, Poland and Scandinavia, the Religious Wars were being fought. Italy and Spain remained unscathed only because of the power of the dread Inquisition. The middle ground was rejected by everyone, with one exception. Elizabeth found a middle ground and somehow made it work.
Elizabeth proved to be a very wise and capable ruler. Though she was a proud woman, with the fiery temper of her father, she was also a prudent and thoughtful ruler who placed her kingdom and the welfare of her people to the forefront. It is not for naught she is called Good Queen Bess.
The last part, about her pride, is only somewhat true. It is true that Elizabeth was a proud woman which would cause several problems in her long reign, but Nostradamus had to elevate the pride in order to demonstrate an evil nature in her – the inquisition was still in force in France during those days.
Tous les amys qu’auront tenu party,
Pour rude en lettres mys mort & saccagé,
Biens publiez par fixe grand neanty,
Onc Romain peuple ne feut tant outragé.
Benito Mussolini had been deposed of by Victor Emanuel III, who had turned over the powers of government to Pedro Badoglio. Hitler rescued his friend and set him up in north Italy, in the town of Salô. Here, Mussolini officiated as a puppet governor. The real power rested in the hands of Hitler.
Hitler was the rude one of letters. His Mein Kamph is, even today, an atrociously written book that was part rant, part blueprint and part rationalization of his designs.
The friends are those of the Fascist government. After they turned on Mussolini and deposed him, Hitler went out of his way to get them arrested and executed. A few, like Mussolini’s brother-in-law Count Ciano, met his death at Mussolini’s hand, after the Nazi’s put untold pressure on the Duce to execute him.
Hitler and the Germans seized much of Italy. This act outraged almost all of Italy so much that they willingly sided with the Allies. Italian soldiers fought in the lines while Italian partisans fought behind the lines.