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Estant assis de nuit secret estude,
Seul repousé sus la selle d’aerain,
Flambe exigue fortant de solitude,
Fait proserer qui n’est a croire vain.
In one of the few quatrains that is not a prophecy, Nostradamus is here describing the method he used to achieve his prophetic visions. First thing, we know he worked alone. The second line is key. Most commentators translate it as “Placed on the bronze (or brass) tripod. However, it does not quite work out. Selle more accurately translates into saddle, and with the words d’aerain (of aerated water), I came up with my translation. It certainly is unique and is hard to fathom Nostradamus doing it. So, it asks a question, what is it he is actually doing? And does the 2nd line refer to a tripod or to something more mysterious and mystical? I strongly suspect Nostradamus felt it was the latter, though I cannot prove it. The last two lines are references to his prognostications.
The last line is indicative. Nostradamus is here stating that the claims should not be normally believed because they are so fantastic. Yet he is stating that it is actually vain to reject the claims. Of course he has to make this claim, but the key is how successful was he?
La verge en main mise au mileau de BRANCHES,
De l’onde il moulle & le limbe & le pied.
Un peur & voix tremissent par les manches,
Splendeur divine. Le divin prés s’assied.
This quatrain continues from the first and is descriptive. The emphasis on the word branches on the first line, given by the capitalization of every letter, demands that this is one of Nostradamus’ key words. From this, people in the know, as historic Nostradamus commentator La Pelletier asserts, that this is a description of the divinatory ritual of Branchus, a reputed Greek oracle supposedly given his gift by the god Apollo. From what little we know, the 2nd line seems to come from the ancient rite while the third line talks about the effects of the act. The last line, about the divine presence, Nostradamus may have seriously believed. It certainly would have helped protect him and his work from the Inquisition, though whether it really was the divine presence or just him entering a higher level of awareness we may never know – it really is not that important.
Quand la lictiere du tourbillon versée,
Et seront faces de leurs manteaux couvers,
La republique par gens nouveaux vexée,
Lors blancs & rogues iugeront a l’envers.
The traditional translation of lictiere is litter, which in certain situations the nobility is carried on. The rest obviously refers to the First French Republic. The whirlwind is the fury of the Revolution. It was certainly troubled enough by its people that it executed thousands of them. The reds and the whites were the revolutionaries and the royalists, respectively, who fought each other to the detriment of France – the royalists were the whites because they supported the white flag of the Bourbon’s while the revolutionaries, through Robespierre, became the red ones due to their bloodthirstiness.
Par l’univers sera faict un monarque,
Qu’en paix & vie n’sera longuement :
Lors se perdra la piscature barque,
Sera regie en plus grand detriment.
The king with short life and little peace is Louis XVI. He lost his real power in 1791 at the beginning of the French Revolution, his status in 1792 and his life in 1793; he was not even 40 years old when he died. Then the Cult of Reason and the Cult of The Supreme Being were established during the height of the French Revolution. Christianity in all its forms was officially repudiated. Later on, during the reign of Napoléon, Popes Pius VI and VII would be imprisoned.
Chassés seront faire long combat,
Par le pays seront plus fort greués :
Bourg & cité auront plus grand debat,
Carcas Narbôn auront coeurs esprouvés.
Both cities mentioned in line 4 are close to the Mediterranean Sea in southern France. The quatrain dictates that a group will be dispelled making long battle, an act that will aggrieve the country of France. The debates of line 3 limit this quatrain to two possible times. The first line, as written, eliminates one of the two possible times.
The Religious Wars were a furious time. The debates between Catholic and Protestant were numerous and often bloody. The hearts of all Frenchmen, not just the two cities mentioned, were tried and tried again, as the furious fighting between Catholic and Protestant continued to erupt. Even the hearts of Catholics who would have loved religious tolerance for the Protestants were tried severely. The noble factions of Guise/Lorraine and Bourbon/Navarre opposed each other until the house of Bourbon finally achieved the throne.
Note on originals: The original version, the Bonhomme edition of 1555, had the first line differently written. Chassés seront sans faire long combat – They will be dispelled without making much battle. If this is the way Nostradamus truly intended it, then this quatrain would have to refer to the German occupation of Vichy France in Operation Attila, which went off quite smoothly without any serious opposition. The two cities listed were both within Vichy, which was occupied November 1943. The debates would then refer to the furious and often bloody arguments between pro French and Nazi supporters. And the hearts of every Frenchman was seriously tried during the terrible ordeal.
As can be seen, the change or addition of one word can make an enormous difference in the interpretation. In either case, this quatrain is fulfilled.
L’oeil de Ravenne sera destitué,
Quand a ses pieds les aelles failliront,
Les deux de Bresse auront constitué
Turin, Verseil que Gauloys fouleront.
The reference to Ravenna strongly indicates the Papal States. The source for this is that after King Pepin of Frankland attacked the Lombard rulers of Ravenna under order of Pope Stephen II, Pepin’s gave the city of Ravenna to the Pope, who incorporated it into the Papal States. It is true it was part of Venice for a short time, but all in all, it was ruled by the Papacy until the unification of Italy occurred. Because of this, the power (the eye) of Ravenna was most likely the Papacy.
Another clue is line 3. Bresse is one of the ancient provinces of France. It was incorporated into the larger province of Burgundy.
The last clue is in line 4. Turin and Vercelli are in the Piedmont area of Italy.
So, this strongly indicates a struggle between France and the Papacy where French troops overwhelm the Piedmont area, or at least control it.
This was fulfilled by the First French Empire. Napoléon’s treatment of Pope Pius VII is well known to havebeen shabby at best. Pius officiated over the coronation of Emperor Napoléon and Empress Josephine, yet a few years later he was imprisoned, his power was literally taken from him and he was forced to move about wherever his French captors took him. France also took over much of the Piedmont area, including the two cities listed in line 4.
Tard arrivé l'execution faicte
Le vent contraire, lettres au chemin prinses :
Les coniurez XIIII. d'une secte:
Par le Rousseau serez les entreprinses.
The key to this quatrain is the name on the last line. While there have been many Rousseau’s in history, some of great note, only Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau is the one applicable because of his eventual influence in a French legal matter. Nostradamus called him The Rousseau to demonstrate just how important this individual was. His main opponent, the head of the violently anti-Semitic Nationalist Movement, was Paul Déroulède. The legal matter was the notorious Dreyfus Affair in which Alfred Dreyfus was the victim. The interpretation of this quatrain is probably the most complex one there is mainly because of what Nostradamus understood. This quatrain demonstrates just how great an understanding he had of this issue.
Because of the subject that the quatrain deals with, a matter that disrupted much of France but had little influence outside of its time, some preliminary information is necessary.
First, Alfred Dreyfus: Alfred Dreyfus was a French soldier of Jewish faith who was used by the French military counterintelligence organization to make the German military believe a plant was legitimate. In 1895, Dreyfus was accused of selling a highly classified document to the German military, a document that was a plant. Because of his Jewishness, he was condemned for treason, selling military secrets to the Germans. A handwritten “bordereau” was used to incriminate him. He was “executed,” by an official Degradation, a humiliating military spectacle by which his rank was stripped and his sword snapped – while the term “execution” was metaphorical in this case, it is also the official and actual term used by the French in regards to this spectacle. He was sent to the penal colony Ile de Diable – nobody was supposed to leave that isle alive. Supposedly the matter rested. However, there were problems. Major Georges Picquart, the new head of the War Ministry’s Counter Intelligence Section, became suspicious that the conviction was false. His subsequent investigation proved that it was a Major Esterhazy who was guilty of the crime. Yet the conspiracy was definitely active, for Picquart was transferred to Africa in order to shut him up. Yet four years after Picquart was exiled, the expose “J’Accuse” (I Accuse) by Emile Zola was published. This forced the return of Dreyfus for a second trial. It is the events around the second trial, too late to stop the “execution” that occurred in 1895, that is the focus of this quatrain.
Second, the Nationalist Movement and Paul Déroulède: The Nationalist Movement was a collection of right wing violently anti-Semitic organizations. It was headed by Paul Déroulède, an individual who believed in a strong France at the expense of the German enemy. Paul had founded and led the prime Nationalist Movement organization, the Ligue de Patriotes, with surprising success in his campaign to regain the Alsace-Lorraine from Germany. That in itself was not so bad, but the methods he used were extreme and violently confrontational. Anyone who was even accused of supporting Germany earned his enmity. He believed that almost anything should be done to recapture the lost Alsace-Loraine region from Germany; if that included breaking French law, then so be it. And the organization he founded, along with the movement he lead, was strongly anti-Semitic. Though he claimed to oppose anti-Semitism, the fact that he did not seriously try to get rid of anti-Semites would have future repercussions.
Last, Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau, the central person of the quatrain: Rousseau was a man of great integrity, a man of law and order who had risen through the republican ranks from the days of the Second French Empire, he was one of the most important and respected republican voices in France. He had been a minor official in St Nazaire during the last days of the Second Empire, had moved to the bar of Rennes in 1871 and had joined the Chamber of Deputies, respected by all for his integrity. In addition, he had an open mind and refused to limit himself to any one belief. His whole purpose was the benefit of the lands and people of France. Though Catholic, he had supported important non-Catholic measures as Jules Ferry laws on public, secular and mandatory education, because of the benefit to France and the French citizen. He was ready to respect the opinions of any organization just so long as they did not engage in conspiracy of any kind, a stance that won him the respect of many people. Because of his gifts and strong moral stance, he was made Minister of the Interior during Gambetta’s Prime Ministership in 1881. He entered the French Senate in 1894. He was named the Prime Minster by President Loubet in 1899. In other words, he had become The Rousseau
The beginning of the quatrain focuses on the second trial of the Dreyfus Affair. Dreyfus had already received his “execution” as has been explained. Events had forced this second trial. It is probable that the conspirators wanted another public conviction, a show trial where it was made manifest that Dreyfus was guilty. The army certainly had an interest in this matter; they considered their honor was at stake, little realizing how dishonorable they were acting. However, Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau prevented this. Rousseau acted to ensure that the judiciary of the second trial of Dreyfus had an absolutely free hand, something the judiciary of the first trial, tied directly to those who hated Dreyfus as well as the military officers who wanted the false document to be accepted by the Germans, did not have.
However, the effort was sabotaged, most likely by the military conspirators, some of whom belonged to the notorious Nationalist Movement. The Nationalist Movement tried to intervene in many court proceedings, especially those that concerned Jews, to the detriment of Frenchmen of Jewish faith. Consequently, Dreyfus was convicted a second time. That said, Rousseau’s efforts produced some surprising fruit – the conviction had an extremely unusual addendum of “extenuating circumstances” attached. Also, two of the jurors absolutely refused to convict him, claiming the evidence was insufficient. The end of the trial left more questions then it answered. The outrageousness of the conviction with the addendum plus the questions the second trial had brought to light compelled the courts to order a further investigation. Passions became even more heated. The pardon of Dreyfus by President Loubet failed to calm any of the passions. The contrary winds continued to blow both ways.
It was finally determined what some had tried to state in the second trial, what Major Picquart had discovered and tried to reveal, that the documents used to convict Dreyfus were forgeries. Dreyfus had been convicted and executed in order to preserve the integrity of the French military. However, this information was like applying fire to grease. The passions of the Nationalist Movement heated to the boiling point. Déroulède joined forces with various other right wing agencies to instigate a coup. Believing their honor was threatened, determined to preserve their honor, not realizing they were actually dishonoring themselves, the military closed ranks behind the conspirators. Tensions were at the breaking point.
Waldeck-Rousseau had to act to prevent events from erupting into civil war. First, he directly challenged the Nationalist Movement. Paul Déroulède, considered by many a hero of France, was driven out of the country by Waldeck-Rousseau. The Ligue de Patriotes was outlawed for its efforts in conspiracy. This effectively ended the power of the Nationalist Movement, though if anything it became even more violently anti-Semitic, becoming the source of much of the collaboration between Vichy France and the Nazis a few decades later. However, for the moment, the Nationalist Movement had been taken care of.
Rousseau then pushed an Amnesty bill through the French Parliament. This did not satisfy anyone, but it was a face saving measure that allowed passions to cool, exactly what Rousseau wanted.
The only ambiguous point concerns the conspirators, and the conspiracy. There are two possible conspiracies with a third possibility. The first concerns the ones who conspired to bring down Dreyfus. We know of six people who were involved, but it is likely, indeed probable, that others were involved. The other involves the conspiracy of Paul Déroulède in the attempted coup of 1899 which was a reaction to the Dreyfus Affair. Though the conspirators were loud and boisterous, and though Paul Déroulède would be eventually buried in France with full honors, the fact that Waldeck-Rousseau, one of the most principled of all French leaders, felt it necessary to destroy them to preserve the integrity of France and the French judicial process speaks loudly. The third option is that Nostradamus either combined the two conspiracies or he did not see the whole number involved in one (or both) of them.
As an epilogue, Dreyfus was eventually exonerated and quietly restored to the military with the rank of Major. He would serve with honor and distinction in the First World War and would ultimately retire a Lieutenant Colonel of the army and an officer of the Légion d'honneur. He would die in 1935. He never saw the ultimate humiliation that his beloved country would be put through. He was spared the horror.
Waldeck-Rousseau oversaw a major defeat of machinations against the Republic and retired from French politics in June of 1903, the strongest and most authoritative voice in France. He returned to protest against a few measures pending in the French Parliament. He died in 1904. He also never saw the ultimate fruit of the Nationalist Movement; the collaboration between Vichy and Hitler. He did not live to see how his efforts were savaged.
Déroulède would return to France in 1905 due to an amnesty bill that could only be passed after Rousseau had died. He died in January 1914 and received a hero’s burial. He would never see the reunification of Alsacs-Lorraine to France which Dreyfus, whom he had opposed, would fight so strongly for. He also never saw the ultimate fruit of his Nationalist Movement, the racism that he supported, the collaboration with the German enemy that he hated which would result from it. He was never named what he really was – the father of Nazi collaborateurs.
Combien de foys prinse cité solaire
Seras, Changeant les loys barabares & vaines,
Ton mal s’aproche: plus seras tributaire,
Le grand Hadrie recovrira tes veines.
The solar city is Paris, ancient home of the French Monarchs. While each capital of a monarchy could be called a solar city, as each monarch was supposedly God’s anointed (for instance, in England the solar city would be London), to Nostradamus there was only one solar city – Paris, the ancient capital of France from the days of Hugh Capet.
This has been fulfilled. During the religious wars, Paris broke from the French monarchy. They tied their allegiance to Henri, duc de Guise. When the duc was assassinated by Henri III, Parisians shifted their loyalty to the duc de Mayenne. They redoubled this after Henri III was killed and Henri IV, called by some Henri the Great, ascended to the throne of France. Mayenne tied himself to Spain and Spain’s great general, the Duke of Parma, occasionally marched to keep Paris firmly in the hands of Mayenne. Paris found itself firmly in the hands of pro-Spanish fanatics. Finally, Henri IV converted to Catholicism and freed Paris, to the joy of the city’s inhabitants.
Note: Most commentators have used this to name the future king of France. While the Epistle to Cesar indicates that France will eventually return to the monarchy, this quatrain does not refer to that time in the future. It is true that line 1 can refer to the many times Paris has been taken, the most recent time during the 1940’s. But the last line is a clear reference to la Grand Henri, as Frenchmen of his time call Henri IV.
De l’Orient viendra le coeur Punique,
Facher Hadrie & les hour Romulides,
Accompaigne de la claise Libyeque,
Trembler Mellires : & proches Illes vuides.
This is interesting. Is there a second invasion from the east after Henri of France II assumes the throne? Or does this refer to a Henri before that fact, a President Henri? Regardless, this can only occur in the future. The heirs of Romulus are the Italians. The Lybian fleet is self explanatory.
Serpens transmis dens la caige de fer,
Ou les enfans septains du roy font pris :
Les vieux & peres fortiront bas de l’enfer,
Ains mourir voir de fruict mort & crys.
The seven are the seven children of Henri II and Catherine de Medici. Though there were officially ten children, three of them died in infancy or childbirth, leaving only the seven who were alive when Nostradamus saw them in his trip to Paris. As this quatrain was among the first printed, it is doubtless that contemporaries recognized it for what it was, a prophecy of the end of the Valois dynasty.
The dynasty officially ended with the death of the last king, Henri III, also known as de Anjou. Only one, Marguerite, would outlive the religious wars that shook France for so long. The fact that she was the wife of Henri of Navarre helped her immensely. Yet Henri divorced her after he was crowned King of France. When she died, the last of the Valois line was buried.
The only curious part is the serpent on the first line. Edgar Leoni pointed out that it likely was a reference to a Protestant, certainly a possibility though as he was a noted critic he tended to see things in a certain way, most notably as Nostradamus doing wishful thinking. Still, in this case he could be right as the line could be a fanciful rendition to the fact that the throne had been transferred to a Protestant. Yet Henri IV died in 1610, five year before his first wife, Marguarite de Valois died in 1615. Another possibility is that it refers to Marie de Medici or one of her councilors.