 |
|
|---|
|
|
|---|
Par terre Attique chef de la sapience,
Qui de present est la rose du monde :
Pont ruiné & sa grand preeminence,
Sera subdit`e & naufrage des undes.
The first line is a clear reference to Greece. But an independent Greece or a conquered Greece is not stated. The first and second lines are also very accurate references to the enormous debt not just Europe but the whole world owes to ancient Greece, font of sapience and wisdom.
Pont can be translated as bridge, but that makes no sense. The translation of pope, however, makes great sense in the context of the fourth line, especially if a pope is shipwrecked, either literally or symbolically through the destruction of the Papacy and the ruin of Italy. Beyond a doubt this refers to the future.
Ou tout bon est, tout bien Soleil & Lune,
Est abondant sa ruine s’approche :
Du ceil s’advance vaner ta fortune,
En mesme estat que sa septiesme roche.
The Sun and the moon can have both their Greco-Roman religious meanings (Apollo and Diana/Artemis for our purposes) and their political meanings of Monarchy and Democracy. In today’s world, both are accurate. Monarchy and Democracy seems to exist today side by side, sometimes both in the same country, as so many of the crown countries of today’s Europe testify. And Apollonic rationality is starting to stand with a love of Artemic love of the wild – a call for more natural living and natural energy sources is growing. However, even now, darkness is creeping back into the world.
Nostradamus here indicates that this is an act of Heaven that causes the problems. Of course, why would Heaven want to spread ruin? Well, the biblical explanation was because of the sins of the time. God flooded the world because of the sins of men; God will burn men for the sins of the present. Such does Nostradamus seem to indicate. However, while I believe that the future turmoil will come about because of the sins of men, I do not believe that it is Heaven’s will – Instead, I am convinced that we will have nobody to blame but ourselves.
Of course, it must be pointed out that while Nostradamus was alive, the belief that Heaven would chastise the wicked while alive was a prevalent notion. For Nostradamus to use it is understandable, especially when we consider that if he had not, it might have drawn the attention of the Inquisition, something Nostradamus dared not do. But even with such prudence, it is still viable that Nostradamus did believe in an active judgment by the powers of Heaven. So, the claim that this is coming as a divine retribution is, perhaps, a likely and understandable claim, in more than one sense.
Des principaulx de cité rebellee,
Qui tiendront fort pour liberté ravoir :
Detrencher masses infelice meslee,
Crys hurlemens à Nantes piteus voir.
The key is in the fourth line: the misery that occurs in Nantes. My researches indicate one time where there was such misery. 1793, a consequence of the War in the Vendée.
Before one can understand the quatrain itself, some background inforation is necessary. This information concerns the War in the Vendée and the region where this war occurred.
The class distinctions that were so sharply defined in Paris were not so strong out on the western coast of France. The nobility was a bit more rustic, more willing to live on the land with the peasants. True, many nobles did abuse their privileges, as was the way of the nobility in those days. But some nobles did try to live up to the old code that a noble was supposed to protect his peasants, at the risk of his own life if need be. Consequently the land was not as republican as the main city of Paris was, tremendously strong royalist sympathies resided in the region.
The levy decree of February 1793 was the cause of the revolt that caused the War. The peasantry of the outlying lands did not want to be conscripted into the armed forces of the Republic. The Committee of Public Safety was determined, however, to have their way. Many of the lands were quickly brought under control. However, in the region south of the Loire, near the coast, a full scale insurrection broke out, lead by the nobility and some members of the clergy. For several months riots continuously broke out. Republicans were rounded up and executed. Within a few weeks of the beginning of this, they had formed a decent, if ill equipped army, The Royal and Catholic Army.
The Republic responded quickly. An army of over 40,000 regular troops was dispatched to quell the rebellion. But the revolt was not so easily suppressed. It had to be defeated in bloody battle after bloody battle. Multiple battles occurred. For a long time no quarter was given – the Republic enforced a policy by which every man who supported the revolt was executed and the royalists responded in kind. It was, to put it mildly, a bloody hell on earth.
The revolt was finally put down in December of that year, though not before the Convention had finally adopted a policy of leniency towards those who surrendered honorably. The savagery that was occuring, as well as the decimation of the numbers of people in the region, probably had shocked the Republican leadership who belatedly realized that if all men were exterminated there would be nobody to grow food in this critical region. As a result, peasants who surrendered were allowed to keep their animals and churchmen was allowed to practice openly.
Now that we have dealt with the background information, we can deal with the quatrain itself. It concerns Nantes, which was a pro-Republican bastion in this otherwise Royalist countryside. It was therefore a rebellious city in that it revolted against the royalists. Inside and around the city terrible atrocities occurred. The guillotine was operating constantly, cutting off heads. People were tied up, herded onto boats, and drowned as the boats were caused to sink in the river or on the bay. Others were hung or shot. The atrocities were limited only by the imagination and memory of the participants.
Du plus profond de l’occident Anglois
Ou est le chef de l’isle britannique :
Entrera classe dans Gyronde par Blois,
Par vin & sel, feux cachez aux barriques.
The Gironde is the estuary where the Garonne River empties into the Bay of Biscay. Blois is southwest of Paris but far northeast of the Gironde. The fleet can therefore not be considered naval, as the route from Blois to the Gironde is overland. However, it can be an air fleet. The English West is the North American continent. But it is not the United States where an exiled British government would meet, but in Canada.
Par cité franche de la grand mer Seline,
Qui porte encores à l’estomach la pierre :
Angloise claisse viendra soubs la brune
Un rameau prendre du grand outre guerre.
I cannot be absolutely certain, because Selyne, as de Garenciéres translated Seline, is unknown. And the part about the stone in the stomach is beyond any legend I know of. That said, take out those references and this could be the Normandy landing during World War II. The weather that timed the landings were very rough. The planned date of June 5th had been cancelled and there was every likelihood that the 6th would be cancelled too. The Germans certainly thought the weather was too rough for a seaborne assault. But British weather stations predicted a temporary lessening of the rough weather, a claim that prompted Eisenhower to go for it. The crossed the English Channel and landed in France, not far from the cities of Cherbourg and Caen. They brought with them their own version of total warfare, with its heavy emphasis on air power, and turned its weapons totally upon the occupying Germans.
The only thing that stops me from saying this is definitely it, is the curious statement in line 2 about the stone in the stomach, and the question about Seline, or Selyne. Without this knowledge, I cannot claim that this definitely refers to Overlord.
De sœur le frere par simulte faintise,
Viendra mesler rosee en myneral :
Sur la placente donne à vielle tardisve,
Meurt, le goustant sera simple & rural.
Note on Translation: I know that most translators translate the third line quite differently: In a cake given to a slow old woman. However, I cannot make the third line of the original even come close to the modern French: Dans un gâteau donné à une vieille femme lente. Therefore, with all due respects to Theophilus de Garenciéres, who gave us the traditional translation of the third line, I must strike out on my own. Placente is very close to placenta, or afterbirth, while tardisue was obviously altered to rhyme with fantasie, as demanded by the laws of the rhétoriqueurs. Tardif, meaning tardy, delayed, or too late, suggests itself as a non-rhyming original, so I have used it.
To me, this quatrain is totally nonsensical. However, keeping in mind that words like locusts, which had nonsensical placements to sixteenth century Europeans (after all, what do locusts have to do with warfare?) is completely understandable to me, it is obvious that what is not understandable to me will be completely understandable to those in the future, once the meanings are truly understood. This prompts me to declare that this quatrain is in the future, probably the far future.
Trois cents seront d’un vouloir & accord,
Que pour venir au bout de leur attainte :
Vingts mois apres tous & records,
Leur Roy trahi simulant haine faincte.
The quatrain is quite self descriptive. Nevertheless I cannot figure it out. I must leave it to the reader to determine what it means.
Ce grand monarque qu’au mort succedera,
Donnera vie illicite & lubrique :
Par nonchalance à tous concedera,
Qu’à la parfin faudra la loy Salique.
The Salic Law places this squarely in France. The key is the first line. There are two interpretations. The first is that the great king succeeds on death. The second, and the one that fits, is that it refers to the one who succeeds on the death of the great king. The second line refers to a life of license and pleasure.
Now, the great king is obvious, Louis XIV. He ruled as a king was meant to rule and, other than his proclivity towards war, he did a fairly good job. He removed the nobility from their power and, through the deliberate pomp of Versailles, diverted them into harmless channels. Meanwhile, he placed commoners into position of high authority and improved the standing of the middle class, strengthening France. It is true that he and his great minister, Colbert, failed with the tax problem and kept the taxes on the shoulders of the peasantry – the opposition by the nobility and the middle class was so great that it would require the violence of the French Revolution to rectify it. Still, it is obvious the second line does not refer to Louis XIV; while he enjoyed his life and reputedly had multiple lovers, he did not live a life of license and pleasure.
The second line fits Louis XV. Louis was young when he became king. His earliest years of course were under the regency of the Duc de Bourbon. It is true that when he achieved his majority, he made his old mentor, Cardinal Fleury, the first minister, an excellent choice as it proved. However, Fleury died in 1743. Louis, already devoting himself to his mistresses, found the government of France beyond his ability to control – any attempt the cautious Louis did to reform the French government was met with opposition and ridicule, causing him to hesitate, often with devastating consequences. In the end, he simply gave up and stopped trying. In this, he guaranteed the end of the Salic Law with his heir.
Du vray rameau de fleur de lys issu,
Mis & logé heritier de Hercurle :
Son sang antique de longue main tissu,
Fera Florence florir en l’armorie.
The part about the fleur-de-lys, the flower of the French Kings, is a reference to Marguerite of France, Duchess of Berry, who married Emmanuel Philibert, Duca di Savoia. All the later descendants of the House of Savoy are offspring of that union; they are descendants of the house of Capet in this regard.
This quatrain takes place in the 19th century. Victor Emmanuel II, the King of Sardinia and the head of the House of Savoy from 1849-1861, became the King of the United Italy in 1861. It was not an easy conquest. He slowly gained control of northern Italy (including Eritrea) and watched as Garibaldi unified southern Italy. Then, after grabbing a number of the Papal States, he got Garibaldi to peacefully give southern Italy to him, unifying the nation for the first time. Florence became the seat of government.
La sang royal sera si tresmeslé,
Constraint seront Gaulois de l’Hesperie :
On attendra que terme soit coulé,
Et que memoire de la voix foit perie.
The first line is quite remarkable and apt. It accurately describes the vast mixture of nationalism and marriages that ensured that the monarchy of France was not ruled by pure blooded French.
It had started with Henri IV, who had married the Florentine princess Marie de’Medici. Their son, Louix XIII of France, had married the Hapsburg princess Anne of Austria, adding in Austrian and Spanish blood to the mixture. Their child, Louis XIV le Grand, the Sun King, had married Maria Theresa of Spain, increasing the Spanish infusion. Their child, Louis, the Grand Dauphin, married Duchess Maria Anna Victoria of Bavaria, adding Bavarian blood to the mixture. His issue, Louis, Duke of Burgundy and later the Petit Dauphin, married Princess Marie Adélaïde of Savoy, throwing in Savoy blood (and remerging the blood of the Valois dynasty as she was a descendent of Margarite, sister of Henri II). She gave birth to the future Louis XV.
Though the new king had married the Spanish Infanta, she was very young and the French was wary. Consequently Louis married Marie Leszczynska, a Polish princess more noted for her virtues than her beauty. Their son, Louis, Dauphin of France, married the Infanta Maria Teresa Rafaela of Spain yet only a daughter was born before she died. Louis’s second marriage was to Maria Josepha of Saxony who gave birth to the next three kings who reigned in France. The three brothers, Louis XVI, Louis XVIII and Charles X, could therefore honestly claim to have French, Spanish, Austrian, Bavarian, Florentine, Savoian, Polish and Saxon blood flowing in their veins.
The Gauls of Spain refers to the Bourbon line of Spanish kings. They had achieved power under Felipe V, first Bourbon king of Spain. During the 1770's, they had joined the French in what would become a global war against the British, a war that had started when the upstart thirteen colonies declared their independence from the British crown. The Spanish failed to gain what they had set out for, though they did get compensation by gaining Florida from Britain.
The rest of the quatrain deals with the downfall of the French monarchy. The term was cast when Louis was forced to call the Estates General. The voice was the voice of absolute monarchy; it ended with the storming of the Bastille. The government was no longer in the hands of the monarchy, but in the hands of the National Assembly.
Though that was enough to fulfill this quatrain, the full fulfillment continued on. As is known, the monarchy was restored under Louis brother, Louis Stanislaus, who became Louis XVIII. He had a reasonably inept yet peaceful reign, but his brother, Charles X, did everything he could to restore the greatness of the absolute monarchy. Consequently the French rebelled yet again. The Spanish did nothing and the last of the Bourbons fell. Though Louis Philippe reigned, it was more as a sop to the foreign powers for the real power was now with the bougouise and they deposed him when he started to get too interested in actual power. The voice of Hugh Capet was over.