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Par les trespas du monarque latin,
Celux qu’il aura par regne secouruz :
Le feu luyra, devise le butin,
La mort publique aux hardis incoruz.
This quatrain sounds a lot like Benito Mussolini, who was dictator (monarch) of Italy (Latin) between 1922 and 1943. His trespass involved Italy joining Germany during the Second World War and the Italian conquest of Albania and Ethiopia. The second line refers to the Fascists. The fury of the war is the third line as well as the division that occurred between German occupied Italy and Allied liberated Italy after Mussolini was deposed and “rescued.” The public death of Mussolini, along with some of his closest allies is described in line 4.
Avant qu’a Rome grand aye rendu l’ame
Effrayeur grande à l’armée estrangiere :
Par esquadrons, l’embusche pres de Parme,
Puis les deux rouges ensemble feront chere.
The great one of line 1 dies in Rome. Almost certainly this refers to a pope. As most popes die in Rome, this is a historically common occurrence. If this is the case, then the red ones could be cardinals, bishops allowed to wear the red of the papal elector. Of course, after the French Revolution, the red could refer to revolutionaries.
There have been multiple wars concerning or around Parma, including struggles to reduce the power of the Barons and struggles between the various royal houses to control Parma. The last fighting occurred in 1945 when it was liberated from German control by Italian Partisans and the Brazilian Expeditionary Force.
Les deux contents feront unis ensemble,
Quant la plus part à Mars seront conjoincts :
Le grand d’Affrique en effraieur & tremble :
DVVMVIRAR par la classe desoinct.
DVVMVIRAR is one of the important words of Nostradamus. Unfortunately, it was written in the old style. The V’s could be U’s and the I could be a J, making translating a very hard thing to do. I therefore left this word as it was written by the prophet. Mars in line 2 is not the planet but the god of war. Joined with Mars here has to mean in war, maybe even with each other.
Le regne & loy soubs Venus eslevé,
Saturn aura sus Jupiter empire :
La loy & regne par le Soleil levé,
Par Saturnins endurera le pire.
To understand this quatrain, one must understand not the planets as astrological symbols but the gods of the ancient Greco-Roman religion, in this case Venus, Saturn and Jupiter. Venus was goddess of pleasure, indolence, fun, heterosexual sex and lust. Jupiter, the chief of the Gods, gave the world existence and opportunities. Saturn, the old disposed chief, gave the world structure, limitations and reality.
With this understanding, the first two lines are talking about the economic and moral times of the present. The law and the governments are pretty much given over to Venus and her charms. Pleasure, indolence, even sex, are seen as good. Due to the conveniences given to us all, we have been able to indulge to a greater degree than ever before. In many parts of the world, we have luxuries that King Louis XIV could not even have dreamed of having – electric lights, electronic entertainment, centralized forced air heating, hot and cold running water, even refrigeration of food. But these things do come with a price. The opportunities given by Jupiter are being limited by the older god Saturn, the limiting factor that is crushing opportunities and limiting wealth.
The last two lines refer to the future. The sun could stand for the monarchy or the church. Of course, the Saturnians, whomever they are, cause problems.
Le prince Arabe, Mars, Sol, Venus, Lyon,
Regne d’Eglise par mer succumbera :
Devers la Perse bien pre d’un million,
Bisance, Egipte ver. Serp invadera.
This has to be tied to Nostradamus’s Anti-Christ. The first line gives either part of an astrological event chart or part of his astrological configuration: Sun, Venus and Mars in Leo. This does not happen very often; the next time it occurs is August 2015, then it happens in August 2019, then it does not occur again till July 2032.
Of note here is the fact that he is invading Arab speaking countries. Egypt is tied to Israel because of the peace treaty it has. Byzantium here stands for Turkey, which is tied more to Europe than to the Arabian countries. Also, note the armies aimed at Persia, modern day Iran. Though so many view Iran as the enemy, Nostradamus is here indicating that Iran may be another victim of the Anti-Christ. The numbers involved demand a modern day fulfillment.
This has to be in the early days of the future Arabic leader, when he is increasing his power in the Arab world, consolidating it and preparing for his future conquests. It is only militarily logical – one consolidates one’s back yard before one goes off adventuring in other realms.
That said, the second line is curious.
La gent esclave par un heur martial,
Viendra en hault degré tant eslevee :
Changeront prince, naistre un provincial,
Passer la mer copie aux monts levee.
The people enslaved are the French. The enslavement was the period of time when French kings did not summon the Estates-General, the supreme legislative body of France. French kings as a whole tried to rule as much as they could without it – for the most part they succeeded. During the time of the slavery, the Clergy and the Nobility controlled the land and the money, yet paid no taxes. Everyone else had to pay the taxes, though the bourgeois as a whole succeeded in lowering or eliminating their taxes. Consequently, it was the peasants, farmers and working poor who supported the entire French government: these were the slaves.
The financial crisis of 1789 proved the king needed the agreement of the Estates General, the supreme legislative body of France, in order to fix it. It was so called because it had three bodies representing the estates. The representatives of the clergy were from the so-called First Estate, those of the Nobility the Second Estate, and the Commoners were from the Third Estate. However, as English monarchs had earlier learned, summoning legislative bodies tended to create problems far beyond what the bodies were called to resolve, for the members of the body had their own agendas to push. In this case, the Third Estate, the common people, had a very large, very powerful agenda to push, their own interests which had for a long time been supressed. In the Estate’s General the Third Estate had twice the number of legislatures as the other two estates, but through some political maneuvering by the king their overall vote would be equal to the other two estates, thus limiting their influence. Enraged, the third estate simply formed the National Assembly, inviting people from the other two estates to join in. Many of the clergy, mainly those from country parishes, and a few from the nobility who believed in the equality of men joined the new assembly. An attempt by Louis to crush it failed. The third estate retaliated by storming the Bastille, the guards then switched their allegiance from the monarchy to the assembly. The slaves had, almost overnight, become masters of France.
However, there were problems. The first was Louis. The second were the other countries of Europe, all desirous of decimating the revolution. These twin pressures forced the National Assembly, in its various guises and configurations, to become increasingly autocratic and destructive. They got rid of Louis soon enough, but the turmoil of the Reign of Terror and the disastrous leadership of the Directory finally made the people fed up with it all. When Napoléon Bonaparte, born in the provincial isle of Corsica, took over, it was seen as a blessing.
Regarding the fourth line. Napoléon raised an army that crossed the Mediterranean Sea on its way to Egypt. Many of the members came from the Alpine regions of France.
Par feu & armes non loing de la marnegro,
Viendra de Perse occuper Trebisonde :
Trembler Pharos, Merchelin, Sol alegro,
De sang Arabe d’Adrie couvert onde.
Trebizond is now Trabzon, a Turkish city on the eastern end of the coast of the Black Sea. Pharos most likely refers to the Isle of Pharos in Egypt, where the famous lighthouse used to exist, though it could refer to one of several other places. The sun having a fast pace is hard to explain, but that is the literal translation, allegro being a musical term for a fast pace. I could not find a translation for Merchelin though.
It is hard to decide exactly what the quatrain refers to. Is it a short term quatrain dealing with the beginning of the Arab conquest, or a long term quatrain dealing with the beginning and the end? Knowing Nostradamus and his ability to economize words, both are possible.
Le bras pendu & la jambe lice,
Visaige pasle au seing poignard caché :
Trois qui seront jurez de la meslee,
Au grand de Gennes sera le fer lasché.
The first line is very descriptive: Arms represent weapons and the ability to fight. Legs represent movement. With arms hung and legs listing we have weak ability to fight and a listless movement ability, both sure fire indicators of rapid defeat in times of war.
The second line is equally descriptive: Hidden dirk in the signature can only refer to a bloody consequence to a signed agreement. The pale visage could refer to guilt or it could refer to a murderous person who is hiding either literally or metaphorically.
The third line indicates the likely number of combatants while the fourth line gives us a key city: Genoa. The iron unleashed is the beginning of war.
This describes the final events leading up to the conquest of France in the Second World War. The first line refers to the Sitzkrieg, or Phony War, that existed between the outbreak of hostilities and the eruption of the Blitzkrieg on France. Almost no fighting occurred. Germany, France and Britain, the three of the third line, were committed to a war to the death, a war that was, quite literally, not happening. The second line referred to both the Munich Agreement which gave Hitler everything he asked for, and the Nazi-Soviet Pact that allowed Hitler to unleash his armies on Poland – the pale visage referring to Hitler who had to hide his murderous intentions from Chamberlain, Daladier and Stalin. The last line refers to Italy. Mussolini who had participated in Munich was timid, though he would become brave enough once he saw how Germany manhandled France when the iron of war was actually unleashed via the Blitzkrieg.
And the third line? It could depend on how you interpret it. Either it is Germany, Italy and Spain, the three fascist states, or it can refer to England, France and the USSR, the last of which did try to protect Czechoslovakia. Take your pick.
La liberté ne sera recouvrée,
L’occupera noir, fier, vilain, inique,
Quant la matiere du pont, sera ouvrée
D’Hister, Venise fashée la république.
This is one of the famous Hister quatrains. Hister refers to Adolf Hitler, he whose early life was totally defined by the Danube (Ister) river, and is used to time this quatrain. The focus of this quatrain is Mussolini. He is the occupant, with his black hat, proud, villainous, and iniquitous. He is also represented by Venice, for Venice was the city of Italy that played the most important roll in the rise and fall of Benito Mussolini. The liberty mentioned in line 1 is his liberty of action, lost in 1922 when he assumed power, to conquer other countries – the great European powers of Britain and France would never have allowed it. The matter of the pope refers to the Concordant of 1933 between Adolf Hitler and Pope Pius XI. It was also the year Hitler gained power, an event that alarmed Mussolini. As Hitler had stated that his intention was to occupy Austria that would have put the German border right along Italy’s northern border. At that time, Mussolini did not want Hitler’s armies near Italy, laughable as they were at that time. He was certainly vexed by the German Republic (a republic, for though Hitler was the dictator, he was not its king).
Tout à l’entour de la grand cité,
Seront soldatz logez par champs & villes :
Donner l’assaut Paris, Rome incité,
Sur le pont lors sera faicte grand pille.
The great city, in this case, is Berlin. The circle of the great city is the area of lands occupied by Germany. Their soldiers often had to live by foraging, which was simply to grab whatever food they could from the inhabitants they attacked and conquered. Paris stands for France, which was attacked through the Ardennes forest. Rome stands for Italy, which was incited by the easy German victories to join the war. I am uncertain what the reference to the bridge is, though Italy did join Germany in looting France.