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Pleurs cris & plaints heurlemens, effrayeur,
Coeur inhumain, cruel, noir & transy :
Leman les Isles, de Gennes les maieurs,
Sang espacher, tochsain a nul mercy.
Never has anyone been so bleak and evil as to fit the description of the second line. Even Adolf Hitler, the horrific leader of the Nazis during the Second World War, did not have an inhuman heart – his heart could be touched by human compassion and friendship and was capable of mercy, however rare it was. He even loved once. His passions could be heated up and he could be infuriated over insults and acts. He loved his walks in the Bavarian mountains.
This has to refer to the future Anti-Christ, the one who will make Hitler look like a saint. Lake Leman is modern day Lake Geneva. The isles are unknown, they could be the Italian isles of Corsica, Sardinia and Sicily, or they could be the Britannic Isles of Great Britain and Ireland. Genoa is, of course, obvious.
The last line is chilly indeed. Especially the last part ... mercy to none. Not even Hitler was this cold blooded – knowing his evil that says a lot. This future leader will be the one who defines evil for centuries, perhaps millennia.
Par les desers de lieu libre & farouche,
Viendra errer nepveu du grand Pontife :
Assommé à sept auecques lourde fouche,
Par ceux qu’apres occuperont le cyphe.
Note on Translation: I have translated cyphe as cipher, though most seem to prefer to translate it as cup. It could tie into Quatrain 89 of this century, which refers to the French Revolution and its aftermath.
The Pontiff is, of course, a Pope. There have been several nephews of Pontiffs who have become important one way or another. The seven seems to indicate the children of Catherine de Medici and Henri II, but they did not, as far as I know, play any roll against any nephew of any Pope. Just what the cipher is, I have no idea. This could refer to the future, but I am uncertain. I must leave this to the reader to figure out.
Celuy qu’aura rant d’honneur & caresses,
A son entre de la Gaule Belgique :
Un temps apres fera tant de rudesses,
Et sera contra à fleur rant bellique.
The man in line one is a very uncouth man, one who rants about honor and love (caresses) but acts very rudely. This sounds a lot like Adolf Hitler. He was constantly yelling about German honor and love. Even when he was attacking Belgium, he was professing respect for the Belgium people. What Hitler’s cronies did while they occupied Belgium is well known. The flower was France.
Celuy qu’en Sparte Claude ne peut regner,
Il fera tant par voye seductive :
Que du court, long, le fera araigner,
Que contre Roy fera sa perspective.
Sparta, renowned for its militaristic lifestyle, was a city in ancient Greece. The leadership all lived in common, ruling over their slaves, the Helots, with a militaristic skill, they were known as being the finest fighters in all Greece.
Claudius was the crippled emperor of the house of the Caesars. He ruled the Roman Empire, one of the most remarkable military nations of all times, for thirteen years. During that time, he had to contend with republican revolutions and insurrections, all of which he reputedly crushed. He also launched the campaigns against Britain and Germany, yet granted pardon to Caratacus, one of the staunchest defenders of Old Britain.
From this, it is evident that the quatrain is referring to a government that ostensibly embraces a military and militaristic way of life. This would seem to refer to Adolf Hitler, whose Mein Kamph glorified a militaristic way of life, yet I cannot make the quatrain fit the situations that happened in Nazi Germany. Prussia and the government of the Kaiser’s was also considered, but again too many problems. Buth when it is placed into Bonapartist France, the life of Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, the great diplomat of France during the Napoléonic Wars, fits perfectly. A limp that existed from birth explains the first line – it was a popular misconception that the Spartans killed everyone of their own who was born with a deformity, even their future kings (not true, Sparta never killed future kings even when deformed though they killed everyone else who was born deformed) yet this misconception perfectly explains the first line as it refers to the crippled Claudius. Talleyrand was a seductive talker who made a vast mark in the diplomatic field. The king is Napoléon, the one of short, long, who wore the short cloak of the general before he replaced it with the long cloak of the emperor. Talleyrand would support Napoléon for most of his reign, but would in the end turn against him, helping to bring about his downfall.
La grand'cité de Tharse par Gaulois.
Sera destruite, captifs tous à Turban :
Secours par mer au grand Portugalois,
Premier d'esté le iour du sacre Vrban.
There have not been many great ones of Portugal. As far as I know, there was Henri the Explorer, after that, nobody. My own lack of knowledge of European History in certain key areas prevents me from making a more definitive judgment. The only definitive thing I can say is that Tarsus is in modern day Turkey and the Gauls are most likely the French.
There are two Saint Urban’s, Urban of Langres whose day is celebrated in April 2nd, and Urban I whose feast day is May 25th – almost certainly Nostradamus is referring to Urban I. Our modern convention of June 21st being the first day of summer is actually quite arbitrary, as summer has usually been in the northern hemisphere for at least a month by that day.
Le grand Prelat un jour apres son songe,
Interpreté au rebours de son sens :
De la Gasconique luy surviendra un monge,
qui fera eslire le grand Prelat de sens.
I know of no Prelate, who came from Sens. I must leave this to the French to figure out.
L’election faicte dans Frankfort,
N’aura nul lieu Milan s’opposera :
Le sien plus proche semblera si grand fort
Que oultre le Ryn es mareschz chassera.
This almost certainly is talking about a Holy Roman Emperor. From 855, the Holy Roman Emperors were elected in Frankfurt. This continued until the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire in 1805. The part about Milan probably refers to Spanish opposition to the Austrian Emperor: Milan was part of the Spanish Empire till 1713 at which time it became part of the Austrian Empire. This opposition could be either opposition to the election or opposition concerning something else. Several Emperors were opposed by the French across the Rhine River, but only one seems to fulfill the quatrain: Charles I. He was elected and crowned in 1711, during the height of the War of the Spanish Succession. Milan at that time was a Spanish province under the rule of the first Spanish Bourbon, Felipe V. Felipe was opposed to Charles – both wanted the Spanish crown and the lands of Spanish rule. Charles found fierce opposition to his policies towards the end of the war in the lands across the Rhine, France and Spain.
Un regne grand demourra desolé,
Aupres del Hebro se feront assemblees :
Monts Pyrenees le rendront consolé,
Lors que dans May seront terres tremblees.
Note on Translation: Hebro is one of those words that is ambiguous to me. I have used Thelphilius de Garenciéres translation of Hebrus, an ancient river in Greece, however, I am not convinced it is correct. The Pyrenees is the boundary mountain range between France and Spain. The May earthquake, which likely occurs in May according to the Julian calendar, will time the event.
Entre deux cymbes piedz & mains estachés,
De miel face oingt & de laict substanté :
Guespes & oucnes, fitine amour fachés,
Poccilateur faucet, Cyphe tempté.
Note on Translation: I cannot find Cyphe. Garenciéres added an “s” to make Scyphe, which translates as cup, which seems to be the traditional interpretation. I have used cyphre, which comes from the old French cyfre, meaning cipher, or the number zero.
The second and third lines give us the unique timing of this quatrain. Only the French Kings crowned in Reims were anointed with milk and honey. The bees was Napoléon’s personal symbol. Cymbes is normally translated as boats. However, here it was a type of land boat, a tumbrel, which was used to transport prisoners from their detention to their execution during the Revolution.
While his hands and feet were not literally tied, they were metaphorically tied. Louis was guarded by a force of 1200 horsemen who accompanied him. Louis went to his execution, not willingly, but without opposing those whose duty it was to see him executed. We know this from the English priest, Henri Edgeworth, who accompanied him on his journey to his death.
Napoléon would make much of the execution, and more. When Louis Xavier, the future Louis XVIII, tried to get the throne directly from Napoléon (whose symbol was the bees), Napoléon countered by saying that for him to agree to it was for him to plunge France into another revolution. Louis and Napoléon would remain enemies.
I cannot be certain about the last line. It most likely refers to the treachery that arose during the Revolution and the Empire. Almost everyone turned against Louis XVI before he was executed. Almost the same would happen to Napoléon. The cipher refers to the fact that nobody was tempted.
L'honnissement puant abominable
Apres le faict sera felicité
Grand excuse pour n'estre fauorable,
Qu'à paix Neptune ne sera incité.
The first two lines can refer to two people. First is Édouard Daladier, Prime Minister of France. The other is Neville Chamberlain, Prime Minster of Britain. The stinking abominable disgrace is the signing of the Munich Pact, which gave Hitler the Sudetenland over the objection of Czechoslovakia which owned the land. It was even more abominable because Czechoslovakia was not allowed to participate in the conference that would dismember it, and was disgraceful because France was an ally of Czechoslovakia. After the deed, both leaders were congratulated. Both came home to public acclaim. Chamberlain, who truly thought he had achieved peace, received further congratulations from the king. Daladier, who had given in to weakness and allowed Chamberlain to have his way, was disgusted with himself – he even went to far as to call the French who acclaimed him for preserving peace “fools.”
The pact received different receptions in the governments of the two countries. In France, where a defeatist attitude prevailed, the French Parliament acclaimed Daladier. In Britain, where a fighting attitude was stiffening, a sizeable minority cried out against the agreement and sought to increase and modernize the air force. Neptune represented Britain and as Nostradamus pointed out, Britain was not persuaded to peace. More and more Parliament opposed the pact. Its prime supporter, Chamberlain, finally threw down the gauntlet when Hitler conquered the rest of the Czech nation.