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Du conducteur de la guerre navalie,
Rogue effrené severe horrible grippe,
Captif eschappé de l’aisné dans la basle :
Quant il naistra de grand un filz Agrippe.
This becomes tricky, as the last word of the third line is baste in both the Rigaud and Sève editions. Yet this violates the principles of the rhétoriqueurs where the last word of the third line must rhyme with the last word of the first line. Basle, found only in the du Rosne edition, fits the principle so is most likely the word used by Nostradamus.
Grippe can only be translated to either illness or influenza, take your pick. Most commentators choose to translate grippe as something other than sickness. While I can sympathize with them, I trust Doctor Nostradamus to recognize an illness when he sees it.
This quatrain deals with two roughly simultaneous events. The first takes up the first three lines. A naval commander who is obviously very ill manages to escape. The last line deals with the other event. Some great person will have a son who will be given a name similar to Agrippa.
Prince de beauté tant venuste,
Au chef menee, le second faict trahy :
La cité au glaive de poudre face aduste,
Par trop grand meutre le chef du roy hay.
Note: Change chef (leader) in line 4 to tête (biological head) and this would be a very nice description of Louis XVI. It only goes to show how the difference of a single word can make a very big difference.
This refers to Cardinal Mazarin, the “Chef Ministre” who fought the people and nobility in the series of wars known as the Fronde. It started in Paris, the city, when the common people started the revolt by using frondes (child’s slings) to shot objects at Mazarin’s house. It spread quickly to engulf all France. The Second Fronde saw Mazarin forced to flee France, the city of Paris occupied and atrocities and burning occur. He would return when Louis XIV claimed his majority and invited Mazarin back, effectively ending the wars. Though Mazarin would be unopposed during the later years of his life, he was still hated. And the reference to the prince can only refer to Louis XIV, who was a very good looking child.
Prelat avare d’ambition trompé,
Rien ne sera que trop viendra cuider :
Ses messagiers & luy bien attrapé,
Tout au rebours voir, qui le bois fendroit.
This could be Richelieu or Mazarin, both of whom were greedy prelates. It could also be a number of other religious leaders who became political leaders as well. The most likely is Mazarin, but I do not know how he and his messengers were trapped. I must let the reader figure this one out.
Un Roy iré fera aux sedifragues,
Quant interdictz feront harnois de guerre :
La poison taincte au sucere par les fragues,
Par eaux meurtris mors, disant serre, serre.
This seems to indicate Britain and Germany in the First World War. The king in this case is George V. He was related to Kaiser Wilhelm II of the German Empire. Because of this, he was understandably furious when Germany violated the 1839 Treaty of London which guaranteed the neutrality and independence of Belgium. Germany’s marching into Belgium, following the Schlieffen Plan, provoked Britain into declaring war on Germany.
The third line refers to the gas attacks that occurred during the war, while the forth line refers to the U-boat war Germany waged against Britain.
Par detracteur calumnié à puis nay,
Quant istront faicts enormes & martiaux :
La moindre part dubieuse à l’aisnay,
Er tost au regne seront faicts partiaux.
This could have likely occurred in several incidents around the world. So, the key is to find the French incident. I can only find one French incident that fits the quatrain.
The elder is Marshal Philippe Pétain. The detractor is most likely General Weygand, who rejected Prime Minister Reynaud’s desire to surrender the troops on the mainland while allowing the government to continue the struggle from overseas and demanded the Reynaud surrender the whole country. The deeds are, of course, the invasion of France in 1940, which so completely shattered the French. The last line refers to the establishment of Vichy. It was only partially done, as only two fifths of the country was under French control – three fifth of France was under direct German occupation.
Grande cité à soldartz abandonnée,
Onques ny eust mottel tumult si proche,
O quel hideuse calamité s’approche,
Fors une offence ny sera pardonnée.
In all of the wars, never has a capital city been abandoned to the soldiers. Even Paris was entered relatively peacefully, twice, during the Second World War, the most violent entry it endured was after the Franco-Prussian War when the Commune fought against the Versailles government which rapidly overwhelmed it with considerable casualties. Other than some bombing runs, Rome and London were spared military destruction. The closest before 1945 was Mexico City, but it was abandoned to liberated prisoners who were released in order to stop the American advance during the Mexican-American War. Only Berlin saw the full brunt of military assault and was truly given over to the military – both the Reichsweir and Soviet mlitaries.
By 1945, Hitler’s Germany was doomed. It was only a matter of time before the nation collapsed. Hitler could have prevented everything by surrendering the country, but he chose to stay and fight to the end.
By April of 1945, the Soviets had entered Berlin and savage street to street fighting occurred. The city was literally abandoned to the soldiers of both sides, the majority being Soviet soldiers. It was almost reduced to a complete rubble by the fighting. In fact, it was the scene of the final German surrender on May 8, 1945 when Keitel signed the surrender in Berlin (it being a duplicate of the surrender signed on May 7th by Jodl).
The only thing left to Berlin was its nominal status as the seat of the German government. It would become the actual seat of the East German Government during the Cold War and the seat of the Reunified German Government in 1990. But everything else was literally destroyed.
Cinq & quarante degrez ciel bruslera,
Feu approcher de la grand cité neuue,
Instant grand flamme esparse sautera,
Quand on voudra des Normans faire preuve.
With this quatrain, I must pause and take the European translators and interpreters to task. Yes, it is true that citizens of the United States do not know that much about European history, as so many Europeans are quick to point out. Nevertheless, it is equally true that Europeans do not know that much about the United States. To many Europeans, the United States begins and ends with New York City and Washington DC, with some trappings from Texas added in. I have seen so many interpretations that claim this refers to the city of New York, it is ridiculous. It is also wrong.
Nostradamus lists the latitude of the new city: forty five degrees. The only new European city that could count is Geneva, but that resides at forty six degrees. Therefore, it has to reside in the new world. But it is not New York City, which resides at a mere forty degrees.
At 44 degrees, 55 minutes of latitude, the twin cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul is clearly a candidate to fulfill this quatrain. It is a major crossroads, a major industrial and commercial center, and is located at the northern tip of the region where the U.S. nuclear arsenal is spread out.
The rest of the quatrain is quite obvious. Line 2 describes the missiles, propelled by their rockets, as they approach the doomed city. Line 3 is an apt description of a thermonuclear blast. What is curious is line 4. The Normans here could refer to the French who control Normandy, or it could refer to the British, site of the Norman Kings. In true Nostradamus fashion, it could refer to both. I will have to leave it to the future to tell us.
Ruyné aux Volsques de peur si fort terribles
Leur grand cité taincte, faict pestilent :
Piller Sol, Lune & violer leurs temples:
Et les deux fleuues rougir de sang coulant.
The Volsques were a people of ancient Italy. According to ancient Italian writers, they were dangerous enemies of Rome, often allied to Rome’s Etruscan enemies, though by about 400 BC, they were allies of Rome out of necessity. That they would be enemies of Rome is quite understandable, Rome was situated right in the middle of their lands.
This had to have occurred during the Second World War. The events described are quite descriptive.
L’ennemy docte se tournera confus,
Grand camp malade, & defaict par embusches,
Monts Pyrenees & Poenus luy seront faicts refus,
Proche du fleuve descouvrant antiques oruches.
The Pyrenean Mountains are the mountains on the border between France and Spain. The Pennine Mountains are the Pennine Alps, located in western Switzerland. Spain and Switzerland were denied to one conqueror in the past – Adolf Hitler. If so, this would have to refer to the time towards the end of his rule. The ambushes would be the deadly air attacks that daily bombed some aspect of Hitler’s war producing apparatus. The learned one would be Joseph Goebbels, a mediocre man of learning who at least knew how to deliver propaganda – his methods are used today by leaders all over the world, even in Russia and the United States, to confuse issues. The last line is ambiguous, unless it refers to some chance discovery of ancient Roman artifacts made along the Tiber or Po rivers during this time.
Note: This quatrain is Quatrain 100 in the Du Rosne and the Rigaud editions. It is a lone, unnumbered quatrain located between the 6th and 7th Centuries in the Sève edition.
Legis cantio contra ineptos criticos.
Quos legent hosce versus maturé censunto,
Profanum vulgus & inscium ne attrestato:
Omnesq: Astrologi, Blenni, Barbari procul sunte,
qui aliter faict is rite sacir esto.
This is not a prophecy. This is a warning, included in the Du Rosne and all subsequent editions. It is also the only quatrain written entirely in latin, the then language of the intellectual. This elevates this quatrain from the regular to the exceedingly special.
Mature consideration is what is demanded. He does not want any so-called skeptics who only seek to find ways to debunk his work. He also does not want anyone who seeks to twist his writings into prophecies that he never intended. The unlearned and ignorant are to stay away, they could not figure things out anyway. Nostradamus also tells those who reject God, atheists, to stay away, he may have a point because atheists tend to be the ones who try their hardest to debunk this work without critically examining it. If you embrace God, whatever the religion, then according to Nostradamus you can read these prophecies. But remember always, you are not a prophet. Interpret it, comment on it, treat it seriously and above all, do not change it.
A curiosity arises here in that Nostradamus tells astrologers to stay away. Yet he uses astrology in many of his quatrains. This seems like a contradiction but it is not so hard to reconcile this. Nostradamus used what was known then as judicial astrology, i.e. astrology that did not claim absolute control over people but merely influenced them, even if strongly. Most common astrology today claims that if they make an astrological statement that this thing will definitely happen, they treat astrology as if it was some sort of god in and of itself, giving the planets absolute control over human life. It is to those who all but worship astrology, and there are those who do, that Nostradamus is here warning off.