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The Seventh Century
Quatrains 82 & 83

Note: The last incomplete decade and the last decade of the seventh century, this decade has only two quatrains.

Quatrain 82

La stratagem simulate sera rare
La mort en voye rebelle par contree :
Par le retour du voyage Barbare
Exalteront la potestante entrée.

The simulated stratagem will be rare,
Death of the rebel way through the country:
By the return of the Barbarian voyage,
Will exalt the Protestant entrance.

Henri IV of France

The fourth line strongly indicates the coronation of Henri de Navarre as Henri IV, first Bourbon king of France. The stratagem of line 1 would be his “conversion” to Catholicism – Henri is reputed to have said “Paris is worth a mass,” though there is some doubt that he actually did say it. This was definitely a rare stratagem, nobody else that I know of ever did the same. If it was a stratagem, it was one he wisely played for the rest of his life, as even the Catholic Church was finally convinced of his conversion. The rebel way of the second line is therefore the Catholic League, which had been in revolt against Henri III for years, even before Henri, Duc de Guise, was assassinated. When Henri de Navarre converted, the Catholic League lost its reason to resist and, one by one, the important members went over to Henri. Among the last was the Duc de Mayenne, whose switch marked the end of the attempt by the House of Lorraine to assume the throne of France. Only the third line is curious. However, it could refer to several incidents. First, it could refer to the Spanish conquest of Marseilles in the name of the Catholic League, which Henri recaptured in the name of France. Second, it could refer to the triumph of Protestantism, a “barbarian” sect, when compared to Catholicism. Or, it could refer to both, which would not surprise me one bit.

Quatrain 83

Vent chaut, conseil pleurs, timidité,
De nuict au lict annailly sans les armes :
D’oppression grande calamité
L’epithalame converty pleurs & larmes.

Wind matters little, advise tears, bashfulness,
By night in the bed assaulted without weapon:
By oppression great calamity,
The Epithalanium converted tears and tears.

Assassination of Coligny, St. Bartholomew’s Day

WARNING: This quatrain must be read with a cautionary note.

The first two lines refer to the assassination of Admiral Coligny, on 1572. Coligny was without any arms and was defenseless against the Guise henchmen, the foremost of whom was Charles Danowitz whose sword pierced Coligny’s chest. Coligny would be beheaded outside his house by another of Guise’s associates.

The last two lines refer to the infamous St. Bartholomew’s day Massacre, which the murder of Coligny initiated. Between two and three thousand Huguenots were murdered. The oppression and murder of the Huguenots was indeed a great calamity. Great were the number of tears shed over this terrible event, and many nations expressed shock and horror over it. Even Ivan the Dread (known in English speaking nations as Ivan the Terrible) expressed horror and outrage over the massacre and he was no Protestant.

The cautionary note on this is that the earliest we know this quatrain was published was 1605 and that the event occurred well before this time. Though Sève certainly took it from an earlier writing, possibly an earlier edition or even one of Chavigny’s works, even that work or edition could have been written after the fact by someone (Chavigny?) who simply inserted this quatrain. It could therefore be a forgery concerning an event already fulfilled. We have no proof Nostradamus wrote this and good reason to believe it is fake. That said, we also have no proof it is a fake and the style certainly is Nostradamus’. Nostradamus could have written this, which would make this a genuine Nostradamian quatrain. So it is possible it is legitimate, but it is also possible it is not. Keep this warning in mind.