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La Bizantin faisant oblation,
Apres avoir Cordobe à foy reprinse :
Son chemin long repos pamplation,
Mer passant proy par la Cologna prinse.
The second line places this squarely with the future Islamic conquests. Cordoba is in southern Spain and has been Spanish Christian, not Islamic, since Ferdinand and Isabella took it back from the Spanish Muslims. Prinse of the last line is obviously a word made to rhyme with reprise of line 2. I personally think it is prince, referring to a ruler or very important person. Cologne is in the Lombardy region of Italy, so this refers to the leader of Italy.
From what I can make of the quatrain, a leader of Islam (who rules Byzantium) will succeed in capturing Cordoba from the Spanish. Then, after much thought, he will launch a naval expedition that will be thwarted by the Italians. He himself will be captured.
Le roy de Bloys dans Avignon regner,
D’amboise & seme viendra le long de Lyndre :
Ongle à Poytiers sainctes æsles ruiner
Devant Boni.
The first line of this quatrain is identical to the first line of the 38th quatrain in this century. The question is, does that tie the two quatrains together? While it is an important question for the 38th quatrain, it is not for this quatrain where the interpretation is relatively certain.
Line 4, the only truncated line in all the quatrains, is the key. Devant is “in front of” and “before.” Boni means good, plentiful or bountiful. It also is a nickname by which Napoléon was known.
Normally the King of Blois would refer to one of the last kings of the Valois dynasty. This has thrown many interpreters, myself included, onto the wrong scent for a long time. Here, Blois stands for the power of the monarchy, its treacherous nature, and the willingness of the kings to use force and murder to attain their own ends. Such were the nature and deeds of the last Valois kings, Charles IX and Henri III. Such also was the nature and deeds of Napoléon.
Lyndre is unknown, however it is possible Nostradamus originally wrote l’Yndre, or L’Indre, referring to the Indre river in France. Amboise and Poitiers are both located in western France.
The Sacred Wings refers to the Papacy. Under Napoléon, Pius VI died in captivity and Pius VII was imprisoned, first in Savona, Italy. Later he was moved to Fontainbleau, where he was a prisoner in the château there.
Twenty months later, Napoléon Bonaparte would abdicate there. So the word “devant” has multiple meanings. Not just in front of, but before. The pope was imprisoned in Fontainbleau without power before Bonaparte gave up his power in the same château.
Dedans Bologne vouldra laver ses fautes,
Il ne poutra au temple du soleil,
Il volera faisant choses si haultes
En hierarchie n’en sut oncq un pareil.
Bologna is located in north Italy, near the top of the Italian boot. The last line is the key to the quatrain. It has to refer to Napoléon Bonaparte. Napoléon had conquered Bologna, yet he tried to do something good here. He made it the capital of the Cispadane Republic. But while this would eventually contribute to Italian unification, it did not allow Bonaparte to “wash his errors away.” The temple of the sun is metaphorical here. The sun here representing all that is visible. Its temple would be a temple to the obvious. The obvious was that the Cispadine Republic was subservient to France in all ways.
Nevertheless, Napoléon did great things, and his like has never been seen anywhere. Also, because of the unique set of circumstances, unrepeatable circumstances that not only dictated the inevitable existence of the French Revolution, but the circumstances of the actual course of the revolution as well, it is impossible for his like to ever arise again.
Soubz la colleur du traicte mariage,
Fait magnanime par grand Chyren selin,
Quintin, Arras recouvier au voyage
D’espagnolz fait second banc macelin.
I have to give credit to Edgar Leoni for providing the clue that solved this quatrain. He pointed out that Henri II’s personal symbol was the crescent moon, this is because the love of his life, Diane de Pointers, was named after the roman goddess of the moon, Diana. His interpretation is very similar to mine because when the clue is known the quatrain reads like an open book.
In the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis, Henri II was able to regain St. Quentin and Arras, both lost to the Hapsburgs during the last Hapsburg/Valois war. Immediately afterwards, Henri married his eldest daughter Elizabeth to the newly widowed ruler of Spain, Felipe II. This was considered to be an extremely magnanimous act, it certainly gave France great benefit for while Elizabeth lived Felipe did not interfere with the internal problems of France. Also, Henri renounced all of his interests in Italy, which was of great comfort to Felipe.
The curious last line refers to the various struggles the Spanish would have in the future, both in the Netherlands and with the future Invincible Armada that the British would destroy.
Note: Some critics would use this as proof that Nostradamus wrote his quatrains after the fact. While other quatrains (like I-35) prove this to be wrong, I must point out that this quatrain was published after the fact.
Entre deux fleuves se verra enserré,
Tonneaux & caque, unis à passer outre,
Huict pontz rompus chef à tant enserré,
Enfan parfaictz sont jugutez en coultre.
The barrels and casts of line 2 strongly indicates a pontoon bridge. The place between two rivers could be any place between two rivers, the most likely candidates right now are Paris between the Marne and Seine, Belgrade between the Sava and Danube, and Mesopotamia between the Tigris and Euphrates. Beyond that, I must leave this one to the reader to decipher.
La bande foible le terre occupera
Ceux du hault lieu feront horribles crys,
Le gros troppeau d’estre coin troublera,
Tombe pres D.nebro descouvers les escris.
Note: D.nebro is ambiguous, both the Rigaud and the Sève editions have it written the same way. However, a brief search turned up an interesting definition of nebro – demiurge, which by definition is a lesser deity, one who is not a creator but rather a builder, using what was already there. I have therefore translated D.nebro into The builder, with this explanation attached.
While this quatrain is ambiguous to me, the second and third lines are indicative. “Those of high places” sounds like the important people of a country, or a region of countries, most notably the aristocracy or our modern Bourgeois. “The great herd in the right corner” would in that case be the conservatives, those dedicated to maintaining the status quo.
For clarity, a foible is not necessarily weakness, though it can be. It is necessarily the way of a person or a people, a way they stick to, even though sticking to it can be a weakness. This indicates the powerful type of class literally dominating the entire earth (as indicated in the first line) in a way that they refuse to change, much as the Bourgeois do today.
Because of this, I suspect this is the near future.
De souldat simple parviendra en empire,
De robe courte parviendra à la longue
Vaillant aux armes en eglise ou plus pyre,
Vexer les prestres comme l’eau fait l’esponge.
Napoléon Bonaparte was the simple soldier who attained to the empire. He had quickly rose up through the ranks of the French army to become the commanding general. He then overthrew the corrupt Directory, establishing the Consulate with himself as First Consul. Finally, he exchanged the short robes of the general for the long robes of the emperor. The last two lines were extremely accurate. His valor in battle was renowned. And his treatment of the papacy and the priests of Christianity, especially Catholicism, were absolutely shabby, at best.
Regne en querelle aux freres divisé,
Prendre les armes & le nom Britannique
Tiltre Anglican sera guard advisé,
Surprins de nuict mener à l'air Gallique.
Though this occurred before the Act of Union, which officially created the British nation. It is quite accurate because ever since James VI of Scotland assumed the English throne as James I of England, kings reigned over the entire isle of Britannia, especially as Wales had been a part of England for centuries.
The two brothers are James of England, Ireland and Scotland, and his nephew William of Orange, nephew of James and husband of James’s daughter, Mary Stuart, the future Mary II. James was a converted Catholic, faithful above all to his Catholicism. William and Mary were Protestants, faithful to their Protestantism.
In 1685, James was crowned James II of England and Ireland, and James VII of Scotland. His reign was difficult, creating an increasing fear among Protestants of a Catholic revival forced upon it by James. His opposition to what was known as the Test Act (a test by which Catholics denounced their Catholicism and embraced the Anglican Church) lead him to suppress it, this proved to be a major contributor to the events in the quatrain.
The quatrain takes place in 1688. James had fathered a son and the threat of a Catholic reign over the Britannic and Irish islands was now very strong. William of Orange was invited by a group of nobles to assume the crown of England, Scotland and Ireland. William deferred, but did not decline the offer. As the offer would grant William the full might of England to use against Louis XIV of France, it proved to be too great a temptation to pass up. Eventually, he accepted. He prepared, but bid his time, watching Louis. When Louis marched south towards the German states instead of towards the Netherlands, William left the Netherlands for England.
William landed at the head of Dutch troops at Tourby. Marching, he was greeted with much show of support, and many Englishmen joined the army. James tried to raise the land, gain the support of the Tories and crush the invasion, but was hampered by his insistence on suppressing the Test Act. His cause was directly harmed by the loss of John Churchill, the best military leader England had, and his other sister Anne (the future queen of Britain), to the side of William. James attempted to flee, but was caught and forcibly returned. Still, Parliament did not act to depose him; it urged James to continue on, there were crowds that supported him. James tried, but the army and the navy had deserted to William and Mary. William ordered the army to depart from London, then wrote to his uncle that he could not guarantee his safety. James chose exile and, under a protective Dutch guard, left England for the airs of France.
Par deux fois hault, par deux fois mis à bas
L'orient aussie l'occident faiblira
Son adversaire apres plusiers combats,
Par mer chassé au besoin faillira.
I will admit I am going out on a limb on this one, but I strongly suspect this is true.
Seen from France, the West is the Americas. The east is normally the Islamic countries. This traditionally Eurocentric view is the key to the interpretation of the quatrain.
At the time I wrote this the United States was fighting undeclared wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Far from improving the strength of the U.S. military, the wars have served to weaken the nation.
The Islamic countries are currently undergoing violent revolutions in the Arabian Peninsula and in northern Africa. These two areas are also weakening.
I am certain that the final fulfillment of this quatrain is not far off. By the time this is published, the final fulfillment may be known.
Premier en Gaulle, premier en Romanie,
Par mer & terre aux Angloys & Parys
Merveilleux faitz par celle grand mesnie
Violant terax perdra le NORLARIS.
Gaul normally stands for France, but the feel of the quatrain indicates that here it does not. Ancient Gaul included the lands of France and Northern Italy! Adding in Romania, which could be modern Romania or ancient Rome, and it seems that we have a quatrain of an Italian who opposes the English and Parisians by land and sea. This could indicate Mussolini, who did oppose both the English and the Parisians – note that Nostradamus says Paris, not France, as he may have differentiated between the government of Paris and the government of Vichy. However, the key to the quatrain is the word, NOLARIS and the meaning of the word terax! Some commentators have interpreted NOLARIS as Lorraine, but this does not fit the quatrain, at least in any way I understand it.