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Au pour de Agde trios fustes entreront
Portant l’infect non foy & pestilence
Passant le pont mil milles embleront,
Et le pont rompre à tierce resistance.
Fustes has multiple meanings: The one I selected was a variation of moldy wine casks, however, it could also refer to a light galley. The second line is interesting: An infection is carried, but Nostradamus is careful to let us know it is not an infection of the body, neither is it an infection of faith (i.e., a false faith). I would hazard the opinion that it is some sort of moral infection of some sort, though I am likely mistaken. The numbers carried off in the third line indicates the future.
The only place that is certain is that of Agde. It is a city near the south coast of France.
Gorsan, Narbonne, par le sel advertir
Tucham, la grace Parpignam trahye,
La ville rogne n’y vouldra consentir.
Par haulte vol drap gris vie faillie.
Gorsan is ambiguous to me. Narbonne, Tuchan and Perpignan are on or near the southern coast of France. A literal translation of line 4 is: By high flight drop grey life fails. I leave it to the reader to decipher.
Lettres trouvees de la royne les coffres,
Point de subscrit sans aucun non d’haueur
Par la police seront cachez les offres
Qu’on ne scaura que sera l’amateur.
There are several queens who had amorous affairs with others, but I do not know of any unsigned letters that were actually found in any queen’s coffers. The guards of the time help to conceal the evidence, or offer. The lover remains unknown at that critical time. Unfortunately, so does the queen, at least to me.
It is likely that this was an affair that was hushed up quite successfully. It would therefore be an interesting tidbit known only to people around the time it actually happened.
Most likely, it was one of the queens of France. However, which queen? The first likely candidate was Marguerite de Valois, first wife of the future Henri IV of France; the two were notoriously unfaithful to each other, the hushing of the letters would in this case be due to some political ramifications that had to be avoided. Marie de Medici also is a possibility, as Henri IV did spend a lot of time in the company of Henriette d’Entragues. A likely candidate is Anne of Austria, a very lively and attractive woman who was the wife of Louis XIII. It is known the two did not have the best of regards for each other – Louis’ taste ran more towards young men, leaving Anne the need to find her passions elsewhere. As Marie-Thérèse of Spain, wife of Louis XIV, did not seem to have any affair with anyone, the next likely candidate was Marie Leszczynska, wife of Louis XV, who was rumored to have had an affair with Florimond Claude, Comte de Mercy-Argenteau, an Austrian commander and diplomat – this would have been harshly supressed because France and Austria were enemies at the time and Marie was popular in France.
There is the possibility that this refers to Mary, Queen of Scots. She was once the wife of Francis II and Nostradamus likely met her, so that he would write quatrains about her is understandable. Supposedly, several letters, supposedly written in Mary’s handwriting, were found in a silver casket which was in the possession of a retainer of Lord Bothwell. The letters supposedly implicated Mary and Bothwell, who subsequently married each other, in the murder of Mary’s earlier husband, Darnley. However, because the letters make it obvious that Bothwell was the lover, it does not seem that this is the correct interpretation.
Le lieutenant à l’entree de l’huys,
Assommera le grand de Parpignan
Le se cuidant sauluer à Monpertuis.
Sera decev bastard de Lusignan.
Perpignan is in southern France. Lusignan is in western France. I cannot find Monpertuis; most likely it is altered to rhyme with l’huys of line 1. With this in mind, Montpellier, which is also in southern France, suggests itself. My expectation is that this refers to the future, but I am uncertain.
I think that this is a quatrain reserved for the future. But as my lack of understanding is obviously coming into play here, I could be wrong. I therefore leave it to the reader to figure out.
Coeur de l’amant ouvert d’amour fertive
Dans le ruysseau fera rauyr la Dame,
Le demy mal contrefera lassive,
Le pere à deux privera corps de l’ame.
The quatrain is quite specific. A lover, most likely male, is awakened by a furtive love. He has sex with a lady by a stream or brook, the quatrain does not say if the lady is adverse to this. The half evil is likely the lover but it could be anything. The fourth line mentions a father of two who deprives the corpse of its soul.
Now, the last line removes this from the literal. How can any man deprive a corpse of its soul? The soul is already removed from the body simply by killing the body. Therefore, the last line is not literal, but metaphorical.
It seems to me that we are dealing not with individuals here but countries. But who are we talking about? France is most likely involved, but is France the lover or the ravished lady, the half evil or the father? While knowing Nostradamus the ravished lady is the most likely, one cannot eliminate the other possibilities without certain knowledge and we currently do not have enough knowledge to do that.
Also, there is an ambiguous word: lassive, which is likely a word altered to rhyme with fertive of the first line. Leoni thought the word should have been lascive, or a hurt. This seems to me to be as good as any.
De Caton es trouves en Barsellonne,
Mys descouvers lieu terrouers & ruyne,
Le grâd qui tient ne tient vouldra Pamplonne,
Par l’abbage de Monserrat bruyne.
Note on Translation: There is a second way of translating the third line: The great who holds will not want to hold Pamplona.
Note on interpretation: There is a Pampelonne in France: it is a little village located northeast of Toulouse and north of Castres. As it looks to be inside the ancient region of Provence, Nostradamus would almost certainly have known about it. But the flavor of the quatrain is Spanish, therefore Pamplona is the obvious interpretation. It is a fairly decent sized city in the Basque territory of Spain, not far from the Bay of Biscay. Montserrat is interesting. There are several Montserrat’s, including an isle in the Caribbean chain of isles known as the Lesser Antilles in the Atlantic Ocean, controlled by the British. But the key one is a mountain in Spain near Barcelona. It is the site of a Benedictine abbey: Santa Maria de Montserrat. Barcelona is obvious, but Caton is ambiguous.
Beyond a doubt, this is a quatrain regarding Spain. However, it is one I cannot adequately interpret. I am forced to leave this to the ingenuity of the reader to figure out.
La voye auxelle l’une sur l’autre formix
Du muy deser hor mis brave & genest,
L’escript d’empereur le fenix
Veu en celuy ce qu’a mul autre n’est.
Note on Translation: Voye, or voie, can be translated several ways: Image, route, tell and stand are just a few of the ways. I selected image because it seems to fit the quatrain, but the others could be right. It could also be one of Nostradamus clever words which has multiple meanings.
The phoenix is a legendary bird who every five hundred years burns itself to death. From the fires of this death it is reborn. In the third line, Nostradamus is indicating that an emperor who had a phoenix trait (maybe Napoléon Bonaparte who reasurected his empire, if only for 100 days) will leave something written, something important, something found nowhere else.
Line 1 holds the key to the quatrain: The auxiliary image. Knowledge of what it is will unlock the quatrain.
La simulaschres d’or & d’argent enflez,
Qu’apres le rapt au lac furent gettez
Au descouvert estaincts tout & troublez,
Au marbre escript prescripz intergetez.
The first line describes modern day money. Before the 20th century, all money was either gold or silver – if it was paper, it was backed by gold or silver in special government vaults throughout the world. Money not backed by any precious metal was unheard of until the middle of the 20th century, when money was printed that was not officially backed by any metal whatsoever. It became, according to the standards of the sixteenth century, simulated money. And, eventually, inflation kicked in, lowering the values of many of the European currencies.
The rest of the quatrain paints a picturesque simile. The kidnapping of line 2 is, after all, not literal. But in a sense, to a sixteenth century person, what happened would be tantamount to a crime like a kidnapping. The currencies of Europe were “kidnapped” by a treaty, the Maastricht Treaty of 1992. Much confusion and concern was expressed, with two of the founding countries, Britain and Denmark, making sure they had opt-out clauses that applied to them. Finally, the Maastricht Treaty took effect and all the currencies of the founding nations (except Britain and Denmark which remains outside) were locked into specific ratios while the new currency, the Euro, was produced. The marble of line 4 represents the locking of the currency rates.
One word, estaincts, I could not translate. Many people have tried to translate it, not one is accurate. However, the rest of the quatrain is so obvious, especially with the hint of the first line, that I cannot see how this word could divert it from this interpretation.
Au quant pillier lon sacre à Saturne,
Par tremblant terre & deluge sendu
Soubs l’edifice Saturnin trouvee urne,
D or Capion rauy & puis rendu.
In line 1 Saturn could be the actual god, but it could also refer to one of the areas Saturn supposedly governs in astrology which is time, structure and the taking ideas and making them real, bringing things down to earth so to speak. I also suspect that the pillar is here descriptive instead of literal. It will use our own terminology to describe something important, like a pillar of a treaty.
The urn could be metaphorical or literal. The structure could be an actual temple once dedicated to Saturn, or it could be a modern day structure dedicated to one of the meanings of Saturn, like a building that holds a universal clock, time being an instrument of Saturn.
Just what Capion is, I am uncertain. It is not a place name and there are people who have the name of Capion, so I am of the opinion it is the name of an actual person. However, I currently cannot find any of any importance. Because of this, I am certain this refers to the future.
Dedans Tholoze non loing de Beluezer
Faisant un puys loing, palais d’espectacle
Tresot trouve un chacun ira vexer,
Et en deux locz tout & pres del vasacle.
I used the translation that Theophilus de Garenciéres used to translate vasacle, mainly because I could not do better. There is no Beluezer or anything like it near Toulouse, though I found Beauzelle which is near Toulouse, in a north by northwest direction, so I used it as the translation of Beluezer. Most likely, this refers to an event in the future.