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La pille faite à la coste marine,
In cita nova & parenz amenez
Plusieurs de Malte par fait de Messine,
Estroit serrez seront mal guerdonnez.
Note on Translation: An alternate translation to line 2 is: In named nova and friends brought forth. Cita can be named, or it can refer to an organization with those letters. Nova is, of course, a nova. The two words can also be an anagram that needs to be put together. Later originals remove spaces from In cita nova, but the Rigaud edition clearly has them as separate words.
The key to the quatrain is In Cita Nova, on the second line. Malta is of course the isle of that name. Messina is the city on the coast of Sicily. This gives the quatrain a definite Mediterranean feel.
The closest I can come up with is the battle of Lepanto or the assault of Malta. If the assault, this occurred in 1565, 3 years before this quatrain was published. While unlikely, it is not impossible when one realizes the quatrains were most likely made before the first book was published (1555) and were deliberately mixed up. In this case, the knights of Malta were ill used. They had been given the isle under the condition that they harass the pirates of the Barbary coast, referred to here in line 1. They were also promised that if they were attacked, they would get help from Spain. The Turks did attack in 1565, but help from Spain did not come, at least not until the siege was over and Ali Pasha, the head of the Turkish force, was starting to embark to sail his troops home. At that time, the Spanish under Don Garcia finally arrived with reinforcements and assisted in chasing the Turks to their ships. But the question remains, what about Messina?
If this quatrain refers to the battle of Lepanto, then this is the third of the three battles, the one that occurred in 1571 and is by far the most famous and far reaching of the three. Malta participated in this battle. The forces gathered at Messina. The first line would then refer to the Barbary Pirates that the Maltese were supposed to keep a check on. The only problem is the fourth line. Why would the Maltese be ill rewarded when the victory was the reward?
Au grand de Cheramon agota
Seront croisez par ranc tous attachez,
Le pertinax Oppi, & Mandragora,
Raugon d’Octobre le tiers seront laschez.
Ceramon-Agora is a onetime city in Asia Minor, as recorded in Xenophon’s Anabasis. It was located on the edge of the old region known as Mysia, which was located on the water between the Dardanelles and the Bosporus. Rougon is an unsolved name. Some claim it to be a place, but I am convinced it refers to a person. Just which one, I have no idea. The key date is October 3rd, likely by the Julian calendar Nostradamus knew.
Regarding Mandragora, there are two definitions. The first is better known as Mandrake, a plant that grows in the Middle East. Mandrake is a hallucinogen, which has an ancient Hebraic purpose of being a love plant. The other meaning to Mandragora is a type of demon, a familiar demon given to sorcerers by the Devil for when they need to consult the supreme leader of evil. Just which interpretation applies, if not both, I am uncertain.
Plainctes & pleurs crys & grand urlemens,
Pres de Narbon à Bayonne & en Foix
O quel horrible calamitz changemens,
Avant que Mars revolu quelques foys.
This can only refer to France between the 10th of May, 1940 when Germany began their Western Offensive, and November of 1944 when the last Germans were thrust back across the Rhine. Mars revolves around the sun once every 2½ years, so Mars had not yet had the chance to return to where it was on May 10th during its second revolution around the sun. All three cities mentioned in line 2 are in the southern part of France, not far from the Spanish border. Bayonne was in occupied France, the other two in Vichy France.
L’Aematheon passer monts Pyrennees,
En Mars Narbon ne sera resistance,
Par mer & terre sera si grand menee,
Cap. n’ayant terre seure pour demeurance.
The Aemathion is Louis XIV. The French kings claimed to have Trojan blood, making them descendants of Aeneus, hence the title the Aemathion. Though it is likely to be an imaginary claim, what matters is the fact that the French people believed that the French kings had this blood. Louis XIV was the king whose armies crossed the Pyrenees, they did so during the War of the Spanish Succession.
The second line refers to Claude Louis Hector de Villars, the great French general of the war. He was opposed by the more brilliant John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, who alone defeated him, though at tremendous cost at Malplaquet. He was also disliked within the ranks of the French leadership, each of whom they thought they could do better. Because of all of these actions, Villars was often incapacitated.
The fighting raged through France, Spain, Germany and Italy. It was so fierce and furious, and Churchill’s victories so dangerous to the French cause that Louis constantly despaired of surviving the war, let alone winning.
Dedans le coing de luna viendra rendre,
Ou sera prins & mys en terre estrange,
Les fruitz immeurs seront à grand esclaindre,
Grand vitupere à l’un grand louange.
This is an interesting quatrain. Nostradamus often uses the moon to represent a republic or inefficient government. The quince is a plant that produces a peculiar type of fruit, or it can be the fruit of that plant. The only problem is, as ever, prins: I translate it to be grasped – this proved to be the key to the quatrain.
This quatrain deals with the French Revolution. When the revolution started, the people were striving for a representative democracy B the quince of luna, the fruit of a representative government. But it was placed in a land strange to it. France had for a long time enjoyed or endured the benefits and problems of absolute monarchy. Under Louis XVI the problems were many and manifest. When the Estates General was called, the National Assembly came into being. But they had no tradition of democratic government. The fruit was at the least immature. Confusion and totalitarianism reigned. The King was executed; the Reign of Terror occurred and eventually ended. Finally, France endured the trials and tribulations of the Directory which were roundly condemned. The only one who gained great praise from this was Napoléon Bonaparte. He ended the Republic and restored totalitarianism, to his condemnation. Yet unlike the Bourbons, he recognized what the French wanted B the Code Napoléon was one of the results, to his eternal praise.
Paix, union sera & changement,
Estatz, offices bas hault & haut bien bas
Dresser voiage le fruict premier torment
Guerre cesser, civil proces debatz.
It looks like Nostradamus is here talking about the tortured births of the modern day republics. And it is likely that the process is not yet finished. The low to high and the high to low represents the power the common people gain at the expense of the elite of any and all nations.
Note that Nostradamus points out that the first fruit is tormented on line 3, this was definitely fulfilled by the agony of the French Revolution and the aftermath. The people were not ready for freedom, and the kingdoms around them knew that republics were a threat to their power. The only stable republics were the Dutch and American republics, and there were problems with both. The Dutch was really a republic in name only, rule by nobility. The United States for all its ideals did not represent all the people, slavery and class warfare was rampant.
A hundred years later, the rest of Europe had their own tortured republican births. The French had accepted Republican government as “That which divides us least.” The United States had disposed of slavery but was still highly segregationist. And the passions of the majority ruled in France destroyed the hope of peace, almost ensuring the Nazi Regime in Germany.
Today the process continues. There are fewer divisions in the United States, though they are still there. The republics of Latin America are working through their problems and divisions. Europe is more divided than ever before, yet the foundation for a truly unified Europe under a republican government is there. As I write this the Middle East is exploding into revolution and violence, the people wanting the benefits of a democratic representative government. Yet there are backsliders – Iran is a repressive theocracy and governments in Africa seem to be problematical. Currently, the wildcard is Russia which seems to be backsliding under Putin after the Gorbachev/Yeltsin liberalization.
The first and fourth lines however hold out the promise of what will be when the process is complete. And let us be honest, it is good.
Du hault des montz à l’entour de Lizere
Port à la roche Valen, cent assemblez
De chasteau neuf pierre late en donzere,
Contre le crest Romans foy assemblez.
The quatrain has a definite Spanish feel to it, though French influence is also felt. The closest I could find for Lizere was Estella Lizarra, in Spain. Valen is Valencia, on the east coast of Spain. Donzère is a French town not far from the Alpine Mountains and Italy. The last line talks about a stand the Catholic Church will make.
Du mont Aymar sera noble obscurcie,
Le mal viendra au joinct de sonne & rosne
Dans bois caichez soldatz jour de Lucie,
Qui ne fut onc un si horrible throsne.
The day of Lucy refers to the feast day of Saint Lucy, which is December 13th. The junction of the Saone into the Rhone river occurs at Lyon, France. The only Aymar I could find was Compt Aymar Joseph de Roquefeuil et du Bousquest, a noble who lived to the days of the French Revolution. Assuming that the mount means his descendants or inheritors, it could mean that a future Compt de Roquefeuil or Compt de Bousquest will be hidden for some reason.
Sur le mont de Bailly & la Bresle
Seront chachez de Grenoble les fiers,
Oultre Lyon, Vien, eulx si grand gresle,
Langouit en terre en restera un tiers.
This looks like a monstrous casualty figure for hail. Of course, if one considers it to be the hail of bombs, it becomes much more understandable. Lyon in France and Vienna in Austria are named, so we are talking about some very widespread damage.
Harnois trenchant dans les flambeaux cachez
Dedans Lyon le jour de Sacrement,
Ceux de Vienne seront trestous hachez
Par les cantons Latins Mascon ne ment.
Sharp collars would also be a reference to other weapons as well. The day of the Sacrament is Sunday, the traditional day that Christians of all denominations celebrate the Eucharist, or Sacrifice. Lyon, Mâcon and Vienne are in France. The torchlight indicates the past, though it is possible it could be a modern electric torchlight.