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Though a wandering physician, he did limit himself. It seems that he was able to receive mail from individuals. A true wandering physician with no home base would have found it impossible to receive mail. Where this was we may never know. However, we do know that it would not have been Montpellier. Without a career at that university, Doctor Nostradamus would have wanted to go elsewhere to establish himself. Nevertheless, while we do not know where Nostradamus established himself, we do know that letters were able to reach him.
Nostradamus received a very courteous letter from Julius César Scaliger, one of the great thinkers of his time. He promptly wrote a reply to the famous lettered man. The reply so pleased Scaliger that he sent an invitation to the young doctor to come and stay with him in Agen. Michael accepted and went as quickly as he could. There, he had a warm welcome from Scaliger and his young wife. Almost naturally they talked about important events, like the troubles the Catholic Church was having with Henry VIII of England, something about him wanting to divorce his wife to marry some lady called Boleyn. Of course, Nostradamus could not stay with Scaliger indefinitely. He would have to find his own residence, which he did.
Fortune was smiling on Nostradamus. He had a thriving and illustrious medical practice in Agen. He also had the mind of Scaliger to sharpen his wits – naturally the two held high converse together, at least when Nostradamus was not busy attending to his patients or being wooed by the local women. And it was in Agen that Michael first fell in love and got married.
Just what the name of the woman was who captured his heart is unknown. Guesses have been made, but I have found no conjecture that can be supported by any facts. The only name I ever saw attributed to her proved to be the name Scaliger’s wife. All we know about her comes from Chauvigny, his future friend: She was lovely and very loveable. Of course, this could be more from the heart of Nostradamus than actual fact, but it is definite that to the young Michael his wife was one of the fairest of all. But Nostradamus himself says nothing about this marriage. One thing is certain: the fact that Nostradamus says nothing indicates that a very deep pain exists from this marriage; there would not be any such pain unless he had truly been in the deepest of love with this woman.
Life seemed complete for Nostradamus. He had a lovely wife that he obviously loved very deeply. They had two children. He had his friendship with Scaliger and the Bishop of Agen, Marc-Antoine de La Rovère, who would guide the young doctor in all matters spiritual. He also had a good practice in Agen with a glowing reputation and was deeply respected. We know this last bit because a deputation of citizens had offered to give him and Scaliger a tidy salary if they would guarantee they would remain. It is reported that the two rejected it, saying that they had enough and to give the money to the poor. It is noted by several sources that the city would carry the two on their shoulders in celebration.
If fortune had kept it this way, he would have lived to an advance age in Agen, having a happy life. He might have fought the plague in Aix, gaining a certain amount of fame for his “success;” he certainly did this anyway and it is a credit to his learning in Montpellier as well as his unorthodox thinking that he strove to do so. He might have backed Rondelet’s eventual desire for that botanical garden to examine the properties of plants, he was the likely inspiration for it. But that would have been the extent of his repute. He would be today at best a minor footnote in history, one of the many physicians who strove to advance medical knowledge in some minor way as well as being a friend of Scaligar. His psychic ability would not have developed and he certainly would never have written the Prophecies. For this, misery and heartache would have to hit him hard.
The mark that fortune was turning against him, or was beginning to prepare him for his true calling, began when Nostradamus and Scaliger had an argument. Most likely, it was Scaliger’s fault; all commentaries on the man talk about his enormous pride and vanity. Scaliger had no reason to be jealous. He was one of the foremost thinkers of his time. His contributions to botany were established even then, his literary fame was great and he was in the middle of a brilliant career. Likely he had called the doctor to Agen to be a brilliant satellite around his own brilliance, that Nostradamus was illustrious in his own right would have irked him. Who knows what regret Nostradamus had after the argument? Regardless, the argument was bitter and final. There is no mention that Scaliger ever thought kindly of the good doctor again.
Now a blow occurred, one from which he never truly recovered. A sickness swept through Agen. What the sickness was is unknown. Some commentators say it was the plague though as many sicknesses were often called the plague by the local populace, its being the actual plague is unlikely. What matters is that when it was over, Nostradamus stood over the graves of his beloved wife and two infant children. His happiness was buried in those graves. Freedom, however unwanted, was now his. Hit by fate in such a hard way, Nostradamus took to the road again. Sadly, the people of Agen watched him go. The year was 1533. He was not yet thirty years old.
One of the sad truths is that jealousy always raises its head, sometimes for the most obvious of reasons, often for the stupidest of reasons. And it is not limited to the political sphere. Or rather, one can say that the political sphere extends itself everywhere, even into the ranks of academia.
Nostradamus’ experience with Scaliger was not new to him, nor would it be the only one he ever suffered. But it was also not limited to him. As a singular example, Isaac Newton would endure the blows of academic jealousy when his lifelong nemesis, Robert Hooke tried to claim credit for much of Newton’s work. Likewise Newton would suffer the pangs of jealousy when Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz took Newton’s mathematical principles of Fluxions (or he did it completely independently, we have no way of verifying it) and developed Infinitesimal Calculus.
The thing is, such jealousies as these people experienced did not do much to harm the recipient. No matter what Scaliger did, Nostradamus had his own fame and nothing Scaliger did changed that. Newton’s claim to fame is locked in and nothing Robert Hooke did could change it. At the same time Newton tried to demonize Leibniz, failing miserably. True, in all cases the jealous one had a bit of relief, but in the long run it did nothing to change anything.
It is impossible to get away from the politics of enemies, of jealousies, but it is always important that one strive to remain above such petty jealousies. It will not aid them, but in the end it may help us.