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Saison d’hiver, ver bon, sain mal esté,
Pernicieux auton, sec froment rare :
Du vin assez, mal yeux faits molesté,
Guerre, mutin, seditieuse tare.
Desir occult pour le bon parviendra,
Religion, paix, amour & concorde :
L’epitalame du tout ne s’accordra,
Les haut qui bas, & haut mis à la corde.
The epithalamium is a wedding song sung to the bride and groom. The claim that it is not agree(able) is indicative in this case.
The only way I can make it work is in the French Revolution. The desire for the good was the desire that all of the delegates to the Estates General had. When the Third Estate declared itself to be the National Assembly, it gained legitimacy when many members of the other two estates joined it. The overwhelming desire was, of course, for the good. Even the religious joined in, thinking that nothing but good could come about. However, the promise of the desire was not what actually happened. The nobility, the highborn sank in standing, with many fleeing and others tied up before they were executed. Before Dr. Guillotine invented his knife, hanging was but one way that the nobility was executed.
Pour Razes Chef ne parviendra à bout,
Edicts changes, les ferrez mis au large :
Mort Grand trouvé, moins de foi, bas debout,
Dissimulé, transi frappé à bauge.
The shaven leader almost certainly ties with the shaven head of the centuries. If so, then this can refer to no other than Napoléon Bonaparte.
In 1914, it seemed the end had come for Napoléon. He had been forced to abdicate and was exiled onto the small isle of Elba. But the end was not reached. He still had a role to play, as events would dictate.
Louis XVIII tried to revoke the laws of the Revolution and the Code Napoléon. He tried to restore the Ancien Regime that almost all French detested. This led to an almost universal disdain for the king. Napoléon kept an eye on things. Finally, when he judged the time to be right, he acted. He put out with 600 or so followers (the shoes) to the open sea and landed in France. The result was the Hundred Days of Napoléon, when the bloody multiple battles were fought, the last of which was Waterloo. In the end, Napoléon would surrender to the British and would suffer a very chilly ride to his exile on St. Helena.
Esmeu de LOIN, de LOIN prés minera,
Pris, captive, pacifié par femme,
Tant ne tiendra comme on barginera,
Mis non passez, oster de rage l’ame.
LOIN is a key word. This is one of multiple Almanac quatrains where this word is found, the others being 1560 Novembre (November), 1561 Juin (June), 1562 Avril (April) & 1562 Decembré (December). In all cases, the word was completely capitalized. So it is a very important word. Just what it means though, I have no idea.
De LOIN viendra susciter pour mouvoir,
Vain descouvert contre peuple infini :
De nul cogneu le mal pour le devoir,
En la cuisine trouve mort & fini.
Loin does have a meaning. It means far, distant. But the fact that it is completely capitalized demands an importance to it not found in other instances of loin. See also Almanac quatrains 1560 Novembre (November), 1561 Juin (June), 1562 Mars (March) & 1562 Decembré (December).
Rien d’accordé pire plus fort & trouble,
Comme il estoit terre & mer tranquiller :
Tout arresté ne vaudra pas un double,
Dira l’iniq, Conseil d’anichiler.
Portenteux fait, horrible & incroyable
Typhon fera esmouvoir les meschans :
Qui puis apres soustenus par le cable,
Et la plus part exilez sur les champs.
According to Greek myth, Typhon was the last child of Gaia. He was the most terrible of all the offspring, with a very nasty disposition. He may have been the mythical beast who gave his name to the Pacific Typhoon. He was a multi-headed monstrosity with the bottom half that looked like a serpent and wings throughout his body.
Droit mis au throsne du ciel venu en France,
Pacific par Vertu l’Univers :
Plus sage espandre, bien tout tournee change,
Par les oyseaux, par feu, & non par vers.
Les coulorez, les Sacres malcontens,
Puis tout à coup par Androgyns alegres :
De la plus part voir, non venu le reps
Plusieurs de entr’eux feront leurs soupes maigres.
Les colourez, the colored, is likely a bastardization of something Nostradamus heard and understood but did not quite get right – The Colors. This is a direct reference to the Tri-color flag that first flew during the French Revolution. The sacred malcontents could be one of two possibilities, the adherents to the Cult of Reason and the Cult of the Supreme Being, and the adherents to the old Catholic Church who refused to join the new cults. Take your pick as to which one, but knowing Nostradamus both could easily apply.
The people who supported the revolution were both men and women. In fact, women became the symbol of the new Republic. So the reference to Androgynous speed is actually symbolic and descriptive, not literal, insofar as both men and women fought hard for the ideals of the revolution.
The last line is tragically true. The representatives of the ideals of the revolution failed to follow through. Robespierre and St. Just, two of the most important leaders, ended up mistrusting everyone, they brought the ideals of the revolution from the heights of the ideals to the bottom of the gutter through all the executions they performed. And the food, the results of the revolution was thin indeed while the revolution lasted. It would be Napoléon, not the revolutionaries, who would give France what the revolutionaries dreamed of, a civil code that all could be proud of. But that would happen after the time this quatrain referred to.
Remis seront en leur pleine puissance,
D’un point d’accord conjoints, non accordez :
Tous defiez plus aux Razes fiance,
Plusieurs d’entr’eux à bande debordez.
The shaved can be no other than Napoléon Bonaparte, who was known as the shaved head. His fiancé could be either Joséphine de Beauharnais or Marie Louise von Österreich. The second line refers to the great nations of Europe who joined Napoléon, yet did not join him. They joined him because of the power of his armies but did not join him out of conviction of what he was trying to do. Austria and Prussia especially never liked him. The first line would refer to the weakness that Europe had for a long time, it took years for their full power and martial skill to be achieved. And the last line could refer to the War of the Sixth Coalition where Napoléon was finally shoved out of power. As for the fiancé, it is known that Josephine was never allowed to return to Napoléon, while Marie Louise was ordered by the Austrian Emperor to remain away from her husband.
Par le legat du terrestre & marin,
Le grand Cape à tout s’accommoder :
Estre à l’escoute tacite LORVARIN,
Qu’à son advis ne voudra accorder.
The great Capet is Henri de Navarre. He is a descendant of the House of Capet, the line that has given France its Kings since 987 CE. The legate of Land and Sea is, of course, the Papacy. In this case, Pope Clement VIII, who approved Henri’s famed conversion to Catholicism. This accommodated Henri in his attempt to subdue the Catholic league, who was lead by the last remaining powerful leader of the House of LORAINE, the Duc de Mayenne. Mayenne proved to be tactful and respectful, mainly because he had to be. After Henri converted, Paris was ready to go over to the king. Mayenne had lost, and he knew it. So, tactfully, he got the best deal he could.
LORVARIN was a code word. Here, it stood for Lorraine, the great noble house that had the Ducs and Cardinals de Lorraine, de Guise and de Mayenne.
D’ennemi vent empeschera la troupe,
Le plus grand point mis avant difficil :
Vin de poison se mettra dans la couppe,
Passer sans mal de cheval gros soussil.
Par le christal l’entreprise rompue,
Jeux & festins, de LOIN plus reposer :
Plus ne fera prés de Grands sa repue,
Subit catharrhe l’eau beniste arrouser.
This is another of the LOIN quatrains in the Almanac quatrains. The others are 1560 Novembre (November), 1561 Juin (June), 1562 Mars (March) & 1562 Avril (April).