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There are a few animal types that reoccur in the Sixains. I have found that when the Sixains are applied to only the House of Capet that there is a consistency in what the animal types are used to represent:
The Wolf: Almost always this refers to the Duc de Mayenne.
The Elephant: I have not seen this refer to anything or anyone other than Felipe III of Spain.
The Leech: Usually Felipe II of Spain, who was known in France as the Leech of the Midi.
The Griffon: Henri IV of France.
The Crocodile: A servant of Spain, especially when operating against France. It first stood for Alexander Farnesse, the Duke of Parma and a loyal servant to Spain. Later it stood for the Jesuit Order, an order that for a long while operated more in the interests of Spain than in the interests of the Catholic Church.
There is also a single term, medicin which also applies. Usually it is medicine but it here finds a better expression as Medician, i.e. Marie de Medici.
Celuy qui a, les hazards surmonte,
Qui fer, feu, eaue, n’a jamais redouté
Et du pays bien proche du Basacle,
D’un coup de fer tout le monde estouné
Par Crododil estrangement donné,
Peuple ravy de veoir un tel spectacle.
The Bazacle is located on the shores of the Garonne River in Toulouse. It is the sight of a series of ancient mills, one of the first stock markets, and an 1890 electric dam that still provides electricity to Toulouse.
Garenciéres gave two possible interpretations, of which I have selected one. This refers to Henri IV. He is the one who overcame the hazards, who never feared danger. The first four lines describe him rather well. The last two lines refers to his murder by François Ravaillac. But for our purposes, it is who gave Ravaillac his ideas that completes the sixain. Likely it was the order of the Jesuits. If so, this would make them the Crocodile, a position that was held by many Catholics. It would also fit, as the Jesuits were at the time a primarily Spanish focused order. And the people were enraptured to see the spectacle of the execution of Ravaillac.
Vin à foison, tres-bon pour les gendarmes,
Pleurs & souspirs, plainctes, cris & alarme,
Le Ciel fera ses tonneres, pleuvoir
Feu, eau & sang, le tout meslé ensemble,
Le Ciel de sol, en fremit & en tremble,
Vivant n’a veu ce qu’il pourra bien veoir.
I have to thank Garenciéres for this interpretation. This refers to the year 1633, when there was so many grapes grown that the wineries were filled to the brim and still could not use all of the grapes, many of which ended up rotting. The troubles refers to the wars Spain was bringing on.
Louis XIII certainly cannot claim he was not warned by Nostradamus.
Bien peu après sera tres-grande misere,
Du peu de bled, qui sera sur la terre,
Du Dauphiné, Province & Vivarois,
Au Vivarois est un pauvre presage,
Père du fils, sera entropophage,
Et mangeront racine & gland du bois.
Dauphiné and Provence are ancient provinces of France. Vivarais is the eastern part of Languedoc, another ancient province of France, it borders Daupiné and Provence. This sixain therefore covers the southeastern portion of France.
According to Garenciéres, this concerns the time around 1620-1622. Henri le Duc de Rohan was the leader of a Protestant revolt that centered in the region described by lines three and four. The miserie, in this case, could be the resumption of war between the Catholics and Protestants. The little village on the ground is likely the Protestants in this case. And it ties to the House of Capet due to the fact that Louis XIII very foolishly restored church property to the Catholic Church, causing the Huguenots to revolt.
But I cannot make this tie to the last two lines. The traditional interpretation of the fifth line is: Father will eat his own son. But I have my doubts entropophage is a strange word, it combines entro, which is within and phage, which is to destroy. So the father is destroyed. But this did not destroy Louis XIII, nor did the event destroy Duc Henri. It could tie to Henri IV, but he was killed by Ravailac, he did not destroy himself. And I cannot make it fit the last line regardless.
I must leave this to the reader.
Princes & Seigneurs tous se feront la guerre,
Cousin germain le frere avec le frere,
Finy l’Arby de l’heureux de Bourbon,
De Hierusalem les Princes tant aymables,
Du fait commis enorme & execrable,
Se ressentiront sur la bourse sans fond.
Stock exchanges existed in the day of Nostradamus, especially in Antwerp and Amsterdam and educated men of means, like Nostradamus, would know about them. He may have even used one. The happy of Bourbon is a reference to Henri IV. Hierusalem could be Jerusalem, but I doubt it.
This refers to the regency and reign of Marie de Medici. Even after Louis was of age and could be king, Marie continued to rule. Her rule contributed to the ruination of the French financial system and the capricious nature of her rule caused the nobility to revolt.
Dame par mort grandement attristée,
Mère & tutrice au sang qui la quittée,
Dame & Seigneurs, faits enfants orphelins,
Par les aspics & par les Crocodiles,
Seront surpris forts Bourgs, Châteaux Villes
Dieu tout puissant les garde des malins.
The Crocodiles are the Jesuits, who were at that time basically tools of Spain. The lady was Marie de Medici, officially saddened by the murder of her husband Henri by François Ravaillac. Marie had deliberately tied French affairs to Spain, a very foolish act but one that would have far reaching consequences within a century. This likely refers to the revolt by Henri II de Bourbon, prince de Condé. Though it was a minor revolt that quickly failed, Marie was forced to call an Estates General.
Le grand rumeur qui sera par la France,
Les impuissans voudront avoir puissance,
Langue emmiellée & vrays Cameleons,
De boutefeux, allumeurs de Chandelles,
Pyes & geys, rapporteurs de nouvelles
Dont la morsure semblera Scorpions.
This was the first major effort of the common people to get some semblance of power in their lives. The language that emerged is still high sounding and ideal, but the practical reality of the words was muddled and destructive. People were sent to their deaths by the hundreds. People like Robespierre and Saint-Just were chameleons, while they appeared to be noble they were actually murderous to the extreme. The sixain is self-explanatory.
This was a warning to the Bourbons, a warning they did not heed.
Foible & puissant seront en grand discord,
Plusieurs mourront avant faire l’accord
Foible au puissant vainqueur se fera dire,
Le plus puissant au jeune cedera,
Et le plus vieux des deux decedera,
Lors que l’un d’eux envahira l’Empire.
This is a description of the turmoil of the French Revolution. The habits of the French, their foibles, were the weaknesses that ultimately lead to the subversion of the high principles of the Revolution into murderous oppression. The powerful Girondists were also weak, weak because they had to maintain the army least it return home and cut off their heads. They were replaced and executed by the younger and more violent Jacobins, who were themselves executed. Finally, one, Napoléon, had his influence become supreme, and became head of the Empire.
While this was not a Sixain about the Capetian family, it was most certainly of interest to the house of Capet, as several of the most prominent of the Bourbon line, the last branch of Capet, were in exile during the height of the Revolution and the Napoléonic Wars. It also affected the Capetian line in Spain, when Napoleon deposed Ferdinand VIII of Bourbon in 1808, replacing him with Joseph Bonaparte.
Par eaue, & par fer, & par grande maladie,
Le pourvoyeur à l’hazer de sa vie,
Sçaura combien vaut le quintal du bois,
Six cens & quinze, ou le dix-neufiesme,
On gravera d’un grand Prince cinquiesme
L’immortel nom, sur le pied de la Croix.
1616 saw the Revolt of Condé. The French nobility was generally upset with the way France was being governed under the regency of Marie de Medici. It became too much. Henri II de Bourbon-Condé revolted. The Parliament of Paris supported the revolt. However, it was short lived. Condé was arrested and imprisoned.
Just three years later, Marie de Medici was herself in exile. Her son, Louis XIII was waging war against her. Richelieu was the Prime Minister. And in December of that year, Condé was released.
The one great prince was the Prince of the Church, Pope Paul V.
Le pourvoyeur du monstre sans pareil,
Se fera voir ainsi que le Soleil,
Montant le long la ligne meridienne,
En poursuivant l’Elephant & le loup,
Nul empereur ne sit Jamais tel coup,
Et tien plus pis à ce Prince n’advienne.
Beyond a doubt this sixain has been fulfilled, though certain details are unknown to me.
The long meridian line refers to a line from the North Pole to the South Pole. Here it refers to the line that goes through Paris, which gained some importance when it was used as the basis of the meter, the beginning of the Metric system.
The matchless monster is the Council of Sixteen that ruled Paris in the name of the Catholic League. They were the ones who were responsible for the Duc de Mayenne becoming leader of the League. But their atrocities were so bad that the Duc, the wolf, was eventually obliged to dispel them. The elephant is Felipe of Spain, who is also the emperor.
Nostradamus basically concludes by giving Henri IV the hope that the same thing does not happen to him.
Ce qu’en vivant le pere n’avoir sçeu,
Il acquerra ou par guerre ou par feu,
Et combattra la sangsue irritée,
Ou jouyra de son bien paternel
Et favory du grand Dieu Eternel,
Aura bien-tost sa Province heritée.
The leech is Felipe II of France. The father is Henri IV. This describes the war between France and Spain during the end of the Religious Wars. It was a decision Henri did not like making but it was done out of necessity. Spain, under Felipe was interfering in the internal affairs of France. The Duc de Mayenne was still at large, opposing him with Spanish aid. Spanish troops were armed and inside France. Henri had no real choice.
It was a fortuitous war, as it not only finally drove Spain out of France, not much blood was shed. Felipe II died and his son, Felipe III, signed the peace treaty, agreeing that France was Henri's (the favorite).