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The Sixains
Introduction

PREDICTIONS
MARVELOUS FOR THE
Years common of the century

Gathered in Memory of the deceased M. Michael Nostradamus,
being a doctor of King Charles IV,
and one of the foremost Astronomers who saw the future.

Presented to the greatly invincible and most clement Prince Henri IV,
the living King of France and of Navarre.

By Vincent Sève of Beaucaire in Languedoc,
this 19th of March, 1615,
in the Chateau de Chantilly,
home of the Constable, M. de Montmorency.

To the King

Sire,

Having (some years ago) received certain Prophecies or Prognostications by the late Michael Nostradamus, from the hands of one named Henri Nostradamus, nephew of the aforementioned Michael, who gave it to me before dying, and by me held secretly, I have viewed the business of your State and particularly of your person, and your successes and I recognize that the truth of several Sixains have been pointed out, as you will be able to see. Sire, if your Majesty will open them to your eyes, you will find several things worthy of admiration. I have been so bold (me so unworthy) to introduce them to you transcribed in this small booklet, which is no less worthy and admirable then the other two books that he made, the last of which expired in the year 1597. In it, he treats of this century, not so vaguely as he had made the first, but by enigmas that are of clear and definite things, that they can be surely judged when they have happened. I desire that your Majesty has the knowledge before anyone else. In this I acquit my duty as your very loyal and very obedient and devoted subject, in which I am certain you will agree. Sire, consider that due to my narrowness the greater good that I could never have arrived at, I hope that with the help of the all-powerful (God) you feel towards me your good-humored clemency as your accustomed goodness makes, obliging me not as the body of one of your devoted subjects that had intended this as service to you, Sire, but as the friend who will continue to ask for the health and prosperity of your worthy Majesty, and dependent of the cause, as the one who is yours and will ever be.

SIRE,

Your most humble, most obedient and most faithful servant and subject,
From your city of Beaucaire in Languedoc.

The above was not written by Michael Nostradamus. It was written by Vincent Sève in a special booklet of the Sixtains he reputedly presented to King Henri IV of France. It was soon after this that the first Sève edition came out. For this reason, I have not given an option to read this in the original language.

I was tempted to cut off the last part of his letter due to the ridiculous praise he wrote. Nevertheless, I elected to keep the later lines, keeping it as close to as he wrote it. I kept it this way so you, the reader, could get a feel for how some subjects abased themselves in their praise of a monarch, praise elevated to the point of ridiculousness. Though even I must acknowledge that Henri was one of the few monarchs who truly deserved a certain measure of praise for his clear skill in governance, his awareness of the situations in and around France, and his success not just in ending the Religious Wars but in rebuilding France to a position of strength and leadership, this praise should still have been done in greater moderation. Henri certainly did not deserve such deific praise. No man does.