Who was Nostradamus—and why do his predictions still rile us up?

National Geographic

2 days ago

Michel de Nostredame, famously known as Nostradamus, is depicted on a 1810 wood print by Charles Canivet. The French physician and astrologer is famous for his prophecies, but many are vague and open to interpretation. Photograph by INTERFOTO / Alamy Stock Photo
What's in the future…and how does the world end? They're tempting questions—and one that, centuries ago, doctor and self-styled prophet Nostradamus always claimed to answer. His famed predictions range from confusing to creepy, and his acolytes believe his 16th-century predictions still ring true today. His supposed 2025 prophecies include long wars, plague, and a fireball that may destroy Earth.
In fact, Nostradamus is so well known for his predictions that a 1672 reference to him is among the first documented uses of the word 'prognostication' in the English language.
But the man some think of as a prophet was no divine being. He was a real-life French physician, apothecary, and author whose bold predictions earned him a name in the tumult of Renaissance Europe. Here's what to know about Michel de Nostradame, better known as Nostradamus. Who was Nostradamus?
Michel de Nostradame was born in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France, in December 1503. (Historians disagree on the exact date.) His parents were the son of a notary and the daughter of a prominent local physician. Nostradame would marry twice during his lifetime, ultimately fathering eight children.
Renaissance France, like the rest of Europe, was seized with religious strife during his lifetime, with important ramifications for young Nostradame. His family was Jewish but had converted to Catholicism after Provence became part of the kingdom of France in 1486. Though Jews had a long history in the region, they were told by local authorities in the late 1400s to either convert or be expelled, so Michel was raised Catholic.
Young Nostradame studied Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and medicine and began attending the University of Avignon while still a teen. He received his bachelor's degree in medicine in the 1520s, though his school closed because of the bubonic plague while he was a student. Plague doctor and inquisition
After finishing his formal education, Nostradame spent time traveling France studying herbalism and treating victims of the plague, one of the era's most feared diseases.
Historians believe he was expelled from the University of Montpellier, where he next studied, due to having practiced in the 'manual' trade of an apothecary; they disagree on whether he returned to receive his full doctorate.
Practicing medicine in Renaissance France meant treating diseases like plague. But the era's medicine also involved practices now deemed unscientific, like alchemy, astrology, and prophecy. Those practices couldn't save Nostradamus' wife, whose name has been lost to history, nor his two children. They died in the 1530s, likely of plague.
(Why plague—one of history's deadliest diseases—still afflicts U.S. wildlife.)
The devastated doctor now faced other problems, too. In 1538, he was overheard roundly criticizing the craftsmanship of a religious statue—words that got him accused of heresy and dragged before inquisitors in 1538. A heresy accusation would have destroyed his reputation locally, and a conviction would mean he was executed. But the court acquitted him, and he took up his travels again, specializing in plague medicine.
Some of Nostradame's remedies seem to have worked, for he found steady work. The success of some of his remedies likely relied on hygienic practices like recommending clean drinking water. Others, like his rose pills, used herbs and flowers. His practice also would have involved alchemy, astrology, and other esoteric practices now seen as unscientific. But his patients were satisfied enough with the results to spread the word about his skill. Scientific or not, the doctor's plague treatments took him throughout France in the decade that followed—and both his work and his writing began to gain fans in high places. Nostradamus' poetic predictions
The doctor and French astrologer, whose name was widely Latinized as Nostradamus, began writing annual almanacs in the 1550s that drew on his supposed 'knack' for making accurate predictions on the events and weather conditions of the year to come. These cheap, popular publications became known for their poetic prognostications and introduced Nostradamus to a wider audience.
Nostradamus's fame earned him some extremely high-profile clients eager for a personal and political forecast. In 1555, he predicted that a 'young lion'—thought to be code for the coat of arms of King Henry II of France—would fall in combat, and the next year Henry's wife, Queen of France Catherine de Medici and her son Charles IX visited the prognosticator.
When Henry II did indeed die on July 10, 1559 of an injury sustained during a jousting tournament, it sparked what historian Denis Crouzet called 'a sense of imminent catastrophe.'
The doctor's vague, flowery language protected both himself and the person at the center of the prophecy from mistakes, humiliation, and accusations of charlatanism, adding to his reputation and mystery over time. As Oxford University historian Michelle Pfeffer writes for The Conversation, astrology and prognostication were commonly practiced at the time and were especially popular among the elite.
By then, Europe was already in the grip of religious and social strife as the Reformation unleashed tensions between Catholics and Protestants, social inequality stirred unrest, and prophecies and rumors gripped the public. Many of these divisions would boil over into conflict, including civil war, during Nostradamus' lifetime.
(How Martin Luther became the father of the Protestant Reformation.)
Criticized by Catholics and Protestants alike, Nostradamus stood by his prophecies, publishing a large book of them and continuing to release his popular almanacs even after being briefly imprisoned for publishing his work without the Church's permission. He died on July 1, 1566, likely of gout. Historians and the public have argued about the thousands of predictions he made during his lifetime—and seemingly validated them—ever since. What did Nostradamus predict—and what actually happened
Though Nostradamus' seeming prediction of the death of Henry II gained him fame during his lifetime, his name has persisted thanks to other prophecies some believe have been fulfilled.
Perhaps the most astonishing of his predictions was his specific forecast around 1558 that 'The Senate (Parliament) of London will put their King to death.' In 1649 , exactly that happened: Charles I was beheaded for treason after a conflict with Parliament that ended up sparking civil war in England.
'As even skeptics must acknowledge, this is a most remarkable statement,' wrote biographer Ian Wilson in. In the same prophecy, Nostradamus predicted that London would 'be burned by fireballs in thrice twenty and six.' In 1666, a fire did occur in London, destroying huge swaths of the city.
People of the era hadn't forgotten Nostradamus's prophecies—and they didn't stop looking for events that potentially fulfilled them in the years that followed. Fans of the far-seeing doctor have attributed everything from the French Revolution ('a married couple' who will result in 'tempest—fire—blood'), the rise of Napoleon (an Emperor 'who will cost the Empire dear'), and the rise of Hitler ('the great enemy of all the human race') to Nostradamus.
(Was Napoleon Bonaparte an enlightened leader or tyrant?)
But just as many of his vague prognostications have not come true, and there is a long history of political and cultural figures reinterpreting and even misinterpreting Nostradamus to further their own goals.
Among those eager to use Nostradamus' prophecies were the leaders of the Third Reich. Propagandist Joseph Goebbels incorporated prophecies into his propaganda, using them to sow doubt and build support for the Nazi war effort. Nostradamus has also been invoked by extremist groups, serving as a way to transmit ideologies to others.
Nostradamus is also credited with predicting the end of the world, however that prophecy is yet to come true. He prophesied that in July 1999, 'from the sky will come a great King of terror.' His prediction further fueled doomsday fears as concerns rose about how the supposed Y2K bug would affect computer systems.
The French astronomer is still being interpreted, read, and studied by those with an interest in prophecy and prognostication.
More than 500 years after his death, Nostradamus continues to entertain and confuse—and interest in his prophecies remains strong. 'Prophecy continues to shape hopes and fears for the future of individuals, groups, states, and the whole world,' writes historian Stephen Bowd in the Encyclopedia of Millennialism and Millennial Movements. After all, who doesn't want to know the future—or think it's possible to see?