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Nostradamus
(1503-1566),
French physician and
astrologer who wrote Centuries, a famous collection of prophecies, published in
1555. The prophecies in Centuries appear in four-line rhyming verses called quatrains.
In vague language, they describe events from the mid-1500s through to the end of the
world, which is predicted to come in AD3797. Many people have interpreted
the prophecies in Centuries, connecting certain ones with events that have taken
place since Nostradamus's time. The name "Nostradamus" is a Latin name he used in place
of his original name, Michel de Nostredame. |
Nostradamus, born
in Saint Remi, in southern France, was raised as a Roman
Catholic. He studied medicine in Montpellier and started a practice about
1525. Soon after, he began to treat victims of the plague in communities
of southern France. Nostradamus used innovative methods of treatment, and
his success in curing extremely ill patients earned him a reputation as an
especially gifted healer.
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About 1550,
Nostradamus moved to Salon, where he began to write his prophecies. The
publication of Centuries
increased his fame and brought many people to visit him in Salon for the
remainder of his life. Catherine de Medicis, queen of France, asked
him to plot the horoscopes of her husband, King Henry II, and their
children. In 1560, King Charles IX of France appointed Nostradamus court
physician.
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Nostradamus is
most noted for his prophecies and predictions, which he recorded in 1,000 quatrains
(four lines of verse) that he divided into 10 sections (or
Centuries). These quatrains were written in a combination of French,
old Provencal and Latin.
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These quatrains
contain a baffling mix of of word games, puns, number codes and mysterious
anagrams. What makes them even more baffling to understand is that
he deliberately scrambled the order of the verses to further disguise the
chronology. And THAT makes Nostradamus even more fascinating and
controversial.
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| With the year
2000 almost upon us and the "voices of doom beginning to shriek"
it is a good time to remember that the same thing happened in 999. People
were convinced that on the first day of the year 1000, Judgement Day would
be upon them and with this followed mass suicides, religious ecstasy and
delirium that raged across Europe.
Then, as day one of the year 1000 dawned on
the world, everyone saw that it was just simply another day in the passing
of time.
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But enough
history, onward to the prophecies . . .
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