Nostradamus

Nostradamus (nŏs'trədā`məs), 1503–66, French astrologer and physician, whose real name was Michel de Nostredame. He is reputed to have effected remarkable cures during outbreaks of the plague in S France. His rhymed prophecies under the title Centuries (1555) gained him the favor of the French court. Obscure and symbolic, the predictions have been subject to many interpretations.

Bibliography

See E. Cheetham, ed. and tr., Prophecies on World Events by Nostradamus (1974); R. Prévost, Nostradamus, Myth and Reality (1999).

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Nostradamus

 orig. Michel de Notredame

(born Dec. 14, 1503, Saint-Rémy, France—died July 2, 1566, Salon) French astrologer and physician known for his prophecies. He practiced medicine in southern France from 1529 and gained a reputation for his innovative treatment of plague victims in 1546–47. He began making prophecies in 1547, and in 1555 they were published in a book titled Centuries. He wrote them in rhymed quatrains, using a cryptic style that mingled French, Latin, Spanish, and Hebrew. Catherine de Médicis invited him to her court as an astrologer, and in 1560 he was appointed physician to Charles IX. His prophecies are still widely read; readers have discovered apparent predictions of such world events as the French Revolution and World War I.

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Nostradamus (1503–1566) French

astrologer/seer; wrote Centuries (1555), famous book of prognostications. [Fr. Hist.: NCE, 1969]

See : Astrology

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Nostradamus

(1503–1566) startlingly accurate French astrologer and physician. [Fr. Hist.: NCE, 1969]

See : Prophecy