Categories: History

Nostradamus – A Short Biography

Nostradamus was born Michel De Nostredame in 1503 and the exact date of his birth isn’t certain but historians believe it to be between December 14^th and December 21^st. He was a French apothecary who published books on his prophecies that have become famous throughout the world and is known best for his publication “Les Propheties” translated as the prophecies; it was rarely out of print since it was first published in 1555. He has fascinated so many people to the point where he has attracted a following and with the help of the press he has been accredited with predicting a lot of historical world events. There is a lot of controversy whether he actually predicted any of these events or not and some scholars agree that it to be only coincidence or that his writings are simply misinterpretations. There are a lot of people out there who are indeed true believers in his prophecies and there has been many books written about him.

Before he was educated in collage his grandfather Jean De St. Remy taught the young Nostradamus about math as well as many other things. When he was only 15 years of age he attended the University of Avignon but was forced to leave because of the outbreak of the plaque after only a little over a year. His time there before he was forced to leave he studied for his baccalaureate. After Avignon closed its doors Nostradamus traveled the countryside for 8 years finding and studying herbal remedies from 1521 to 1529. After a few years as an apothecary he attended the University of Montpellier so that he could study for a doctorate in medicine but was later expelled from the university after they found out that he was an apothecary which was a manual trade that was banned by the university. Even though he never graduated from the university with a degree in medicine he considered himself a doctor and worked towards treating and preventing the plaque.

After he was expelled from the university he continued his work as an apothecary and became famous for a pill that allegedly protected against the plaque called the rose pill. He continued to travel after the death of his wife for whom he married in 1531 who actually died from the plaque along with his children only 3 years after they had wed. After he returned from his travels he aided Dr. Louis Serre in his struggle against the plaque in Marseille and the fought the disease in his own town. He eventually moved away from medicine moved forward to the occult. He wrote an almanac in 1550 and for the first time referred to himself as Nostradamus. Impressed by the popularity of his almanac he decided to write at least one or more every year. With all of them combined there are a total of 6,338 prophecies and eleven 12 month calendars. This was all due to the response of the almanacs read by the nobility from people far away and they started to ask for horoscopes as well as psychic advice. A large amount of his now famous prophecies remain undated to this day.