Michel de Nostredame, later Latinized as Nostradamus, was born to a family of Jewish converts to Catholicism in Provence, France. He trained as an apothecary and physician before turning to astrology and prophecy, publishing 'Les Propheties' in 1555—a collection of quatrains so vague and allegorical that readers have retroactively linked them to nearly every major disaster since.
Nostradamus first built his reputation treating plague victims, developing his own remedies including a rosehip-based 'rose pill' that he claimed had curative powers, though modern historians doubt its effectiveness beyond vitamin C content. He survived outbreaks that killed his first wife and children, an experience that seems to have darkened his worldview considerably.
His prophetic verses, written in dense, multilingual wordplay combining French, Latin, Greek, and Provençal, deliberately obscured meaning—by his own admission, to avoid persecution for heresy or treachery. This ambiguity became his greatest asset posthumously: readers have claimed his quatrains predicted the French Revolution, Hitler's rise, and the September 11 attacks, though skeptics note the predictions only seem to fit after the fact, using selective interpretation.
Catherine de' Medici, queen of France, became fascinated with his work after he reportedly foretold the death of her husband Henry II in a jousting accident, and later invited him to court. Nostradamus died in 1566, allegedly having predicted the day of his own death. His legacy endures less as accurate prophecy than as a case study in how vague language invites endless, self-fulfilling interpretation.
Key people: Nostradamus, Catherine de' Medici