Nostradamus & the History Channel

I watched an episode of the History Channel's series Decoding the Past today, this one focusing on Edgar Cayce. In the first 15 minutes of a 60 minute show, Cayce was not mentioned. They used that time to set up the theme of how so many different people had come up with prophecies about the end of the world (the names used were the Mayan Calendar; the Hopi Indians foretelling of the coming of a 5th world - the end of the 4th; Mother Shipton in England - contemporary to Nostradamus, but the two did not know one another; and the old standby himself - Nostradamus). This was the lead up to Edgar Cayce, although he did not (according to the show) predict much more than some earth changes, where parts of the East Coast would be submerged, with increased volcanic and hurricane activity between 1958 and 1998. That fell short of end of world stuff.

Let me clear up a couple of things for anyone who watched the same show (it is a repeat), and thinks a Histroy Channel show represents absolute truth. It does not.

First of all, this show identified Nostradamus as the "court astrologer and magician". Nostradamus was not a magician. He might have been an alchemist, in the truest form of the word (not someone who tried to change lead into gold, but someone who understood the philosopher stone as something grasped from within), but there is absolutely no proof that he was anything more than a botanist-apothecary. He knew how to make potions and salves, lozgenges for sore throats, etc. There is absolutely no proof that he practiced some form of slight of hand, with something up his sleeve, which is what magicians do. There is no real magic, despite how hard Harry Potter fans wish for it to be so.

This false claim led to them falsely claiming that "Nostradamus' most famous work, Les Propheties, was produced by astrological calculations and magic." That is so absurd, it is ridiculous. Nostradamus claimed he wrote from an estatic state, where the extacy was due to a divine presence. How wonderful a tie-in that truth would be to a show about Edgar Cayce, who fell asleep and was overcome by the divine, which talked through Cayce's mouth, while Cayce slept. The same thing happened to Nostradamus, only he was conscious while the spirit moved his hand and pen.

Second, they had John Hogue acting as "Prophecy Expert", who giddily proclaimed how great Nostradamus was by reminding the viewers that Nostradamus predicted the jousting death of King Henri II, with the announcer adding, "four years before his (Henri's) death." Hogue then read the audience that quatrain, leading one to think he knew what he was talking about. He would read something written by Nostradamus, then recite some known history of Henri's death, as one is led to believe the two parts (Nostradamus & History) connect. They do not. That quatrain is not about the death of Henri.

This is true history. Catherine de Medici, Henri's wife (queen) and mother of his heirs to the throne, loved Nostradamus and believed in his abilities as an astrologer. She summoned him to Paris on a few occasions, particularly about her seven sons. Nostradamus was made her court's Physician in Ordinary, in 1564, when Catherine was Queen Regent, after Henri's death. That was his only official title to the throne. It was, in fact, Catherine that began the rumor that one quatrain perfectly fit Henri's tragic accident.

Now with that relationship, would it not be strange that Nostradamus wrote about Henri's death in a quatrain, knew it to be that, but would later say to Catherine after Henri's death, "Darn Your Majesty. I was so sure you would figure out that one, before the King's horrible death." It would be strange, if not treasonous! But, it was not the truth, because Nostradamus did not know about Henri's coming death, or he would have told them to beware. That quatrain has nothing to do with Henri.

The quatrain in question is in Century 1, number 35. It goes like this:

The lion young them old will surpass (or vanquish),
In field warlike by special duel,
In cage of gold them eyes he will burst:
Two ranks one, then to die, death bloody.

Guess what a "lion" is. I'll tell you. It is someone from England, which is different from Scotland (then a very separate country - and wanting to be again now). Henri was wounded by a French nobleman, Gabriel de Montgomery, who was a captain in Henri's Scots Guard. The word used to state, "will surpass" or "will vanquish" is surmontera, which also means, "top, surmount", and "overcome". Montgomery was 29 when the accident took place, and he did not have reason to "vanquish" Henri. He gained nothing from it, and the Scots Guard tried for a long time to supress the connection to them and the death of a king. Montgomery was so distraught he left France. The accident took place on a jousting field, with stands for spectators, not a "field warlike" (bellique). There is a difference; but there was a duel (special or singular) between two warriors, one old, one young. A helmet is not a cage. A cage is more like a place where two men cannot get out - like a cage fight. "Of gold" means there will be wagers over the outcome, but some form of gold jewelry could be used to gouge eyes blind. "Two ranks one" means only one will stand in the end. One will die.

While it is true this quatrain could easily be mistaken for the history of the death of Henri II, more is needed to support that theory. Where else did Nostradamus tell that he foretold of the death of his king? There is nothing in the Preface or the letter he sent to Henri II. He said he wrote The Prophecies of a future long away from his times, after his own death, which was after Henri's death. An event in 1564 does not fit that information. This quatrain has nothing to support that as its event in history. Thus, the quatrain is telling of something still to come.

I think it is important to get the facts straight. The History Channel is more about sensationalism, and those guys tend to bend the truth.