Nostradamus, << `nos` truh DAY muhs >> (1503-1566), was the Latin name of Michel de Notredame, a French astrologer and physician. His fame rests on his book Centuries (1555), a series of prophecies in verse. Nostradamus won lasting fame in 1559 when King Henry II of France died in a manner predicted in the Centuries.
Nostradamus was born on Dec. 14, 1503, in St.-Remy, in southern France. He earned a doctor’s degree in 1532, and became a professor at the University of Montpellier. The success of Centuries gained him an appointment as court physician to King Charles IX of France. He also became an adviser to Catherine de Medicis, wife of King Henry II of France. Nostradamus died on July 2, 1566.
Nostradamus’s prophecies are vague and open to interpretation. One prophecy seemed to predict World War II (1939-1945). During that war, the Nazis issued their own versions of Nostradamus’s prophecies to convince the German people and their European enemies of the Nazis’ ultimate victory.
