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            In the year 1569 as well, another notorious death took place, this time in France. it was that of Prince Louis de Conde, who was first elected as head of the Protestant assembly in the year 1560. Conde was a slippery character at best, who when caught in his machinations, always professed his complete loyalty to King and country. But while he usually escaped punishment from King and country, his head was especially targeted by the ultra Catholics - from them, he would not escape.
 

Prince Louis de Conde

            3-41 A hunchback will be elected by council
            A more hideous monster not seen on earth
            A willing blow will put out his eye
            The traitor to the King will be received as faithful.

            Conde was taken prisoner at the battle of Jarnac on March 13, 1569, when his horse was shot out from underneath him. He was laying on the ground with a broken leg, but otherwise unhurt, when Montesquiou the Captain of the Duke of Anjou’s guards, rode up, and deliberately killed him with a pistol shot in the eye. And yes, Conde was a hunchback, as the prophet says he was!
            More Catholic Protestant battles in the next quatrain. This one refers to the Groslot family who were the hereditary Bailiff’s of the city of Orleans in France. On April 13, 1562, Jerome Groslot opened the city gates of Orleans to the Protestants. A little while later in 1563, the French under the forces of the ultra Catholic Duke of Guise besieged the town. During the siege, on February 18 1563, the Duke of Guise was assassinated by a Protestant.
            Later yet, in another battle, Jerome Groslot found himself captured by the Catholic forces and imprisoned. However he was made captive poorly, and he managed to escape. Recaptured later, he was condemned by the Tribunal of the Inquisition to be beheaded on November 9, 1569.

            3-66 The great Bailiff of Orleans put to death
            By one revengeful of blood
            He will not die a deserved death, nor by chance
            He will be made captive poorly by feet and hands.

            What Nostradamus says here, is that this man will be put to death by the Catholics because of his association with the Protestants. His death will not be deserved, the Prophet points out - this was true, because the inquisition was made up of the ultra Catholic forces in France, and they were eager to avenge the blood of their leader, the Duke of Guise, who had been killed at Orleans. Nor will his death be accidental, writes the prophet in the third line - again this is true. Jerome Groslot did not meet with death on the battlefield, but rather with a deliberate beheading.

            During these wars of religion strife in 16th century France, the Turks were not still either. They still faced their age old adversaries, the Christians. In the year 1571, on August 5th, the Turks captured Famagusta on Cyprus. They took Nicosia after a 45 day siege, and put to the sword, twenty thousand men. Spain, Venice, and the Pope were horrified, and quickly put together a huge army to go against their foes, in what was known as the Battle of Lepanto. This fleet was led by the able soldier Don Juan of Austria, bastard son of Charles V. of Spain. The combatants met in the gulf of Corinth on October 7, 1571, and the Ottoman navy was completely devastated in the mighty battle which followed. Several of their top leaders were killed, including the commander of the Turkish fleet, Ali Pasha, and the Sanjak of Alexandria, Mahomet Sirocco.

            12-36 A ferocious attack is being prepared on Cyprus
            A tear in my eye, for your imminent ruin
            Byzantine and Moorish fleet very great loss
            Two different ones, the great devastation by the rock.

            Don Juan of Austria later enjoyed more military success when he recaptured Tunis from the Corsairs in 1573. The Turks never recovered from this series of battles, and they were pretty well finished as a force to be reckoned with from this point on in history.

                                            
                                          Don Juan of Austria

            8-50 The pestilence around Capallades
            Another famine approaches Sagunto
            The Knight Bastard of the good old man
            Will cause the great one of Tunis to loose his head.

            9-42 From Barcelona, From Genoa and Venice
            From Sicily pestilence, Monaco joined
            They will take aim against the barbarian fleet
            The Barbarian will be driven way back as far as Tunis.

            Capallades and Sagunto are both in Spain, and they were not uncommonly hit by famines and plagues in the 16th century. Plagues hit between 1570 and 1574 in Spain, and there was a famine in France in 1572 due to the incessant rain - no doubt it affected Spain as well. Italy suffered a disastrous harvest and famine in 1569.
            The Knight Bastard is of course Don Juan of Austria, bastard son of the mighty Charles V. The great one of Tunis would be Ali Pasha commander of the Turkish fleet. He was literally beheaded in the battle, and his head was stuck on a pike mounted on the prow of the defeated Turkish flagship.
            Monaco and Genoa were satellites of the Spanish empire during this time period, and would have sent contingents of men for this battle as well.

            4-39 The Rhodians will demand relief
            Through the neglect of it’s heirs abandoned
            The Arab empire will reveal it’s course
            The cause will be set right again by Spain.

            The island of Rhodes surrendered to the Turks in the year 1522. Charles V installed the Knights of St. John on Malta in 1530 for their valor at Rhodes. In 1565, the Turks boldly attacked Malta, killing 8,000 of the knights, and possessing themselves of half the island. Therefore, it was poor policy of Charles V’s son Phillip II to leave their heirs without any help, says the prophet in this quatrain. This help did arrive some what later, when Spain defeated the Ottaman Turks at Lepanto in 1571. The third line is interesting in that it is a prophecy within a prophecy, since he says what happens to the Arab empire here, will be a view of the future yet to come for them - in other words, this defeat will spell the beginning of the end of the Ottaman empire.

                    
                      Charles IX           Henri III

            5-50 In the year that the brothers of the lily come of age
            One of them will hold the great Romanie
            The mountains will tremble, a Latin passage opened
            Agreement to march against the fort of Armenia.

            The first line of this quatrain indicates the brothers Charles IX and the Duke of Anjou who later became King Henri III. In the year 1573, both of them were Kings, Charles IX as King of France, and his brother Henri became King of Poland and Lithuania.   In the last two lines, Nostradamus is talking about the pact made by Spain, Venice and the Pope to go against the Turks at Lepanto in 1571. Don Juan then followed with an attack on Tunis in October of the year 1573.
            The marriage of Henry of Navarre a Protestant, and Margo of Valois, a Catholic, took place in France on August 17, 1572. Neither one wanted to marry the other, however it was thought that perhaps through this marriage, the warring factions of the two sides could come to some form of peace at last. Henry of Navarre was the head of the Protestants, and Margo of Valois, was daughter of Catherine d’ Medici, and sister to the reigning monarch of the time, the mad Charles IX.
            The marriage was celebrated with four days of revelry. However, on the fourth day, the eve of the Feast of St. Bartholomew’s, Admiral Coligny, the leader of the Protestants, was the subject of an attempted assassination, and was shot in the arm. The Protestants were outraged, and demanded that King Charles IX do something to bring the Catholic perpetrators of the crime to justice.
            But at some point during the night of August 23, the decision was made by the mad King Charles, to kill Coligny and all of the Protestant leaders who had followed him into Paris for the wedding.
            The killing went on for three days in the city of Paris, as the streets ran red with blood. Admiral Coligny was attacked in his bed without assistance, as the Prophet has previously foretold. He was stabbed and thrown out the window to the pavement below, where his body lay to be kicked and spat upon.
            The bridegroom Henry of Naverre was spared, but his 40 Protestant bodyguards were killed on the spot. Naverre was to remain a prisoner at the French court for the next 4 years.

                                
                         St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre August 23, 1572

            10-55 The unfortunate nuptials will be celebrated
            In great joy, but the end will be unhappy
            Mary and her mother will disdain Nero
            The Apollo dead, and Nero most piteous.

            The Mary of the third line is Margo of Valois, her mother is Catherine de Medici, and Nero is the mad King Charles IX, brother of Margo.  Nostradamus calls him Nero in other verses as well. The Apollo in this quatrain links it to the other one, where Nostradamus calls him “Lux” or Latin for light. Catherine and the Duke of Alba’s plans made at St. Jean of Lux a few years before, will come to fruition upon this night of  St. Bartholomew’s massacre, and the light will be killed in bed without assistance.

                            
                              Charles IX                Margaret of Valois       Henry of Naverre
            Nero, or Charles IX, the most piteous one of the last line, was indeed a pitiful sight to behold for a King of France, giving orders that his own subjects be massacred on the day of a wedding to celebrate the peace.
            Varying accounts have it that Charles was badgered into this decision, and said “Well, then kill them all, that no man be left to reproach me!”.
            Some say he died in 1574 racked and tormented still, by guilt over the affair. As for Mary and her mother disdaining Nero, that was certainly true enough, both his mother and his sister were terrified of his violent fits, and he used to beat his sister Margaret senseless.

                        
                           Admiral Coligny

            5-83 Those who will have undertaken to subvert
            An unparalleled realm, powerful and invincible
            They will act through deceit, three nights to warn
            When the greatest one will read his bible at the table.

            During this time period, the person sitting at the table reading the bible could only be a Protestant, and not a Catholic, since at this time, Catholics were not permitted to read the bible. This quatrain describes the Kingdom of France before the wars of religion broke out and caused the country decades of wars and misery.
            The third line of this quatrain makes it clear that this murder of Coligny had been planned all along. The three nights refer to the 3 days of revelry planned to lure the Protestants into the city of Paris for the wedding. They were lulled into believing that they had safe passage into and out of the city. It wasn’t often that they let their guard down and relaxed, and certainly not very often did they ever venture into the city of Paris. This time it was a fatal mistake on their part.
            Historians report that the Admiral had the custom every morning of sitting at his table to read the bible. They also say that the assassin Maurvert had been waiting in front of Coligny’s room for three days before he managed to fire and wound him, thus setting off the massacre which followed.
            Charles IX died in suspicious circumstances, and  Catherine had work to do. Her favourite son Henri, was at that moment, the King of Poland, and she had to get him back to France in a hurry.  With the extinction of the Jagellon line in 1572, the Polish people had invited Henri of Anjou to become their new King. Anjou was only too pleased to become King of Anything, so off he flew to Poland, where he was crowned King in May of 1573. However, when his brother Charles IX died, Anjou quickly and quietly dropped the Polish crown and left Poland in June of 1574 to return to France. He was crowned King Henri III at Reims on February 13, 1575, he was the third and last son of Catherine and Henry II to be a crowned head of France.

        
                   Henry III

            8-74 A King entered very far into a new land
            While his subjects will come to welcome him
            His perfidy will have such an effect
            That for the citizens, there will be a replacement of feasts and receptions.

            Note the numbering of this quatrain, 8-74, we are given two digits of the date 1574, the year in which Henri snuck out of Poland. But as the last line says, his perfidy had a joyful effect upon the citizens of Poland, who had quickly come to realize that this King was not going to be their knight in shining armour anyway. They were glad to be rid of him.
            Before Henry II died of his wounds on July 10, 1559, he absolved his friend the Scottish Captain of the Guard Montgomery of all fault for the accident. He made Catherine his wife swear that she would not hold Montgomery responsible for it, and she was to consider it just an unfortunate accident. At the time, Catherine, numbed by grief, only nodded. But this man had destroyed her whole life, how could she not take vengeance? It must have played on her mind for a great many years.
            Many years later, things had changed a great deal in France. Montgomery had converted to the Protestant faith in the meantime, and now fought on their side. The Protestants had taken the city of Domfront in France in 1574, and the Catholics were now outside, besieging it.  Montgomery and his men bravely held on for 16 days with only 150 men against 10,000 of the Catholic forces, but at last it was all over, and the city fell to the Catholics.
            Under the terms of the surrender, Montgomery’s life was to be spared, but Catherine secretly sent 6 men of the royal guard to arrest him. He was taken from his bed, on May 27, 1574, and sent to the conciergerie at Catherine’s command.  Here, he was condemned and executed on June 27, 1574 -  Catherine d’ Medici had her revenge at last, in spite of her promise to her husband.

           2-80 After the conflict, by the eloquence of the wounded one
            For a short time, a feigned rest is contrived
            The great ones are not to be allowed deliverance at all
            They are restored by their enemies at the proper time.

            3-30 He who during the struggle with steel in the warlike deed
            Will have carried off the prize from one greater than himself
            By night, six will carry the grudge to his bed
            Without armour, he will be surpassed suddenly

            In the above quatrains, Nostradamus refers to the magnanimous act of the King of France, who, on his deathbed,  very eloquently, absolves his friend Montgomery, of guilt for the accident, and makes his wife swear she will not take revenge. But, Nostradamus also says, that Catherine will see that Montgomery gets what is coming to him in the end anyway - even though she will pretend later that he is being executed for the crime of being a Protestant, and not for killing her husband.
            Catherine must have felt a great deal of joy in the year 1574. Not only did she take revenge on her husbands killer, but her favourite son was returning to her, and to rule France as it’s King at that!

            1-41 The city besieged and assaulted by night
            Few escaped, conflict not far from the sea
            On the return of her son, a woman fainting for joy
            Poison and letters hidden in the fold

            The city referred to in this quatrain, is Domfront, where Montgomery was captured. The 2nd line describes Catherine d’ Medici’s joy at her son Henri coming home, and the last line, hints at poison. Did they poison Charles IX? It seems most likely that they did, poison being the most common way to dispatch awkward people during those days - and Catherine d’ Medici was an Italian expert on poisons in her day.
            Sadly, for Catherine d’ Medici, her joy would not last long. Her third and favourite son Henri III was crowned King of France at Reims on February 13, 1575, but it was not long before the trouble started happening. Unfortunately her golden son proved to be as unfit to rule as his brother had been before him. He became a virtual laughing stock of Paris, with his minions and jewelry, paints and powders. He had a cruel streak in him as well, and rumours flew at the time, that he and his sister Margaret had an incestuous relationship.

                            
                                    Henri III

            9-17 The third one in first place
            Valiant be gone, how much human blood will flow
            He will cause the furnace to be rebuilt
            Golden age dead, new King, great scandal

            This third Valois brother, is crowned King, or is now in “first place”. The golden age he speaks of, is when Saturn moved out of the sign of his rulership in Capricorn on February 19, 1579. Note that in the numbering of this quatrain, 9-17, we are given two digits of the date 1579. Nostradamus promises that this third and last brother will be every bit as bad as the two who preceded him.  The scandal began even before he was crowned King, when he left Poland in the lurch, and didn’t even bother saying farewell to his subjects.

            The next quatrain is difficult to unravel, but I am certain that it refers to Henri III of France.

            8-79 One who born of the nunnery, his father destroyed by steel
            Gorgon’s blood thereupon will be conceiving anew
            In a foreign land, he will do much to keep the people silent
            He, who will burn himself and his child.

            Of this man’ heritage, Nostradamus notes that his mother Catherine was raised in a convent, and his father was destroyed by steel, - that is, in a duel. The foreign land refers to his unfortunate Polish escapade. These descriptions all fit Henry III. The last line is curious. On the day after his coronation, February 15, 1575 he married Louise de Vaudemont, the daughter of a mere Count, but there was never in history, any mention of children. Not that that is surprising, since Henri III was a known homosexual. Who knows - if anything of that sort had ever happened, one can be sure that Catherine would have covered it up in any event. The foreign land the prophet speaks of would be Poland, while Henri was King there.
 

                                                        
                                                       Louise de Vaudemont

            Louise de Vaudemont, wife of Henri III. If you could only talk to us, what would you say? What secrets are you hiding in this picture? She died in 1601 without ever telling. I also notice that these events were celebrated very quietly officially, because there are no official records of any significant court spectacles recorded during this time. Note here again, we are given two digits of the date 1579 in the dating of the quatrain.
            Another quatrain which seems to refer to this same event is 4-60. Because of the first line of this quatrain, it is certain it refers to the 7 children of Catherine d’ Medici and Henry II. Here, Nostradamus refers to Henry II as the hostage, since he had been left in Spain along with his elder brother to seal the peace between the two monarchs after Pavia, years before. It is said that when the captivity ended and the Constable of Castile asked the Princes to forgive any ill treatment they might have received, Henry answered by breaking wind.

            4-60 The seven children of the hostage left
            The third will come to kill his child
            Because of the son, two will be pierced by the point
            Genoa, Florence, will be confused by him.

            Certainly the third one here would refer to Henri III, the third Valois brother to become King. The last part of the quatrain and the two who will be pierced refers to the murder of the Guises at Blois which would take place a few years later in 1588.
    The last line is not entirely clear, but seems to refer to mother Catherine d’ Medici who came from Florence, and certainly was, confused by her son’s most bizarre behaviour. The 2nd line in this quatrain also mentions the mysterious death of a child killed by his own father. Did Henri III have a child unknown to history, and did he have it killed?
            The next quatrain is written for Alexander Farnase, the Duke of Parma. He was one of the ablest soldiers of his day. He was the son of Margaret of Parma, who was the daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, and sister as well to King Phillip II of Spain.
            The Celts in the quatrain, refer to the French, who were at war with the Spanish. Phillip II made good use of the Duke’s talents, he sent him to succeed Don Juan of Austria as Governor of the Netherlands during it’s most turbulent time in history. The Protestants of the Netherlands had formed themselves into a league, and were defying their King.
            But Parma managed to reconcile the French speaking and Catholic provinces of Hainault, Walloon Flanders, Namur and Artois, with the King of Spain in the Treaty of Arras in May of 1579. Parma then went on to inflict a major defeat on the rest of the rebels by taking Maastrich in June of 1579. Antwerp was the last city to be taken by him in August 15,  1585.

                        
                                         Duke of Parma            Margaret of Parma                           Charles V

            4-99 The valiant elder son of the daughter of the King
            Will hurl the Celts back very far
            Such that he will cast thunderbolts so many in such array
            Little and far, after, he will go deep into Spain.

            Later, as the prophet says, Parma went deep into Spain, and commanded the Spanish Armada, but it was not something he thought was the wisest thing to do. He begged the Spanish monarch not to send it out, but Phillip II did not listen, and the Spanish Armada sailed off to it’s death and destruction, as Parma no doubt knew that it would right from the very beginning.
            The next dated quatrain for the 16th Century is one written about the Duke of Parma, when he commanded the siege of Brussels in 1584.

         4-81 Promptly one will build a bridge of boats
         To pass over the army of the great Belgian Prince
         Poured fourth, inside, and not far from Brussels
         Passed beyond, seven cut up by the pike

             In Nostradamus’ day, the great Belgian Prince could only be referring to Phillip II of Spain, since he had ruled that territory since 1554.
             Parma was an able soldier, in history, probably no one was more well known than he, for his unique way of using the waterways to his advantage. As Nostradamus says, he was famous for building bridges of boats in a hurry to cross the rivers. By August of 1584, he was besieging the cities of Antwerp, Brussels and Mechlin. Ghent was completely cut off, and surrendered in September of 1584. By the end of that year, Parma had reconquered most of Flanders. The seven who were cut up by the pike, were the seven states of the Netherlands.   Note that in the numbering of this quatrain 4-81, we are given three digits of the date 1584, on which these events unfolded.
            Meanwhile, back in France, another son of Catherine d’ Medici was causing her much grief during this same period in time. The Duke of Alencon, was her youngest son, and brother to the reigning monarch Henri III. He was invited to go to the Netherlands to become their protector and sovereign leader, much as Henri III had been invited to rule Poland. However Alencon had about the same rate of success as did his brother, ruling a foreign land. Alencon was rude, tactless, ambitious, and much too sensitive about being only a mere figurehead ruler.
            In the Netherlands, early in the year 1582, William the Silent and the Estates General had enticed Alencon to come to Brabant, with the title of the Duke of Brabant. But less than a year later, Alencon made a savage attack on Antwerp against his subjects, because they were not doing as he wished them to do. In the fracas which followed, Alencon and his French were thrown out of the country, in 1583.

                            
                                   Duke of Alencon

            6-83 He who will have so much honour and flattery
            At his entry into Belgian Gaul
            A while after, he will act very rudely
            And he will act very warlike against the flower.

            Note that in the numbering of this quatrain 6-83, we are given two digits of the year 1583, in which Alencon was thrown out of  the Netherlands. This last son of Catherine d’ Medici was also, as the prophet says, very warlike against the flower - i.e. the fleur de lis, or the French monarchy, headed by his brother Henri III. The duels between these two brothers are legendary in French history. After having accomplished nothing more in his life after the Furie Francaise as it was called in the Netherlands, Alcencon died in France on June 10 1584.
            The last Valois King, Henri III died childless in 1589, acknowledging his  Protestant brother in law, Henry of Navarre as his successor. A few years before this, on December 31 1584, at Cambresis, Spain had signed the Treaty of Joinville with the ultra Catholic Guise family of France. Their united determination, was to keep a Protestant King off the throne of France at any cost. Both parties vowed that day to extinguish heresy in France and the Netherlands, exclude the house of Navarre from the succession, and recognize Charles X as King of France. This man was the aged Cardinal of Bourbon, a Guise relative. On the other side, stood the lawful but Protestant King, King Henry IV of France. Ahead, were many years of fighting for  France, as her King sought to establish his reign by force.
 

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