The rise of Napoleon III

           5-84 He will be born of the gulf and unmeasured city
            Born of obscure and dark family
            He who the revered power of the great King
            Will want to destroy through Rouen and Evreaux.

            This quatrain is talking about Louis Charles Napoleon Bonaparte, born in Paris on April 20 1808. His father Louis Bonaparte was Napoleon I’s brother, and his mother was Hortense d’ Beauharnis, a daughter of Josephine. He destroyed the power of the King Louis Phillip of France, when he was elected the first President of the French Republic on December 10, 1848.  This is the first quatrain of two which link Napoleon III with Rouen and Evreaux – they remained loyal monarchists. Note in the numbering of this quatrain 5-84, we are given two digits of the date 1848 when this event occurred.

            4-78 The great army of the civil struggle
            By night, Parma to the foreign ones discovered
            Seventy nine murdered in the town
            The foreigners all put to the sword.

            The key to this quatrain lies in the first line and the words civil struggle. This could only refer to the time of the Italian revolution, since Italy previous to this, had never really experienced a civil war as such, at least since the prophecies were written.
            In 1848, nearly all of Italy rose against their Austrian and Papal overlords. The Duchy of Parma was ruled by the Bourbon Charles II, who relied upon Habsburg military assistance to keep his subjects under control. On March 20, 1848, the people deposed him and called for annexation to Piedmont.
            But the Piedmontese King was having his own troubles, he was defeated by the Austrians at Novara and Custozza on July 25, 1848. He surrendered Milan and retreated across the Ticino river. He was now in no shape to aid Parma or any other Italian Duchy who had declared their independence in order to join him.
            All the Dukes came back to Italy, backed by the Austrian army, and wholesale massacres followed, of the subjects who had dared to rebel against them. Parma’s Duke Charles III who returned, he was the son of the deposed Charles II.
            It is not known how many died in Parma, but 79 would seem to be about the right number for this day and age. The foreigners in this case would be the Savoyards, who were joined with the people of Parma, and who were eventually destroyed by Austria.
            Note that in the numbering of this quatrain 4-78, we are given two digits of the year 1848, in which these events happened.

            6-48 The too false and seductive sanctity
            Accompanied by an eloquent tongue
            The old city, and Parma too premature
            Florence and Seina, they will render more desert.

            This quatrain also refers to the struggle for independence, and Nostradamus tells them that their try in 1848 will be too premature, and that they must wait for yet another few years before they will be successful. The old city would probably be Rome, and he is referring to the Pope’s original promise to back Italian nationalism. Note that in the numbering of this quatrain 6-48, we are given two digits of the date 1848 in which this event occurred.

  Napoleon III

            5-92 After the seat has been held for 17 years
            Five will change within the same period of time
            Then one will be elected at the same time
            Who will not be too conformable to the Romans.

            This quatrain refers to the 17 year and 6 month reign of the constitutional monarch King Louis Philip of Orleans (1830-48). After Charles X was sent packing from France, he was replaced with his cousin Louis Philip. But on February 24, 1848, the revolution ejected the King and proclaimed a provisional government.
            Who are the five? Perhaps the members of the provisional government. Certainly the last line forecasts the coming of Napoleon III, who ended up being very unconformable to the Romans, as we shall come to see. He was elected President of the new French Republic on September 24, 1848.    Note that in the numbering of this quatrain 5-92, we are given two digits of the year 1829, which began the 17 year reign of this King.

            1-6 The eye of Ravenna will be forsaken
            When the wings give way at it’s feet
            The two of Bresse will have made a constitution in
            Turin and Vercellis, which the French will trample.

            The eye of Ravenna here is the Pope, since Ravenna formed part of the Papal estates. When he looses his wings - that is, when the people rise against him, he will be foresaken. Nostradamus would have a very special reason to use the city of Ravenna to represent the Pope and his losses, since Ravenna has such a special place in the legends surrounding the Italian revolutionary hero Garibaldi.
            Bresse, Turin and Vercelli all belonged to Savoy in those days. The two of Bresse who make the constitution are King Charles Albert of Savoy and Garibaldi. These two met on July 5, 1848, and Garibaldi offered the King his sword in the struggle for independence from Austria. Their first battle would be at Novara, and they would be defeated.
            The Roman Republic was later proclaimed on February 9, 1849, but as Nostradamus says, the French came along and quickly trampled them. They betrayed the Italian cause, and restored the Pope, much to the fury of the Italian nationalists.

     The next quatrain concerns Garibaldi and his march on Rome in 1849

          Garibaldi

         8-94 Before the lake where the most dear one is put down
         For seven months, and his army routed
         Spaniards will be destroyed by those of Albanois
         Loss through delay in giving battle

            This quatrain details Garibaldi’s march from Ravenna on February 3, 1849. He and his men left there with high hopes to free Rome from the Pope’s control. They reached Rome, and indeed, did manage to seize the city, driving out the French, Spanish and Austrian troops in bloody battles which culminated on April 30, 1849 with the defeat of the French. Garibaldi’s forces did not pursue the fleeing French - it turned out to be a mistake, because they regrouped, and came back to defeat him later.
            Garibaldi and his men fled from Rome, and headed back towards Ravenna, where they arrived on August 3, 1849, 7 months to the day since they had left.
            It is the first line of this quatrain which is so poignant. The dear one who is put down, was Garibaldi’s pregnant wife Anita, who accompanied him. She died  in the sand dunes of Magna Vacca near Ravenna, and she was buried there.
            Those of Albanois in the 3rd line refer to Garibaldi and his men, who were the founders of the modern country of Italy. Alba was the location in Italy, where the Trojans first settled when they came from Troy - hence the name Albanois referring to founders of Rome, or Italy.
            Note in the numbering of this quatrain 8-94, we are given three digits of the date 1849 in which these events occurred.

            Presage number 54
            The shaven ones will be deprived of their arms
            It will increase their quarrel much more
            Father Liber will deceive, lightning to the Albanois
            Sects will be gnawed to the marrow.

            This presage tells us that when the Papal rule has been chased from Rome, and the Pope looses his temporal power, or army, that the quarrel will increase greatly. This happened exactly as forecast,  when the French Catholics under Napoleon III in France suddenly pressured their Emperor into restoring the Pope in Italy, thus causing him to backtrack on his promise to aid Italian nationalism. Napoleon III is called in the third line Father Liber, a play on the word Liberty, which he originally promised the Italians.

            4-98 The Albanois will pass into Rome
            By means of Langres the multitude will be muffled
            Marquis and Duke will pardon no man
            Fire, blood, smallpox, no water, the crops will fail.

            Probably the most amazing thing about this quatrain is that in the numbering of it, 4-98, we are given not two, but three digits of the date it occurred upon in the year 1849!
            The Albanois are the Italian nationalists, as described previously. They marched on Rome, took the city, and drove out the Pope. Originally Napoleon III and the French had supported the Italian revolution, but when the Pope was driven out of Rome, the Catholics in France went into a frenzy, and Napoleon III had no choice but to back down.
            For this reason, the Emperor sent troops from France which anchored off Civita Vecchia on April 25, 1849, their express purpose, being to restore the Pope to Rome, which they did. As Nostradamus says in the second line here, the multitude will be muffled up by Langres, here meaning that because of the Catholics of France, the Italian nationalists will be stopped.
            The third line too, only too unfortunately came true. When the French guns had returned both the Pope and the hated Austrian overlords to Italy, the returning Princes and Dukes wrecked their revenge upon the hapless inhabitants who had dared to throw them out. To add to the people’s misery, the crops were bad, and cholera ravaged the land.

                              Pope Pius IX “Pio Nono”

            5-30 All around the great city
            Soldiers will be lodged throughout the fields and towns
            To give the assault, Paris, Rome incited
            Then upon the Pope great pillage will be carried out.

            The great city is Rome, taken by Garibaldi’s forces on April 27, 1849. In February the Assembly voted the Papacy at an end, and Rome a Republic.

            4-69 The exiles will hold the great city
            The citizens dead, murdered, and driven out
            Those of Aquileia will promise Parma
            To show them the entry through the untracked places.

            By the word Parma in the third line, we must assume this takes place in Italy. If so, then the great city of the first line would be Rome. The exiles he speaks of are Garibaldi and his forces, who took Rome on April 30, 1849. They indeed, murdered and drove out the Austrians, Papal forces, and anyone else in the city who did not support the idea of Italian independence.
            Aquiliea was one of the ten great cities of the Roman empire, but by the time of Nostradamus it was no more than a tiny village. By using it here, the prophet is playing on words and concepts. He is referring to those of the eagle, which the word Aquiliea also means - in this case, the eagle of the new Roman Republic. There is also a play here on Venice, which was founded by the people of Aquileia - Venice was one of the headquarters of the Italian nationalists.
            The last two lines of the quatrain say that those of the Napoleonic eagle will show their friends and neighbours in Parma how to free themselves from their Austrian overlords, with their help. In doing so, the Eagles will lead the Parmigiani into untracked places, i.e. the people of Parma have never done this before, and so the Eagles will teach them how to gain their freedom. Note that in the numbering of this quatrain 4-69, we are given two digits of the date 1849 on which this event occurred.

            10-64 Weep Milan, weep Lucca and Florence
            As your great Duke climbs into the chariot
            The siege will change, it will advance to near Venice
            When at Rome the Colonna will change.

            This one tells us that a siege will move from one Italian city to Venice. This happened in 1849, when Garibaldi and his men were driven out of Rome. They next headed towards Venice to try and help their fellow nationalists who were still holding out in that city. Meanwhile, Nostradamus is telling the people of Milan, Lucca and Florence to weep, because they will loose the upcoming fight against the monarchists of Europe.
            On the 24th of November 1848, the Pope fled to Gaeta where he was joined by many of the Cardinals. The Italian nationalists decreed from Rome on February 9th 1849 that they had abolished the temporal power of the Pope. Since Colonna is an old Papal family in Rome, I think this is what Nostradamus means in the last line.
                Note in the numbering of this quatrain 10-64, if one were to turn the six upside down, we would be given three digits of the date 1849!

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