Michel de Nostredame / Nostradamus Biographical Essay
Uploaded by Doraemon on Jan 03, 2005
Nostradamus Biography
Michel de Nostredame, better known as Nostradamus was born on December 14 1503 (Avenel 1). Nostradamus will forever be a mystery to any that try to study his philosophies or techniques. Nostradamus wrote twelve books known as the Centuries, each book contained one hundred predictions known as quatrains. Each prediction consisted of a four line rhymed verse. These rhymes were disguised in a way that no one could really know their own future but only realize the prediction after the event has passed. An unprepared reader would dismiss the quatrains as a simple joke. Hogue can describe Nostradamus' predictions as "artful, baffling mixture of French, Old Provencal, and Latin. They are willfully obscured in a miasma of puns and wordplay, allusions and elisions, grammatical trickery and cryptic anagrams"(Hogue 8.). Nostradamus has had a great effect on all of humanity. Many films, books and studies have been based upon the life and predictions of Nostradamus. Nostradamus was the greatest profit. Even before writing the Centuries he exhibited skills in medicine that would only be recognized in the twentieth century. Nostradamus touched his own lifetime as well as years to come; he was able to predict the fall of King Henri II and King Henri III. Many of his future predictions included those of Napoleon and Submarines.
Using his knowledge of the future Nostradamus applied various medical techniques that at his time were unheard of. One of these techniques in which he insisted upon was a daily bath. In our own lifetime this seems like a minor accomplishment however "even the aristocracy, were content with only one bath per year."(Wilson 91) Nostradamus also realized the need to have the sick in sunlit beds; a discovery made by twentieth century doctors proved sick healed faster in sunlit beds then in darkness (Wilson 91). During the time of Nostradamus bleeding was the most common cure utilized by medical professionals. It was considered to cure anything from a migraine to pneumonia (Wilson 92). A cure in which Nostradamus refused to apply. Bleeding the sick was later found to worsen the condition of the person rather then heal them. Nostradamus displayed traits most people would see as being eccentric and unheard of (Wilson 92). It is because of the time period in which he used these techniques, proved he had knowledge of the future.
Not all of Nostradamus' predictions come true only after death. In his own...