Catherine de Medici
The Queen’s main interest in Nostradamus was in his talent as an astrologer. She was very curious about a letter Nostradamus had written to her husband, King Henry II that predicted his death. She then handed him one of the most difficult jobs of his career – drawing up the horoscopes of her seven children (The Valois) all of who would die during the French Revolution. According to historians, Nostradamus drew up the horoscopes and was horrified by her children’s fate. Nostradamus lied and told her that her sons would be kings (but did not mention her death.) He also quite tactfully did not point out that their deaths were already predicted in some of the quatrains in the Centuries (possibly because he did not want to lose such a high paying client.)
Warned that the King and the justices in Paris were displeased by his influence over the Queen Nostradamus returned to Paris where he focused on doing horoscopes for rich customers and on completing his series of quatrains. According to historians, Nostradamus delayed the publishing of his final quatrains as they were predicting the death of King Henry II and he was frightened of being publicly accused of a conspiracy. These quatrains are specifically discussed in the Fulfilled Prophecies of Nostradamus section of this book. Apparently he allowed a few manuscript copies to circulate before publication, because many of the predictions were understood and quoted before the completed book came off the printing press in 1562 two years after the death of King Henry in 1560. The general public was not privy to the actual letter that Nostradamus sent to the King warning him of his death or his private conversations with the Queen about it.
In 1564 Catherine, now Queen Regent, decided to make a Royal Progress (a trip) through France. She visited Nostradamus and endowed him with the title of Physician in Ordinary, which carried with it a salary and other benefits.
However around this time Nostradamus suffered from gout and being a doctor, he know it was turning into a fatal form of dropsy. He made his will on 17th June 1566 and left the large sum, for those days, of 3444 crowns over and above his other possessions.
On July 1st, he sent for the local priest to give him the last rites, and before the priest left him that night, he told the priest that this was the last time he would see him alive. As he himself had predicted, his body was found the next morning.
Anne Gemelle, Nostradamus’ wife, carried out his last wishes concerning the disposal of his body. He was entombed upright in a wall of the Church of the Cordeliers in Salon, France to ensure that his detractors would not be able to “put your filthy feet on my throat while I’m alive or after I’m dead.”
The famous prophet was buried upright in one of the walls of the Church of the Cordeliers at Salon, and his wife Anne erected a splendid marble plaque to celebrate his memory. It seemed that in the end, Nostradamus had also predicted his own death.
