Getting To Know Nostradamus

These days, everyone’s heard of Michel de Nostredame, better known as Nostradamus, but most people just know that he was one of the most famous seers in history. Most people don’t really know about his specific predictions, his life or why he’s so famous. To help clear the air and to celebrate Nostradamus’ December 14 birthday, here’s a bit of info on the most famous psychic in history.

What You’ve Heard About His Life Is Probably Wrong

A lot of the books about Nostradamus’ prophecies also include pieces of his biography. Unfortunately, just as the prophecies suffer from poor or manipulated translations, his biographies in these texts are often based on rumors or complete fabrication. There are stories that he was educated by his grandfathers, who were both physicians to the court of Good King Rene of Provence, but there is no evidence of this at all.

The books also claim he obtained his medical doctorate from Montpellier University and that he then began lecturing at the school, but this is directly contradicted by the slim bit of documented facts about his life. Before attending the university, he traveled the countryside working as an apothecary, which led to his expulsion from the university after the administrators learned that he used to work as an apothecary, which was expressly banned by university rules. The University of Montpellier still has the expulsion documents related to the incidents in its library. Needless to say, it seems unlikely the university then hired him to work as a lecturer.