XLI
Siege in city is by night assaulted,
Few escaped, not far from the sea conflict:
Woman of pleasure, return of faint son,
Poison and letters hidden in the fold.
Original
Seige en cit est de nuict assaillie,
Peu eschaps non loin de mer conflict:
Femme de joie, retours fils defaillie,
Poison & lettres cachees dans le plic.
To know where Nostradamus locates us we have to correlate this quatrain correctly. Firstly, in the history after Nostradamus there are many cities which along countless human conflicts have been besieged and attacked. So when he says "Siege in city is by night assaulted," we can initially infer that it was not attacked by surprise, as it was under siege. The second thing that is clear is that there are "few escaped", meaning that not all escape the siege, or rather, survive.
Another clue on the matter is that Nostradamus tells us that this siege "is not far from the sea conflict," which indicates us that this city is coastal or at least is close to the sea, and in that nearby sea or coasts there is war or conflict or to be more specific, a naval battle is being or was already developed. Let’s be concrete: Nostradamus is referring to the site of Toulon, event which begins on September 7, 1793 within the context called Napoleonic war against the first coalition.
The port city was besieged by French republican forces by land (“Siege in city”). This place was taken by Coalition forces between August 23 and 28, 1793, after the inhabitants of the city surrendered it due to an uprising against the Jacobins from the moderate leaders of the port city on July 18, 1793. The Directory responded by sending a force to besiege the city, and in that French force Napoleon Bonaparte came as chief of artillery, who maintained a sort of reciprocal bombardment with the ships guarding the city. ("... not far from the sea conflict ").
The siege of the city lasted a long time and was assaulted at night, at 02:00 on September 18, 1793 ("Is attacked by night"). Once some forts in the outskirts of Toulon were taken, the evacuation was ordered; first, the wounded and disabled would be transported to the vessels that protected the harbor. Agglomerations of people and soldiers waiting to be taken to sea caused chaos. By evening, there was simply no order whatsoever. Some 7,500 residents of Toulon barely escaped. The stampede was complete. The French would arrive any minute.
At 9:00 the next morning, French troops entered Toulon. The revolutionary junta or convention issued an order in which all citizens of Toulon who were enemy collaborators were sentenced to death. This led to the deaths of hundreds of men, women and even children. No one was spared. Toulon lost nearly 40% of its population in these executions ("Few escaped"). Let’s also remember that after the siege of Toulon, Napoleon returned to Paris and was promoted for his diligence thanks to the unwavering support of someone he met precisely on that site, the Count of Barras. This episode catapulted the career of Napoleon Bonaparte. But we still need more.
It was this same Count of Barras who introduced Napoleon to Josephine Beauharnais, whom the Count in intimate circles called the "Vicious criolla" (lewd Créole). In fact, several historians accuse her of being lewd and partying, based on the letters of their contemporaries ("Woman of pleasure"). She was previously married to Alexandre de Beauharnais and had two children, Hortense and Eugene (born 03/09/1781).
Her husband was guillotined on 23/07/1793. This woman had General Lazare Hoche as a lover, and counseled by this general, entrusted him with her son Eugene. France had started a new battle against a fleet of French emigrants from England in the bay of Quiberon; for fear of losing her son there, Josephine requested Hoche to send him back to Paris. In July, Hoche won that battle, and that angered Eugene because the teenager had become interested in the military ("return of faint son.")
This son became an official part of the French imperial family under the name of Eugene de Beauharnais, and later became related with many royal houses in Europe. But let’s continue. General Hoche, lover of Josephine, had a brilliant career, but was accused of treason in 1794 and lost his command. He was imprisoned, but escaped. Subsequently, he managed to receive the command of the army to pacify the west of France.
In his life he suffered two assassination attempts that nearly cost him his success: once he was almost poisoned, and soon after that, was assaulted outside Rennes Theater by an individual who unsuccessfully fired a gun to his head. He was offered the ministry of war and refused it, but received the command of an army corps located near Paris, designed to prevent the intrigues that the Clichy Club plotted against the Directory.
The slanderous accusations from his enemies soon caused him to lose this command, which was entrusted to Augereau. Hurt and humiliated by this treatment, he asked to be tried by the judiciary, which did not occur. Disgusted by this, he returned to his headquarters at Wetzlar. In the first days of September 1797 he fell ill, and died on March19, in great pain, and crying: "Am I dressed in Nessus’ poisoned costume?" (Greek mythological legend; Nessus was a famous centaur who died by a poisoned arrow from Heracles for attempting to rape Deya, wife of Heracles.)
Before dying, he said his blood would serve so that Heracles would be faithful to her. Deyanira believed him after a while, and when her confidence in her husband started to fade, she smeared a shirt from Heracles with blood from the centaur, and he died poisoned, slowly and painfully. He was only 29 years. The autopsy, ordered by the Directory, revealed the presence in the intestine of many black spots that seemed to indicate a violent death.
Many suggest that he died of tuberculosis; however, Nostradamus says otherwise and I interpret the same. Let's see: At the time Napoleon and Josephine met, she was focused on maintaining her starring role within the circle of Barras, and on solving her stormy relationship with the powerful General Hoche. Since they were lovers, Napoleon acutely calibrated that this man was his main rival; in fact, he resigned to serve under him in the Vendée campaign to focus on the looming confrontation with the Austrians in Italy.
Slowly, Napoleon managed to gain a foothold in the salons of Paris, and though he never was a center of attention nor practiced debauchery like Barras or Hoche himself, he did know how to defeat his rival one night in which he disguised himself as a fortune teller and read the hands of all present. When it was Hoche’s turn, Napoleon said solemnly: "He will die in bed." And indeed so it happened. In other words, he was targeted by Napoleon. From these historical extracts we can figure out the last verse: Hoche was poisoned by letters that Napoleon Bonaparte surely sent him somehow, either under his own name or Josephine’s. The fact is that these letter sheets contained poison. Hoche undoubtedly realized that later.
Thus, Napoleon was able to win the heart of Josephine, who was very attracted by Lazare Hoche, and on the other hand, continue his rise to absolute power. Napoleon killed or ordered the killing of Lazare Hoche because he overshadowed the two things he wanted most: the love of Josephine and his desire for military glory. ("Poison and letters hidden in fold.")
I have tried to be very brief in the historical developments both in this and in the majority of the quatrains, and although it is needless to say, it would be very convenient that each one of you dived deeper into these historical episodes to realize the tremendous documented support used for the proper interpretation here, as I said.
There is no arrangement of facts, or characters, or circumstances, only absolute fidelity with history. And I have not thought it necessary to incorporate more detail, because the translated quatrain maintains no disagreements with the original. The quatrain has been clarified.
XLII
The tenth Calends of April of Gothic fact,
Risen again by evil people:
The fire extinguished, assembly diabolical
Looking for the bones of d’Amant and Paelin.
Original
Le dix Kalende d'Avril de faict Gothique,
Resuscit encor par gens malins:
Le feu estainct assembl diabolique,
Cherchant les os du d'Amant & Pselin.
Let’s see: According to the Roman calendar, Calends was the first day of the month. Therefore, the April Calends refers to the first day of April; however he is referring to the tenth calends, i.e., April calends refers to day one; if you say second April calends you refer to April 2nd, and so on.
Why does Nostradamus use the term "Calends"?
Now, in 1582 (after Nostradamus), Pope Gregory XIII changed the old Julian calendar (which came from 46 BC). When Nostradamus infers the tenth April calends he is referring to April 10, but beware: he is referring to the Julian calendar, because that was the Calendar in the time of the Centuries. So if we adjust that date in the Gregorian calendar, it will tell us that Nostradamus is pointing to April 23. This you can confirm with any conversion method. Therefore he uses the term "calends".
Then let’s change the first verse:
"April 23th, gothic fact”
But let's go deeper. By "de faict gothique" he is referring to the Goths (from which the word Gothic derives); when he says gothic fact, he is referring to an event from the Goths, in other words, the invasions of the Goths. Let’s remember that the Goths were one of many barbarous nations that from the area of Sweden began to occupy territories of the former Roman Empire; and as a curiosity, any historian will tell you that the reputation of the Goths is given for initiating the final collapse the old world order in Europe.
In fact these people settled mainly in what is now Ukraine. Well, one of the Russian fronts which attacked Berlin was the I Ukrainian Front. But let's be more specific, we will place ourselves in April 1945. Berlin is under siege by the Soviets. Nostradamus does not identify the Soviets as such and compares them with other peoples, with the Ostrogoths, a branch of the Goths, usually called "Eastern Goths."
Thus the prophet alludes to a gothic event; to be even more precise, on April 16, 1945 the Russians began the operation aimed to occupy and defeat Berlin. But on April 23, the military council of the first Russian front offered the conditions for surrender, but the Germans rejected the offer. The Soviet offensive was triggered from all sides at once, on April 23, 1945. This day is April 10, precisely, in the Julian calendar, when Nostradamus wrote his Centuries. ("The Tenth April Calends of Gothic fact."). We can change the term "fact" by event.
The concept "Risen" means back to life, but when saying "again," he is indicating that this is the second time. The concept "encor" derives in the current French word "encore," which translates as "again." Let's see if it is more suitable to use the literal translation:
"Risen again by evil people"
Literally speaking, we know that a person can not be resurrected, so we are facing a kind of metaphor.
We had already situated ourselves in the Berlin blockade, therefore Nostradamus undoubtedly is talking about Hitler; he is dead and they want to "revive” him. But in what way? He is nothing less than the best war trophy for the Russians ("evil people") once they occupy Berlin. But let’s go to history to classify the ideas.
Once Hitler committed suicide with his mistress Eva Braun, their bodies were removed from the bunker at the Chancery to be doused with gasoline and incinerated so as to prevent the Russians from getting the bodies and exposing them as war trophies just as Hitler thought could happen, especially knowing what they did to his friend Benito Mussolini. After setting fire to the bodies, their closest acquaintances met briefly to say their goodbyes. When the Russians arrived looking for Hitler, ("Looking for the bones of d’Amant and Pselin"), they found "the fire extinguished." The term "evil people" is not referring to the Russian people, but to what follows:
Versions emerged in 1990 from the Russian side confirm that the Soviets from the NKVD = KGB (Soviet intelligence agency); the NKVD, the name of the organization, currently is mainly associated with activities considered criminal: political repression and killings, military crimes, violation of the rights of Soviet citizens and foreigners as well as breaking the law. (Let’s remember that Nostradamus was a profound devout and Marxist ideology or the communists were a potential evil for him). After a fruitless search in which they even found a double of Hitler who committed suicide in a room at the Foreign Ministry as a way to mislead them, they finally came upon the almost unrecognizable remains of Hitler and Braun ("resurrected again by evil people;" i.e., they obtained the remains of the Nazi.
Let’s recall that Nostradamus did not live in a time where they kept the remains of someone, least of all in boxes, so for him that is a sort of diabolical act; therefore, resurrecting is not given literally, because for Nostradamus it means not allowing the bodies to rest; and these bodies, hidden even from general Zhukov himself, were transported in special boxes to the border, to a military barracks which afterwards would become territory of the GDR.
In other words, the NKVD secretly manipulated the discovery ("evil assemblyl"). The remains were kept secretly buried under a garden from that headquarters in the city of Magdeburg, and only some of the NKVD authorities knew where they were, until they were exhumed in 1970; Hitler’s skull was extracted, and the rest of the bodies were burned to prevent his tomb from becoming an object of veneration, and the ashes were thrown into the city sewer (according to some sources, even though the end of these remains is of no great importance to us.) There are some considerations that we still must solve, which are crucial: The quatrain finally says, "the bones of D'amant and Pselin.” Both concepts remain faithful to the original quatrain. But let’s see something: "Cherchant" derives in the word "Chercher," which translates as "search." In other words, "searching for bones.")
But the quatrain translated into Spanish, as well as many that are circulating on the Internet, maintain the word "d'amant," even though the word translates as "from the lover." Then he adds "and Pselin." A curious name, anyway, but it is really is too obvious.
Between Prussia and Russia there is precisely a difference of one letter, which is the P. Therefore, that same P is occupied by Nostradamus to refer to "Prussia," a former state precursor of the state of Germany. Prussia as a state was abolished de facto by the Nazis in 1934.
Now, let’s change, "from the lover and Germany." Obviously, "Eva Braun and Hitler."
Moreover, we finally know that all references to “selin” correspond to Russia, or the Russian Empire, or the Soviet Union. The quatrain has been clarified.
XLIII
Before the turn of the Empire
There will come a wonderful event:
The camp muted, the pillar of Porfirio
Placed,transmuted under the twisted rock.
Original
Avant qu'advienne le changement d'Empire
Il adviendra un cas bien merveilleux:
Un champ mu, le pillier de paphire
Mis translat sur le rocher noilleux.
Before observing this quatrain, let’s know that Nostradamus usually uses the colon at the end of the second verse. For those who are newly integrated, Nostradamus does it to separate two structures and images. The first one that includes the first two lines I call it main clause or main image. The second structure is what I call paraclause or secondary image, derived from the main clause or main image.
The first verse says:
"Before the turn of the Empire"
The term "advienne" fits better as "Advent," which leads to the French word "coming."
"Before the change of the Empire comes”
The second verse to complete the clause says:
Il adviendra un cas bien merveilleux
There will be a quite wonderful event"
The concept "il" acts as personal pronoun; in this case, within the verse it can be translated as "le"
There will be a quite wonderful event for it"
In other words, that "It" refers to the Empire.
The third verse that opens the paraclause has the concept “paphire." Translated into Spanish, the verse says "Porfirio", which is absolutely incorrect. "Paphire" derives in the French word "papier," which translates as paper. The funny thing is that in Provence, "paphire" can be interpreted as papyrus.
And Papyrus (from Latin papyrus and this from Greek πάπυρος) is the name given to the writing support made from a water plant, also known as papyrus, common in the river Nile in Egypt. Etymologically, the word papyrus comes from the Greek term πάπυρος, papyri, which in Latin is papyrus, in plural papyri, taken from the ancient Egyptian term per-peraâ , which means "King flower," because its manufacture was a royal monopoly. It is also the origin of the word paper.
The reference "pillar" ("pillier") is because first, the stem of the papyrus plant was kept soaked for one to two weeks, then cut into thin slices and pressed with a wringer to remove the sap and other liquids; then the plates were arranged horizontally and vertically and were re pressed so the sap would act as an adhesive; finally it was finished by rubbing it gently with a shell or a piece of ivory, for several days, and was ready for use.
It was used to manufacture rolls of some twenty pages, each fifteen feet long, even though they were often cut into smaller "leaves" which were easier to use.
The inscriptions were made in the face of the papyrus which had the strips arranged horizontally: the front. The other side (the back) was rarely written on because it was very expensive; if what was written was losing interest, it was erased and reused.
In sum, they were used in rolls, and a "pillar" is a much larger roll but with the shape of a column. Now, the concept "mu" is not well translated into Spanish, which suggests "muted" in circumstances that "mu" derives in mû,o, which in turn leads to "mouvoir," which translates as "move." Likewise, the Spanish translation transforms the term "champ" into "Camp," even though "Champ" simply means "field." The concept "un" acts as indefinite article. We can also change the term "pillar" by column. Therefore, the verse in question should read:
"A moving field, the paper column"
Let's add to what we already have:
"Before the change of the Empire comes,
There will be a quite wonderful event:
A moving field, the paper column"
The fourth verse says: "Placed, transmuted under the twisted rock."
The concept that translates as "placed" derives in the original verse in "mis," and "mis" derives in mettre, which translates as place. It can also be synonymized as place, locate. Now, the term "translat" can be translated as transmute, in which case it refers to convert, transform, move, change. The term "sur" is a preposition which is replaced by “in” when it refers to place or on. The term "noilleux" derives in the word "moelleux" which translates as fluff. And fluff means to plump something up to make it soft. Turn the earth to make it softer and fluffier. It derives from the Latin “mollire,” “soften.” And obviously, grind derives from the same word. Let’s change:
"Placed in the softened rock"
Now let’s join all the verses:
"Before the change of the Empire comes,
There will be a quite wonderful event:
A moving field, the paper column
Placed in the softened rock"
But let’s go to history for hints. Then, Nostradamus transports us to Mexico. A beautiful country, incidentally. Before proceeding there is a question that lies dormant: why Mexico, and not the Drake well in the United States, which occured in 1859, since Nostradamus says "before"? The answer is simple; Nostradamus does not build long timelines. This "before" is at most between 2 -3 years. And secondly, it does not refer to the death of Maximilian I of Mexico, since he dies in 1867, shot by Republican forces.
France was ruled by Napoleon III in what historically is called the Second Empire, and he wanted to somehow stop the American expansion, invading and occupying Mexico as a colony. This Second Empire fell at Sedan (September 2, 1870), and two days later he was deposed; thus the Empire ended in 1870, and by the way, was changed to the Third Republic ("Before the turn of the Empire.") Therefore, we are situated before 1870.
The first company that extracted oil from drilled wells and produced distilled products, although in rudimentary and small-scale ways, was the Oil Mining Company from the Gulf of Mexico, organized in 1868 by Adolfo Autrey ("there will be a quite wonderful event,") an Irish-American doctor. Autrey imported equipment (a drill and a couple of stills) ("the papyrus pillar") and brought them to the region known as El Cuguas, near the town of Papantla, Veracruz. There, next to the chapopoteras, drilled ("A moving field, the column of paper") to a depth of 125 feet without results; but another 50 feet deep well obtained a flow of about four or five barrels a day, from which he could refine about 200 cans of kerosene (“the papyrus pillar, placed on the softened rock”). In other words, this happened in 1868, exactly 2 years before the change of the Second French Empire ("There will be a quite wonderful event"); oil was discovered in Mexico. The quatrain has been clarified.
XLIV
In brief, sacrifices will return,
Offenders will be taken to martyrdom:
There will be no more monks, abbots or novices
The honey will be much more expensive than wax.
Original
En bref seront de retour sacrifices,
Contrevenans seront mis martyre:
Plus ne seront maines, abbez, ne novices,
Le miel sera beaucoup plus cher que cire.
In this quatrain there is no indication of disagreements with the original quartet. I will try to be brief.
The term "retour" fits better with “return” than with “go back.” The first concept "seront" within the context translates as "will." Improving the translation, the first verse would say:
"Soon the sacrifices will have to return"
The second verse says, "offenders will be brought to martyrdom"
The word "offenders" derives from the word infringe, which is the action of acting in a contrary way, therefore offender is one who contravenes an order or instruction and is severely punished. "Martyrdom" on the other hand is defined as a big pain, torment, suffering, the pain suffered by the martyr. Generally, martyr is the person who dies defending some cause, with which he gives "testimony" of his faith in it. Usually, the word martyr is applied to religious environments, and this idea is reinforced by the third verse, "No more monks, abbots or novices;" therefore, if there is a lack of these religious activities we can conclude that the offenders are those who profess a religious faith.
We can change the concept "offenders" for wayward, delinquent, irresponsible, violator, transgressor. We can also change "Martyrdom" by persecution, sacrifice, death. And given the ingredient "death," we can change "driven to martyrdom" for "martyred," given the religious context of the quatrain. Let’s change the verse:
"Offenders will be martyred,"
Let’s see, in the first verse he speaks of "sacrifice." Then two questions arise, what kind of sacrifices? This question is clear in the second verse in the phrase "offenders will be taken to martyrdom." Then Nostradamus speaks of human sacrifices, so we can change "martyrdom" for "death" if you will. Nostradamus sees it that way.
The second question is what is meant by human sacrifices. Let’s define: they are the offerings of a human being to a deity in homage or atonement. In a broad sense, it is any ritual death of one or many people at the hands of a third party or institution. Finally, in order to have a clearer idea of the quatrain, Nostradamus adds that “honey will be more expensive than wax." Both elements derive from bees, but honey is for human consumption and not the wax, which has other applications such as high quality lighting candles, pulp for seals, for painting with the technique called encaustic, and to make wax tablets for writing, among other things. After Marie Antoinette's death, several events occur that will undoubtedly need telling ("In brief, sacrifices will return").
Now, let's see what we have:
"Soon sacrifices will return
offenders will be martyred, "
This is our main image or clause, as you wish to call it, formed by the first two verses with the colon at the end of the second verse. The third and fourth verses correspond to the derived or secondary image, or as I call it, the paraclause, which basically corresponds to an image that emerges from the first two verses or main clause.
The paraclause begins with: "Plus ne seront maines, abbez, ne novices".
In it we see those who will be victims of that "sacrifice," and who are the "offenders," obviously monks, abbots and novices, because "there will be no more monks, abbots or novices."
Now let’s go to history within the context of the general clause:
Let’s also remember that this period called reign of terror was brief within the historic concert of the revolution ("soon").
The number of people sentenced to death in Paris amounted to 2639, more than half of which (1,515) died during the months of June and July 1794. The punishments inflicted on the insurgents or suspected traitors were more severe in many peripheral departments, especially in the main centers of the monarchic insurrection. The court of Nantes, chaired by Jean-Baptiste Carrier, the most severe towards the accomplices of the rebels from La Vendée, ordered the execution of more than 8,000 people over a period of three months. The courts and the revolutionary committees were responsible for the execution of nearly 17.000 people across France. ("Soon the sacrifices shall return.")
The total number of victims during the Reign of Terror reached 40,000. ("Offenders will be taken to martyrdom"). Of those sentenced by the revolutionary courts, about 8% were noble, 6% were members of the clergy, 14% belonged to the middle class and 70% were workers or peasants accused of draft evasion, desertion, hoarding, rebellion or other crimes. ("Offenders will be martyred,")
It was the Catholic clergy who proportionally suffered greatest losses among all these social groups. Anticlerical hatred was also evident in the abolition of the Julian calendar in October 1793, which was replaced by the republican calendar. The Public Salvation Committee, headed by Robespierre, tried to reform France based fanatically on his own concepts of humanitarianism, social idealism and patriotism. The Committee, moved by the desire to establish a Republic of Virtue, encouraged the devotion for the republic and for victory, and took action against corruption and hoarding.
Also, on November 23, 1793, the Commune of Paris ordered the closing of all the churches in the city - this decision was subsequently followed by local authorities throughout France - "There will be no more monks, abbots or novices," and began promoting revolutionary religion, known as the Cult of Reason. This period in France, which runs from April 1793 to July 1794, is called the Reign of Terror. To pursue those who do not swear allegiance to the revolution and do not convert to the new Republican religion.
For Nostradamus honey is food, and it is obvious that in Paris and throughout France famine was a nightmare. In fact the frivolity of the tastes of Marie Antoinette was simply a lack of respect for the French. Another trigger for the French Revolution was hunger. In fact, for Nostradamus, "wax" is a simple representation of progress. The satisfaction of hunger was more expensive than progress itself. The last verse is presented thus in order to match the social reality of the time. "Honey will be more expensive than wax". The quatrain has been clarified.
