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His hometown -

Nostradamus was born on December 14, 1503, in the south of France in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. He was one of nine children born to Reynière de Saint-Rémy and her husband Jaume de Nostredame.

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His name is Latinized -

Although we know him by just one name, he was actually born Michel de Nostredame. Nostradamus is the Latin form of his name.

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His family was originally Jewish -

Nostradamus was born into a Jewish family that had converted to Christianity due to religious tensions. His grandfather, Guy de Gassonet, converted to Catholicism in 1455.

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He started life as a shopkeeper -

Nostradamus married in his early twenties and was trained as a doctor. He then opened his own apothecary shop, the equivalent of today’s street pharmacy.

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He provided different treatments -

Nostradamus' shop offered a range of treatments for sick customers, as well as herbal medicines and sweets. Customers could even gamble by taking bets on the sex of an unborn child.

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His first prophecies stemmed from grief - It's believed that Nostradamus started predicting the future after the tragic death of his wife and children to a plague outbreak in France.

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When in grief -

During this difficult time, grief-stricken Nostradamus began writing his predictions. He also started to travel around Europe.

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A new journey -

For over a decade he absorbed what were then new ideas about the occult, from Jewish mysticism to astrological techniques.

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'The Prophecies' -

When he returned to Provence, he published the first of his prophecies in 1555 in what became his greatest work, 'The Prophecies.' The book was made up of 942 predictions.

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His fame spread via the printing press -

Thanks to the invention of the printing press, Nostradamus' 'The Prophecies' spread, making him famous across Europe. Compared to his predecessors, who made predictions by word of mouth or through pamphlets, Nostradamus benefited from the new printing technology.

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The printers were interested in his work -

The printers of the time were keen to find best sellers, and the subjects of astrology and prophecy were popular, making Nostradamus’ book one of the most widely read.

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Nostradamus' style -

Readers were drawn in by his unique style; he wrote as if visions were coming straight from his mind. He also wrote in quatrains, rhyming four-line verses, as well as in different languages including Greek, Latin, and Old French.

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Nostradamus never gave specific dates -

One of the reasons why Nostradamus' predictions continue to fascinate people is because they were always vague and never included dates. They could, therefore, be applied to several dramatic events throughout the centuries.

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The most common topics -

Nostradamus mostly wrote about disasters, such as earthquakes, famine, disease, and war. These were all current topics during his lifetime, which could explain the vague predictions.

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He gained the patronage of Catherine de' Medici -

Italian noble Catherine de' Medici was the Queen of France between 1547 and 1559. She was superstitious, and after reading Nostradamus' work she took him into the French court.

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The death of a king -

The queen was troubled by a particular prediction, the death of her husband, King Henri II of France. This event became the first time Nostradamus successfully predicted the future, as he foresaw Henri’s death three years before it occurred.

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A painful death -

The king died on July 10, 1559. He had been jousting when his opponent’s lance shattered through his helmet, piercing his eyes and throat. He held on to life for 10 days before dying of infection.

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Nostradamus was right -

This tragic death aligned with Nostradamus' account, which had detailed the long, painful death of the king.

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He feared accusations of witchcraft -

Nostradamus' Jewish background meant that in a time of increasing anti-Semitism, by both the French state and Church, he had to be careful as authorities watched his every move.

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Codified language -

Fearing accusations of practicing sorcery and witchcraft, which were punished by death, Nostradamus wrote his predictions using a codified language.

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He also worked as a healer -

Nostradamus considered himself a healer. He practiced questionable methods to treat plague victims, such as bloodletting. He also provided beauty treatments with scary ingredients like lye. 

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Nostradamus was accused of plagiarism -

In the 16th century, authors frequently copied and paraphrased other works. Nostradamus paraphrased prophecies from 'Mirabilis liber' (1522), which contained 24 biblical quotations.

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Nostradamus predicted major world events -

From the Great Fire of London to JFK's assassination in Dallas, Nostradamus is thought to have predicted every major world event.

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He predicted the world would end in 1999 -

In 1999, Spanish-French fashion designer Paco Rabanne canceled his Paris shows because he believed Nostradamus had prophesized the end of the world in July of that year. Nothing happened.

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His visions were aided by trances -

Nostradamus would get his visions by going into a room where a bowl of dark water would induce him into a trance-like state as he looked into the water for lengthy periods.

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The process -

Once he had his visions, Nostradamus would codify and interpret them through intuition and the mystical tradition of Kabbalah and astrology.

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He remarried -

After the loss of his family to the plague, Nostradamus remarried a widow named Anne Ponsarde, and they had six children together. They settled in the village of Salon-de-Provence.

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Nostradamus published a medical cookbook -

Nostradamus published a medical cookbook called 'Traité des fardemens' (1555). It included preparations of cosmetics, candies, jams, and even a love potion.

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Nostradamus predicted his own death -

Nostradamus suffered severely from gout, which made movement very difficult. The night before he died in 1566, Nostradamus was said to utter to his secretary: "Tomorrow at sunrise I shall no longer be here." The next morning, he was found dead beside his bed at the age of 62.

See also: George Orwell's '1984': predictions that resonate today

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