Nostardame Case

Michel de Nostradame, best recognized by his Latin name of Nostradamus, his name means Michael of Our Lady (in the Old Testament Michael is the guardian archangel of the Jews). Nostradamus was born on Wednesday, December 14th, 1503 in France, in St. Remy de Provence. He has been known as an astrologer, author, physician, with a great reputation as a seer (even when he did not consider himself a prophet), last, but not least he even knew his way around the kitchen.

Historians put forward that Nostradamus is a descendant of a Jewish Tribe of Issacher. This ethnic group was informed in astrology and in the mystic arts. It is also identified that his grandfather, Pierre de Nostredame, converted to Catholicism, with no clear date as to when it happened (some indicate that the conversion was done 1455 before Nostradamus was born, others while he was a boy). One perhaps has to consider that in the early 1500s, the French King Louis XII forced Jews to be baptized or leave the region. To be specific and as far as is known only Nostradamus' father's side of the family was Jewish. The evidence suggests that Nostradamus was in fact a deeply pious Roman Catholic with a strong leaning towards the Franciscan movement.

Nostradamus is famous worldwide for centuries due to his collections of prophecies based on "judicial" astrology, being his known publication: Les Propheties (French for The Prophecies). The first printing was done in 1555, and printings since then have not stopped.

As a child he was one of at least nine kids of Jaume de Nostredame (grain trader and notary) and Reynière de Saint-Rémy (mother). Nostradamus' grandfather (Jaume's father), Guy Gassonet, had converted to Catholicism around 1455, he took the Christian name "Pierre" and the last name "Nostredame" his siblings included Delphine, Jean I (c. 1507-77), Pierre, Hector, Louis, Bertrand, Jean II (born 1522) and Antoine (born 1523).

As a boy it is thought that Nostradamus studied traditional languages, astrology and even occult Jewish literature. There is little knowledge about his early days, while there is a constant that he was educated by his maternal great-grandfather Jean de St. Rémy (local doctor) - a custom which is rather vitiated by the fact that the second disappears from the historical record after 1504, when the toddler was only one year old.

As a teenager, Nostradamus was educated in Avignon. He was forced to leave Avignon when the university closed its doors in the face of an outbreak of the plague. Nostradamus traveled around southern France caring for plague victims. He traveled the countryside for eight years from 1521 researching herbal remedies up to 1529, he acted as an apothecary. The plague pandemic also referred to as the Black Death. The disease, which was transmitted through fleas and rodents, was extremely contagious, fast-acting and painful, often causing delirium and leaving large black eruptions all over a victim's body. Nostradamus began to grow a reputation for curing gravely ill patients with his innovative techniques. He promoted clean water, air, resting and reportedly didn't bleed patients, as was customary at the time. Furthermore, he was said to have shunned the multi-colored "magic" robe worn by some plague doctors as a means of safety.

Following these years as a wandering healer, he later studied medicine at the well-regarded Montpellier Medical School to pursue doctoral studies in medicine. He was expelled shortly afterward when it was discovered that he had been an apothecary, a "manual trade" expressly banned by the university statutes. After his expulsion he continued to work as an apothecary, he even invented a medication that allegedly protected from the Black Death.

In 1531 Nostradamus was invited to Agen by Jules-César Scaliger, a leading Renaissance scholar. There he married a woman (uncertain name), who bore him a daughter and a son. It's believed that from 1534-1537 his wife and children died, most likely from the plague, due to this his methods were put into question by his wife's family, who allegedly sued him to get her dowry back. His camaraderie with Scaliger went unpleasant