Prophetic astrology, Renaissance divination

Michel de Nostredame (Nostradamus)

1503 – 1566

Nostradamus was a French apothecary, physician, and reputed seer whose collection of cryptic prophetic quatrains, Les Prophéties (1555), made him the most famous prophet of the early modern era. Drawing on astrology, classical sources, and visionary practice, he composed nearly a thousand verses allegedly forecasting future events. His fame reached the French royal court, where Catherine de Medici invited him to cast horoscopes for her children.