Century I is the first Centurie by Nostradamus, first printed on May 4, 1555 in Lyons by Macé Bonhomme. This first edition contained the Preface to his on César and 353 quatrains. A reprint was done by Bareste in 1840, unfortunately the original was lost.
Century I[]
- 1
- Sitting alone at night in secret study;
- it is placed on the brass tripod.
- A slight flame comes out of the emptiness and
- makes successful that which should not be believed in vain.
- 2
- The wand in the hand is placed in the middle of the tripod's legs.
- With water he sprinkles both the hem of his garment and his foot.
- A voice, fear: he trembles in his robes.
- Divine splendor; the God sits nearby.
- 3
- When the litters are overturned by the whirlwind
- and faces are covered by cloaks,
- the new republic will be troubled by its people.
- At this time the reds and the whites will rule wrongly.
- 4
- In the world there will be made a king
- who will have little peace and a short life.
- At this time the ship of the Papacy will be lost,
- governed to its greatest detriment.
- 5
- They will be driven away for a long drawn out fight.
- The countryside will be most grievously troubled.
- Town and country will have greater struggle.
- Carcassonne and Narbonne will have their hearts tried.
- 6
- The eye of Ravenna will be forsaken,
- when his wings will fail at his feet.
- The two of Bresse will have made a constitution
- for Turin and Vercelli, which the French will trample underfoot
- 7
- Arrived too late, the act has been done.
- The wind was against them, letters intercepted on their way.
- The conspirators were fourteen of a party.
- By Rousseau shall these enterprises be undertaken.
- 8
- How often will you be captured, O city of the sun ?
- Changing laws that are barbaric and vain.
- Bad times approach you. No longer will you be enslaved.
- Great Hadrie will revive your veins.
- 9
- From the Orient will come the African heart
- to trouble Hadrie and the heirs of Romulus.
- Accompanied by the Libyan fleet
- the temples of Malta and nearby islands shall be deserted.
- 10
- A coffin is put into the vault of iron,
- where seven children of the king are held.
- The ancestors and forebears will come forth from the depths of hell,
- lamenting to see thus dead the fruit of their line.
- 11
- The motion of senses, heart, feet and hands
- will be in agreement between Naples, Lyon and Sicily.
- Swords fire, floods, then the noble Romans drowned,
- killed or dead because of a weak brain.
- 12
- There will soon be talk of a treacherous man, who rules a short time,
- quickly raised from low to high estate.
- He will suddenly turn disloyal and volatile.
- This man will govern Verona.
- 13
- Through anger and internal hatreds, the exiles
- will hatch a great plot against the king.
- Secretly they will place enemies as a threat,
- and his own old (adherents) will find sedition against them.
- 14
- From the enslaved populace, songs, chants and demands,
- while Princes and Lords are held captive in prisons.
- These will in the future by headless idiots
- be received as divine prayers.
- 15
- Mars threatens us with the force of war
- and will cause blood to be spilt seventy times.
- The clergy will be both exalted and reviled moreover,
- by those who wish to learn nothing of them.
- 16
- A scythe joined with a pond in Sagittarius
- at its highest ascendant.
- Plague, famine, death from military hands;
- the century approaches its renewal.
- 17
- For forty years the rainbow will not be seen.
- For forty years it will be seen every day.
- The dry earth will grow more parched,
- and there will be great floods when it is seen.
- 18
- Because of French discord and negligence
- an opening shall be given to the Mohammedans.
- The land and sea of Siena will be soaked in blood,
- and the port of Marseilles covered with ships and sails.
- 19
- When the snakes surround the altar,
- and the Trojan blood is troubled by the Spanish.
- Because of them, a great number will be lessened.
- The leader flees, hidden in the swampy marshes.
- 20
- The cities of Tours, Orleans, Blois, Angers, Reims and Nantes
- are troubled by sudden change.
- Tents will be pitched by (people) of foreign tongues;
- rivers, darts at Rennes, shaking of land and sea.
- 21
- The rock holds in its depths white clay
- which will come out milk-white from a cleft
- Needlessly troubled people will not dare touch it,
- unaware that the foundation of the earth is of clay.
- 22
- A thing existing without any senses
- will cause its own end to happen through artifice.
- At Autun, Chalan, Langres and the two Sens
- there will be great damage from hail and ice.
- 23
- In the third month, at sunrise,
- the Boar and the Leopard meet on the battlefield.
- The fatigued Leopard looks up to heaven
- and sees an eagle playing around the sun.
- 24
- At the New City he is thoughtful to condemn;
- the bird of prey offers himself to the Gods.
- After victory he pardons his captives.
- At Cremona and Mantua great hardships will be suffered.
- 25
- The lost thing is discovered, hidden for many centuries.
- Pasteur will be celebrated almost as a God-like figure.
- This is when the moon completes her great cycle,
- but by other rumors he shall be dishonored.
- 26
- The great man will be struck down in the day by a thunderbolt.
- An evil deed, foretold by the bearer of a petition.
- According to the prediction another falls at night time.
- Conflict at Reims, London, and pestilence in Tuscany.
- 27
- Beneath the oak tree of Gienne, struck by lightning,
- the treasure is hidden not far from there.
- That which for many centuries had been gathered,
- when found, a man will die, his eye pierced by a spring.
- 28
- Tobruk will fear the barbarian fleet for a time,
- then much later the Western fleet.
- Cattle, people, possessions, all will be quite lost.
- What a deadly combat in Taurus and Libra.
- 29
- When the fish that travels over both land and sea
- is cast up on to the shore by a great wave,
- its shape foreign, smooth and frightful.
- From the sea the enemies soon reach the walls.
- 30
- Because of the storm at sea the foreign ship
- will approach an unknown port.
- Notwithstanding the signs of the palm branches,
- afterwards there is death and pillage. Good advice comes too late.
- 31
- The wars in France will last for so many years
- beyond the reign of the Castulon kings.
- An uncertain victory will crown three great ones,
- the Eagle, the Cock, the Moon, the Lion, the Sun in its house.
- 32
- The great Empire will soon be exchanged
- for a small place, which soon will begin to grow.
- A small place of tiny area
- in the middle of which he will come to lay down his scepter.
- 33
- Near a great bridge near a spacious plain
- the great lion with the Imperial forces
- will cause a falling outside the austere city.
- Through fear the gates will be unlocked for him.
- 34
- The bird of prey flying to the left,
- before battle is joined with the French, he makes preparations.
- Some will regard him as good, others bad or uncertain.
- The weaker party will regard him as a good omen.
- 35
- The young lion will overcome the older one,
- in a field of combat in single fight:
- He will pierce his eyes in their golden cage;
- two wounds in one, then he dies a cruel death.
- 36
- Too late the king will repent
- that he did not put his adversary to death.
- But he will soon come to agree to far greater things
- which will cause all his line to die.
- 37
- Shortly before sun set, battle is engaged.
- A great nation is uncertain.
- Overcome, the sea port makes no answer,
- the bridge and the grave both in foreign places.
- 38
- The Sun and the Eagle will appear to the victor.
- An empty answer assured to the defeated.
- Neither bugle nor shouts will stop the soldiers.
- Liberty and peace, if achieved in time through death.
- 39
- At night the last one will be strangled in his bed
- because he became too involved with the blond heir elect.
- The Empire is enslaved and three men substituted.
- He is put to death with neither letter nor packet read.
- 40
- The false trumpet concealing madness
- will cause Byzantium to change its laws.
- From Egypt there will go forth a man who wants
- the edict withdrawn, changing money and standards.
- 41
- The city is besieged and assaulted by night;
- few have escaped; a battle not far from the sea.
- A woman faints with joy at the return of her son,
- poison in the folds of the hidden letters.
- 42
- The tenth day of the April Calends, calculated in Gothic fashion
- is revived again by wicked people.
- The fire is put out and the diabolic gathering
- seek the bones of the demon of Psellus.
- 43
- Before the Empire changes
- a very wonderful event will take place.
- The field moved, the pillar of porphyry
- put in place, changed on the gnarled rock.
- 44
- In a short time sacrifices will be resumed,
- those opposed will be put (to death) like martyrs.
- The will no longer be monks, abbots or novices.
- Honey shall be far more expensive than wax.
- 45
- A founder of sects, much trouble for the accuser:
- A beast in the theater prepares the scene and plot.
- The author ennobled by acts of older times;
- the world is confused by schismatic sects.
- 46
- Very near Auch, Lectoure and Mirande
- a great fire will fall from the sky for three nights.
- The cause will appear both stupefying and marvelous;
- shortly afterwards there will be an earthquake.
- 47
- The speeches of Lake Leman will become angered,
- the days will drag out into weeks,
- then months, then years, then all will fail.
- The authorities will condemn their useless powers.
- 48
- When twenty years of the Moon's reign have passed
- another will take up his reign for seven thousand years.
- When the exhausted Sun takes up his cycle
- then my prophecy and threats will be accomplished.
- 49
- Long before these happenings
- the people of the East, influenced by the Moon,
- in the year 1700 will cause many to be carried away,
- and will almost subdue the Northern area.
- 50
- From the three water signs will be born a man
- who will celebrate Thursday as his holiday.
- His renown, praise, rule and power will grow
- on land and sea, bringing trouble to the East.
- 51
- The head of Aries, Jupiter and Saturn.
- Eternal God, what changes !
- Then the bad times will return again after a long century;
- what turmoil in France and Italy.
- 52
- Two evil influences in conjunction in Scorpio.
- The great lord is murdered in his room.
- A newly appointed king persecutes the Church,
- the lower (parts of) Europe and in the North.
- 53
- Alas, how we will see a great nation sorely troubled
- and the holy law in utter ruin.
- Christianity (governed) throughout by other laws,
- when a new source of gold and silver is discovered.
- 54
- Two revolutions will be caused by the evil scythe bearer
- making a change of reign and centuries.
- The mobile sign thus moves into its house:
- Equal in favor to both sides.
- 55
- In the land with a climate opposite to Babylon
- there will be great shedding of blood.
- Heaven will seem unjust both on land and sea and in the air.
- Sects, famine, kingdoms, plagues, confusion.
- 56
- Sooner and later you will see great changes made,
- dreadful horrors and vengeances.
- For as the moon is thus led by its angel
- the heavens draw near to the Balance.
- 57
- The trumpet shakes with great discord.
- An agreement broken: lifting the face to heaven:
- the bloody mouth will swim with blood;
- the face anointed with milk and honey lies on the ground.
- 58
- Through a slit in the belly a creature will be born with two heads
- and four arms: it will survive for some few years.
- The day that Alquiloie celebrates his festivals
- Fossana, Turin and the ruler of Ferrara will follow.
- 59
- The exiles deported to the islands
- at the advent of an even more cruel king
- will be murdered. Two will be burnt
- who were not sparing in their speech.
- 60
- An Emperor will be born near Italy,
- who will cost the Empire very dearly.
- They will say, when they see his allies,
- that he is less a prince than a butcher.
- 61
- The wretched, unfortunate republic
- will again be ruined by a new authority.
- The great amount of ill will accumulated in exile
- will make the Swiss break their important agreement.
- 62
- Alas! what a great loss there will be to learning
- before the cycle of the Moon is completed.
- Fire, great floods, by more ignorant rulers;
- how long the centuries until it is seen to be restored.
- 63
- Pestilences extinguished, the world becomes smaller,
- for a long time the lands will be inhabited peacefully.
- People will travel safely through the sky (over) land and seas:
- then wars will start up again.
- 64
- At night they will think they have seen the sun,
- when the see the half pig man:
- Noise, screams, battles seen fought in the skies.
- The brute beasts will be heard to speak.
- 65
- A child without hands, never so great a thunderbolt seen,
- the royal child wounded at a game of tennis.
- At the well lightning strikes, joining together
- three trussed up in the middle under the oaks.
- 66
- He who then carries the news,
- after a short while will (stop) to breathe:
- Viviers, Tournon, Montferrand and Praddelles;
- hail and storms will make them grieve.
- 67
- The great famine which I sense approaching
- will often turn (in various areas) then become worldwide.
- It will be so vast and long lasting that (they) will grab
- roots from the trees and children from the breast.
- 68
- O to what a dreadful and wretched torment
- are three innocent people going to be delivered.
- Poison suggested, badly guarded, betrayal.
- Delivered up to horror by drunken executioners.
- 69
- The great mountain, seven stadia round,
- after peace, war, famine, flooding.
- It will spread far, drowning great countries,
- even antiquities and their mighty foundations.
- 70
- Rain, famine and war will not cease in Persia;
- too great a faith will betray the monarch.
- Those (actions) started in France will end there,
- a secret sign for on to be sparing.
- 71
- The marine tower will be captured and retaken three times
- by Spaniards, Barbarians and Ligurians.
- Marseilles and Aix, Ales by men of Pisa,
- devastation, fire, sword, pillage at Avignon by the Turinese.
- 72
- The inhabitants of Marseilles completely changed,
- fleeing and pursued as far as Lyons.
- Narbonne, Toulouse angered by Bordeaux;
- the killed and captive are almost one million.
- 73
- France shall be accused of neglect by her five partners.
- Tunis, Algiers stirred up by the Persians.
- Leon, Seville and Barcelona having failed,
- they will not have the fleet because of the Venetians.
- 74
- After a rest they will travel to Epirus,
- great help coming from around Antioch.
- The curly haired king will strive greatly for the Empire,
- the brazen beard will be roasted on a spit.
- 75
- The tyrant of Siena will occupy Savona,
- having won the fort he will restrain the marine fleet.
- Two armies under the standard of Ancona:
- the leader will examine them in fear.
- 76
- The man will be called by a barbaric name
- that three sisters will receive from destiny.
- He will speak then to a great people in words and deeds,
- more than any other man will have fame and renown.
- 77
- A promontory stands between two seas:
- A man who will die later by the bit of a horse;
- Neptune unfurls a black sail for his man;
- the fleet near Gibraltar and Rocheval.
- 78
- To an old leader will be born an idiot heir,
- weak both in knowledge and in war.
- The leader of France is feared by his sister,
- battlefields divided, conceded to the soldiers.
- 79
- Bazas, Lectoure, Condom, Auch and Agen
- are troubled by laws, disputes and monopolies.
- Carcassone, Bordeaux, Toulouse and Bayonne will be ruined
- when they wish to renew the massacre.
- 80
- From the sixth bright celestial light
- it will come to thunder very strongly in Burgundy.
- Then a monster will be born of a very hideous beast:
- In March, April, May and June great wounding and worrying.
- 81
- Nine will be set apart from the human flock,
- separated from judgment and advise.
- Their fate is to be divided as they depart.
- K. Th. L. dead, banished and scattered.
- 82
- When the great wooden columns tremble
- in the south wind, covered with blood.
- Such a great assembly then pours forth
- that Vienna and the land of Austria will tremble.
- 83
- The alien nation will divide the spoils.
- Saturn in dreadful aspect in Mars.
- Dreadful and foreign to the Tuscans and Latins,
- Greeks who will wish to strike.
- 84
- The moon is obscured in deep gloom,
- his brother becomes bright red in color.
- The great one hidden for a long time in the shadows
- will hold the blade in the bloody wound.
- 85
- The king is troubled by the queen's reply.
- Ambassadors will fear for their lives.
- The greater of his brothers will doubly disguise his action,
- two of them will die through anger, hatred and envy.
- 86
- When the great queen sees herself conquered,
- she will show an excess of masculine courage.
- Naked, on horseback, she will pass over the river
- pursued by the sword: she will have outraged her faith
- 87
- Earthshaking fire from the center of the earth
- will cause tremors around the New City.
- Two great rocks will war for a long time,
- then Arethusa will redden a new river.
- 88
- The divine wrath overtakes the great Prince,
- a short while before he will marry.
- Both supporters and credit will suddenly diminish.
- Counsel, he will die because of the shaven heads.
- 89
- Those of Lerida will be in the Moselle,
- kill all those from the Loire and Seine.
- The seaside track will come near the high valley,
- when the Spanish open every route.
- 90
- Bordeaux and Poitiers at the sound of the bell
- will go with a great fleet as fast as Langon.
- A great rage will surge up against the French,
- when a hideous monster is born near Orgon.
- 91
- The Gods will make it appear to mankind
- that they are the authors of a great war.
- Before the sky was seen to bee free of weapons and rockets:
- the greatest damage will be inflicted on the left.
- 92
- Under one man peace will be proclaimed everywhere,
- but not long after will be looting and rebellion.
- Because of a refusal, town, land and see will be broached.
- About a third of a million dead or captured.
- 93
- The Italian lands near the mountains will tremble.
- The Cock and the Lion not strongly united.
- In place of fear they will help each other.
- Freedom alone moderates the French.
- 94
- The tyrant Selim will be put to death at the harbor
- but Liberty will not be regained, however.
- A new war arises from vengeance and remorse.
- A lady is honored through force of terror.
- 95
- In front of a monastery will be found a twin infant
- from the illustrious and ancient line of a monk.
- His fame, renown and power through sects and speech
- is such that they will say the living twin is deservedly chosen.
- 96
- A man will be charged with the destruction
- of temples and sects, altered by fantasy.
- He will harm the rocks rather than the living,
- ears filled with ornate speeches.
- 97
- That which neither weapon nor flame could accomplish
- will be achieved by a sweet speaking tongue in council.
- Sleeping, in a dream, the king will see
- the enemy not in war or of military blood.
- 98
- The leader who will conduct great numbers of people
- far from their skies, to foreign customs and language.
- Five thousand will die in Crete and Thessaly,
- the leader fleeing in a sea going supply ship.
- 99
- The great king will join
- with two kings, united in friendship.
- How the great household will sigh:
- around Narbon what pity for the children.
- 100
- For a long time a gray bird will be seen in the sky
- near Dôle and the lands of Tuscany.
- He holds a flowering branch in his beak,
- but he dies too soon and the war ends.