Author: Robert Jones, Col. John Pickering’s Regiment

Orders of the day, Volume 31 Issue 5, 1999

I am sure many have been either amused or actually worried about prophecies concerning the end of the world that have been prevalent in the press of late. One of the most notable was that by the French astrologer Michel de Nostredame, known as Nostradamus. Fortunately the most common interpretation of his prediction of the ending of the world has safely passed. This inspired me to look into his prophecies to see if any of them are attributed to our period of history, and was surprised to find several have been interpreted to refer to the English Civil War period. While different experts have reached differing interpretations for some of the quatrains, several agree on a number of them.

Here are the translated versions of the prophecies of Nostradamus that concern our period of history. Some are so vague they could refer to a number of events, but others really do make you wonder...

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.

Divine wrath overtook Charles I when he was sentenced by his own court, but the trouble with Parliament broke out originally around the time of his marriage in 1625 to Henrietta Maria of France. On his actual wedding day Charles directed that persecution of the Catholics should cease. Parliament opposed this and it eventually led to his death demanded by the Roundheads.

The fortress near the Thames will fall when the King is locked up inside. He will be seen in his shirt near the bridge, one facing death then barred inside the fortress.

One of Nostradamus’ more exciting quatrains, and reasonably exact too. After his defeat and captivity Charles I was taken to Windsor Castle overlooking the Thames in December 1648, where he remained until 9th January 1649. In a sense the castle did fall because it was in the hands of Parliament. On 30th January Charles was beheaded dressed in a shirt. The nearest bridge would at this time have been London Bridge.

They will come to put the just man wrongfully to death, publicly in the midst he is extinguished. So great a plague will be born in this place that the judges will be forced to flee.

This quatrain is usually applied to England. It states that after someone is unjustly executed, a great plague occurs in the place causing the people who caused his death to flee. It is understood to describe the execution of Charles I in 1649. The great plague of London was not however until 1665.

Ghent and Brussels march against Antwerp; the Parliament of London will put their king to death; the salt and wine will oppose him; because of them he will have the kingdom in trouble.

This quatrain implies that lines 1 and 2 are simultaneous. Charles I was executed in 1649 new style, or 1648 old style, when New Year’s Day was held on 25th March. Philip IV made great attempts to reconquer the Netherlands but by 1648 they were anxious to get the Dutch out of the war and ceded several key towns. By doing this they closed the Scheldt which ruined Antwerp.

A colonel intrigues through ambition, he will seize the greater part of the army. Against his Prince a false invention; he will be discovered under his flag.

Most accept this as a reference to Oliver Cromwell who took over the army. He connived in the plotting and accusations against the King at his trial and execution.

The unworthy man is chased out of the English Kingdom. The counsellor through anger will be burnt. His followers will stoop to such depths that the pretender will almost be received.

Charles lost his kingdom mainly due to his own behaviour and irresponsibility towards Parliament (of his counsellors, Strafford and Archbishop Laud were both beheaded; there is no historical evidence of a counsellor being burnt). His followers who stooped so low could have been the Scots who ‘sold’ the King back to Parliament in 1646. The pretender who is almost received in the kingdom is Cromwell, a man who has no true right to rule and became Lord Protector, not king.

The great speechmaker, shameless and bold will be elected governor of the army. The boldness of his contention, the broken bridge, the city faints from fear.

The key to this quatrain lies in the broken bridge. If one can accept this as Pontefract from the Latin pons, a bridge, fractus, broken, then we have a description of the town which held out for Charles I and suffered two severe sieges during the Civil War. The ‘speechmaker’ is Cromwell who takes over the army.

Through the shaven heads he will be seen to have been wrongly elected. Burdened with a load he cannot carry. He will be made to proclaim with such great fury and rage that all of one sex will be cut to pieces by fire and blood.

Nostradamus says that Cromwell is elected to power; he did not rule by divine right. The ‘fury and rage’ that covers Britain refers to the Civil Wars, during which a great number of men lost their lives.

More of a butcher than a king in England, born of obscure rank will gain empire through force. Coward without faith, without law he will bleed the land; His time approaches so close that I sigh.

Apparently Nostradamus had little sense of time because Cromwell did not appear until over 30 years after his death. He is described as more of a butcher than a king because of the bloodshed of the Civil Wars. As a Protestant, Nostradamus regards him as a heretic. He was of comparatively humble origins and attained his position through military means. The reference to his being a coward is interesting as Cromwell was supposed to wear a corselet of some kind because he was afraid of assassination.

The weak band will occupy the land, those of high places will make dreadful cries. The large herd of the outer corner troubled, near Edinburgh it falls discovered by the writings.

This describes the battle of Dunbar which took place 25 miles east of Edinburgh. Charles II landed in Scotland in 1650. The highlanders (‘those of high places’) were more numerous than the Cromwellians, but their position was weak. The Scots had before the battle boasted they had Cromwell cornered ‘in a pound’, therefore the weaker band, the Cromwellians, routed the Scots. Perhaps line 4 can be explained by the fact that Cromwell took possession of all the papers in the Scottish War Office.

At midnight the leader of the army will run away, suddenly disappeared. Seven years later, his reputation unblemished, to his return ‘yes’ will not once be said (i.e. many times)

After his defeat at the Battle of Worcester, Charles II fled to France via Scotland in disguise. His usurper Cromwell ‘reigned’ for seven years, and Charles was restored in 1660. It is a general quatrain but can be applied to these events quite accurately.

Well, there you have it - prophecies or coincidence? Whatever you believe, I am sure you will agree it makes interesting reading. My copy of the prophecies was translated and interpreted by Erika Cheetham. Other interpretations may differ and include other references to the Civil Wars.