Dr Tony Shaw: Nostradamus in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence (13)

'ICI NAQUIT 14 DÉCEMBRE 1503

MICHEL DE NOSTREDAME

DIT NOSTRADAMUS

ASTROLOGUE'

It's no easy thing to photograph Nostradamus's birthplace in such a cramped street.

The plaque outside Nostradamus's birthplace states that he was the elder son of the solicitor Jaume de Nostradame and Raynières de Saint-Rémy, both of Jewish origin. His great-grandfather, Jean de Saint-Rémy, was a doctor and the town treasurer. Nostradamus grew up in a financially comfortable home and was educated to far above the average standard, learning mathematics and astromomy. He loved walking round the surrounding countryside and all his life was impressed by the countryside of the Alpilles and fascinated by the Roman history of Saint-Rémy which he regularly mentioned in his writings.

After studying at Avignon and Montpellier universities, he became a doctor of repute, experimenting with some success plant-based cures for the plague. He chose to call himself Nostradamus because of its meaning 'we give what is ours', in other words 'we pass on our knowledge'.

Above all Nostradamus was a humanist, a scientist, poet, and a friend of intellectuals. From 1566 he wrote his prophecies from Salon-de-Provence, where he established himself after his second marriage, and he received a great reputation for them. He became the protégé of Catherine de Médicis who in 1564 named him the king's doctor and advisor to the queen.

Nostradamus died in 1566, leaving a very rich work from a scientific, medicinal and literary point of view. He remains one of the most read authors in the world.