History of France, p. 379 - "The Death of Henry II".

In 1551 of the Gregorian calendar, King Henry II was 46 years old, a king who combined the glory and decadence of European royalty in the century, and had a sense of fatigue. Recently, he had come to know some rumors circulating in the city of Paris—about a local doctor who, thanks to his miraculous methods, had saved the plague-stricken town and had accurately predicted the future and natural disasters of many people - a man named Michiel? Nostradamus.

The king was very interested in this man, who was known to the people as the "Great Prophet", and ordered him to be summoned to the court as a "royal advisor".

"I heard that you can predict the fate of people? So, can you tell exactly when, where, and how I'm going to die? When Nostradamus was first summoned to the palace, Henry II asked.

Nostradamus looked directly at the king's wine-indulging eyes, and after a while, said calmly: "Your Majesty, it seems that your majesty's health is at stake. Your Majesty, while enjoying a life of glory and wealth, may always worry about what kind of disease you will contract, right? However, please rest assured that your Majesty will not be at risk of shortening your life due to illness. I know that very well, but ......"

The king was relieved, but then asked what the "but" meant. At that time, he asked with a sad face: "But! But what happens? ”

"Ahh This is my careless remark and has no other meaning. Please let your Majesty be the wind in your ears. ”

Nostradamus didn't go on. On the contrary, the king was uneasy: "No, you must make what you just said clear, and you don't have to hide it. This is my command. ”

Nostradamus hesitated, but the king repeatedly asked and could not refuse. As if it were inconvenient to speak, he opened his heavy mouth:

"Then let me tell you. To tell you the truth, I have been anxious since just now, thinking that your majesty must have lost his life because of something other than illness, and finally ended up like this? This may have been caused by a wound in the depths of His Majesty's head—one day, outside the city, an incident would happen in which His Majesty's brain was pierced with a sharp weapon, and perhaps the wound would have taken His Majesty's life. ”

The conversation is polite, but it is a cold and ruthless sentence. The retainers and maidens in attendance held their breath. The king's face was pale, his body trembled, and he did not speak for a moment. Then he whispered as if he were groaning:

"Is it the brain...... That's horrible. A terrible wound like that, if not on the battlefield, would simply be unimaginable! In this case, it was necessary to go to war against the House of Savoy, the old enemy who ruled the north of France at the time. The enemy is outside the city, and I may die on that battlefield. Nostradamus, I ask you, when will that be? Besides, is this fate, and there is no way to escape? ”

"Yes, unfortunately, there is no escape. This is the fate of His Majesty...... This day, in my opinion, will come in the next ten years. ”

Nostradamus stopped talking. The king grimaced and stared at him with eyes wide. Suddenly covered his face and cried.

"What's going on! Why did I die so miserably? I, as Emperor of Great France, were awarded the crown by the representative of God (the Pope of Rome...... I am the largest believer who donated 30,000 euros to the church. Why doesn't God save me in this time of crisis? ”

The king sobbed and wept. Nostradamus looked straight at the king without saying a word, with a sympathetic look. After a while he approached the king and said in a comforting tone:

"Your Majesty, please do not be overly sad...... His Majesty is not alone in this matter. Let's just say me, when I die, my whole body will be swollen, and I will die in great pain. Sooner or later, people will die either because of injury or illness. Still, we should see it as a blessing. Because our future descendants, all that is in the future of mankind, may perish in the course of these millennia for some terrible reason. Wouldn't it be more comfortable to live in this world under a clear sky and a beautiful sun, when roses are in full bloom? ”

In spite of all his comforts, the king did not please, and commanded in a tone of anxiety and irritation: "That is the business of the children of the distant future, let it be!" My own life matters. Stand down—Brois (court advisor), you go and get Mars? Bart called and asked him to re-divinate for me, and I wanted to hear his opinion. ”

Shortly after Nostradamus left, Breyce took the royal astrologer Mars? Bart was brought before the king. The king grabbed Mars like a savior? Barth's hand relayed to him the prophecy that Nostradamus had just made, hoping for his interpretation.

"Bart, you have always been my most trusted astrologer, and now please tell me honestly if my fate will really be as predicted by Nostradamus?"

Mars? Bart bowed deeply to Henry II, a warm smile on his face: "Dear Your Majesty, I beg your pardon - how can you trust the words of a folk astrologer?" ”

"But he's not an ordinary man." The king said worriedly, "I have heard a lot about Mihil? Rumors of Nostradamus. How could I not take to heart what such a strange man had to say, as he had driven the plague out of his towns, that he had been able to tell the future and fate of the people, that he had accurately predicted the impending earthquakes and floods that would occur in various places, and that the locals had quickly moved to safety? ”

"That's right, Your Majesty." Mars? Bart said quietly, "Nostradamus may not be a mediocre man, but that doesn't mean that everything he says is true. In fact, I have met him before, and in my communication and contact with him, I have sensed that he is indeed gifted in some areas, but at the same time, I have also found many fallacies in the many prophecies he made. For example, his prediction about your fate today is completely wrong. ”

"Really? How can you be so sure? The king asked, suspiciously, but his face was noticeably more pale.

Mars? Bart laughed and said, "My dear majesty, I am so sure because I have seen your fate accurately through the stars in the sky long before Nostradamus prophesied for you—your majesty, it seems to me that you need not worry about illness or accidents, etc., and the stars show that you will live a long and healthy life—of course, I do not mean that Nostradamus deliberately deceives or intimidates you. He's just mistaking the fate of another person for yours. ”

Hearing this, the king's hanging heart finally relaxed, and it was evident that he preferred to listen to or believe the prophecies that his court astrologer had given him. The king happily invited Mars? Bart had dinner together and rewarded him with a lot of money.

After this, King Henry II seemed to have completely forgotten the "unlucky prophecy" of Nostradamus. He still indulges in wine and pleasure. It was not until July 1559, in a little more than a week, that the period of terror was coming to an end. And that day was the day of the wedding ceremony of the king's little half-sister, Princess Margaret.

This was something that pleased the entire royal family - the Duke of Savoy, the master of the House of Savoy, the king's arch-enemy, actually became the husband of the royal sister. This is, of course, a strategy from above, to reduce the possibility of war between the French royal family and the Savoyard family through high-level political marriages.

The reason why the king died may have been fate and helpless.

On July 1, 1559 (the penultimate day of the "ten years" prophesied by Nostradamus), the king had a whim to test his marksmanship with a nobleman in the wide courtyard outside the palace.

"Let's have a celebratory aftermath!" The king said and brought the newlyweds and nobles to the courtyard. He pointed to a young nobleman and said cheerfully, "You have come to test my marksmanship!" ”

The one designated as an opponent was the captain of the king's guard, the young earl, named Montgomery. Because of his burly stature, outstanding martial arts, and a warrior with rich combat experience, people called him "Lion".

The young man was embarrassed and repeatedly refused to fight the king on the grounds that he was drunk. However, the king insisted on the order, and finally had to obey.

It's a martial arts competition, but it's actually just a show. The tip of the gun was wrapped in thick cloth and leather. The Count of Montgomery thought to himself: just play two or three rounds like this, and skillfully let the king win.

Unexpectedly, on the second round, a tragic accident suddenly happened. The king first stabbed the earl's helmet, and when the count stabbed back into the king's helmet, somehow the leather holster of the blade on the tip of the earl's gun suddenly fell off. The sharpened tip of the spear struck the king in the eye through the crack of the birdcage-shaped helmet made of gold. The king screamed and lay on his back in the flowerbed of the rose-filled courtyard.

The Count picked up the king in a panic, and the doctors ran over. However, the gunshot wound caused the brain and was no longer incurable. Despite his best efforts, the king had gone completely insane, and was crawling around the palace like a beast. By the night of the ninth day, he finally lost his breath.

This day happened to be the last night of Nostradamus's prophecy "within ten years."

At this time, all the staff in the palace remembered in surprise what had been prophesied. It was clear to the people that Nostradamus, when they first met, saw at a glance the death of the king in a tragic accident. Later, they were even more astonished to find a quatrain in Nostradamus's Complete Book of Centuries, published in 1558, which accurately described the event.

The Centuries, Volume I, Chapter 35:

"Young lions will bring down old people.

In a one-on-one contest in the garden,

He stabbed the eye in the golden armor.

Two wounds come together, and mad death is bound to come. ”

The ministers of the palace remembered that after the publication of the book, Nostradamus also gave a copy to Henry II. It stands to reason that the king saw the poem, but he apparently did not understand the meaning of it.

Of course, the king would never have dreamed that there was something written about himself in it. Perhaps the king, after his first meeting with Nostradamus, felt that he was not happy. Therefore, for his writings, from the beginning did not want to read them seriously.

The current situation could not be clearer. There is no doubt that Nostradamus was a brilliant and miraculous prophet. And the royal astrologer Mars? Barthes did not know for some reason (perhaps it was a mistake in judgment or it was simply a nonsense out of flattery) that he made the wrong prediction. In any case, the treatment of the two has been very different since this incident. Nostradamus is almost universally known as a god, and Mars? While Barthes became a joke, he was increasingly disgusted and disgusted, with people calling him "the biggest liar in the palace". Finally, less than half a year after the death of Henry II, Mars? Bart was kicked out of the palace by the new king because he was "nothing but a whisker".

To this day, Henry II remains one of the most biographical and dramatic kings in French history.