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Nostradamus' interest in Anne Boleyn At the time of first discovery it perplexed me as to why this verse was in Nostradamus. The clarity of its contents suggested it was meant to be a powerful hub providing ciphers of major relevance. As time has gone on I have found what I believe are the reasons behind Nostradamus including this reference point in history. It has taken some time but in January 2012 I became aware of the close proximity of Nostradamus to Marguerite of Navarre when he lived in Agen. At this time in the 1530's Nostradamus would have become very interested in the tumultuous actions taking place across the Channel as Henry VIII broke away from allegiance to the Pope in order to divorce his then wife, Catherine of Aragon and marry Anne Boleyn. Nostradamus was still in Agen when, on spurious charges, Henry had Anne executed. These events held greater poignancy than just a voyeuristic interest in a royal neighbour since Anne Boleyn had strong connections to Marguerite of Navarre whose court at Nerac was only a few kilometres from Agen. And it is here that Anne Boleyn was exposed to activists wanting religious reform and was shaped by the intellectual strengths of Marguerite. The following extracts are to be found in Wikipedia's entry on Marguerite of Navarre.
The Theatre, Shoreditch London (1576 to 1597) The Theatre was built in 1576 by James Burbage, father of the actor Richard Burbage. It was the first permanent theatre in London and was located at Curtain Rd in Shoreditch, north-east of the City but just outside its jurisdiction. It was an open-air amphitheatre, with three tiers of galleries and a covered stage. From 1594, the Theatre became the playhouse of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, a group that included William Shakespeare. After the lease on the site expired in 1597, the Burbages dismantled the Theatre and in 1599 rebuilt it as the Globe on the other side of the Thames. Shakespeare held a 10% shareholding in this new theatre. One of the last performances in the Theatre was the opening night of Midsummer's Nights Dream. As I have shown in Nostradamus on sects verse C1 Q45 is clearly about this play. But if it is about the Theatre in 1597 when the play Midsummer's Night Dream was played for the last time at that theatre then there is the recurring problem with Nostradamus work, he could only have written this verse with knowledge of the future. And if he did have that ability the same question arises as to Anne Boleyn, why was the Theatre of interest to Nostradamus. I believe the answer begins with Marguerite and in order to show why I will re-analyse the verse C1 Q45 showing some of its other detail.
Many translations of this verse show the beginning of the first line as a founder of sects whereas it more aptly says a sector (or district) of sects. A founder of sects is highly unlikely unless the person alluded to changes religion. However many cities have districts where different religions or ethnicities are compelled or choose to live. It is noteworthy that one of the claims for the reign of Anne Boleyn is that she achieved the greatest changes of any royal in English history by causing the break with Rome and the sub sequent rise of Protestantism in England. As such Anne Boleyn was a founder of sects and Thomas Cromwell who brought about her downfall did encounter much trouble as he was beheaded four years after Anne Boleyn. If he foresaw these future events in England then Nostradamus would probably be content that such a connection should be made because his aim seems always to be to produce allusions that point to the real significance of a verse rather than to produce a detailed record. And by the usage of the word sector we are led to a similar end but one that is more in keeping with the time suggested by the rest of the verse. It is in the later half of the century that the religious wars in France and elsewhere become significant to England as this is the beginning of the Huguenots flight from persecution. Many came to London and they sought shelter in the East End and particularly Shoreditch where the Theatre was located. The purpose of the inclusion of something as precise as Midsummer's Nights Dream would therefore seem to be the definition of a date and place of relevance to Nostradamus major themes. Here we have a date of 1596 at Shoreditch where French Huguenots loyal to Jeanne d'Albret and her son, King Henri IV of France were living. It also establishes the idea of a connection to the English Royal family derived from the line of Anne Boleyn who in turn had a relationshito the grandmother of King Henri IV, Marguerite of Navarre. And Queen Elizabeth I of England was one of the supporters of the Huguenots during the Religious Wars of France on the Protestant side especially in 1585 and 1590 to 1594 when Henri IV became rightful King of France. Throughout every element of this trail we see the emergence of new religious ideas, new sects and the mutation of religion predicted by Nostradamus as one of his three major mutations. C1 Q45 therefore becomes a verse from which we can expect much more to emerge as various links within the Prophecies are enhanced and better understood.
Henri III of France dies in 1589 and Henry III of Navarre, named as the rightful heir, becomes Henry IV, King of France. Henri of Navarre was now king. His sole aim initially was to defeat the Catholic League. His plan was to buy off support for the League and open combat. He had one major advantage over all his opponents - he was the legal and legitimate heir to the French throne. Those in the League were clearly not. Many problems remained but his perceived ability to better control the mobs in the cities was a dominating issue, outweighing his Protestantism. And his opponents in the League were tainted with Spain as it had accepted Spanish money and troops whereas Henry IV was not tainted in this manner and thus appealed to French patriotism. The fact that he received English helfrom 1590 to 1594 did not seem to worry the French as much as the Spanish help that the League had received.
This section augments that presented in Nostradamus on sects. Once again C1 Q45 has more to contribute:
Midsummer's Nights Dream contains a play within a play and in the second scene, first act there is a character called Quince who presents the scene and plot of the play that he will create from an ancient tale. It is worth noting here that there is an anagram of Quince at the end of Nostradamus' second line ( Bette en theatre dreSSe le jeu S cenique). There are eight other places in the Prophecies where this anagram can be found. 'Bette in the theatre' is a particularly strong multi-layered allusion with one of its meanings being Queen Elizabeth I (Bette) at The Theatre, the name for the building where Midsummer's Nights Dream was first played. And an anagram for Queen Bolyn, Elizabeth's mother, appears in the third line of this verse and nowhere else. There are other anagrams in the third line that apply to the play e.g. urDufa for dwarf and ai(c)tanti queen for Queen Titania. And these allusions may imply the names of the participants who were conspirators. In the play there is the following exchange.
As Nostradamus' verse correctly implies in its second line there is a beast in the theatre in the form of a lion in Shakespeare's play and its presence is raised at the time during the 2nd scene 1st act where the plot of Quince's play is laid out. This is in addition to Bottom's transformation to a person with a mule's head. The third line is also given relevance by the choice of Pyramus and Thisby, the basis of an ancient tale of tragedy from love denied. But it may also imply that Queen Elizabeth held a meeting in The Theatre which set the plans for a secret set of actions. It is quite extraordinary that even if Nostradamus could see the future that he had detailed knowledge of English literature but here it does seem to be the case. And this verse is not the only one where strong evidence can be found that Nostradamus had insight into notable literary and artistic works on which he draws for ciphers to clarify future events. C1 Q20 and C10 Q46 are cases in point as they appear to draw on Wagner's works in the cities of Brunswick and Nuremberg in the 19th Century. They contain Meistersinger and Music.and.Drama as their anagrammatic ciphers but these aren't the focal point of this paper.
Some relevant contextual references to Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth I and Henry IV of France The following extract is from Wikipedia's article on Anne Boleyn (Click here for full article)
Loves Labours Lost was written contemporaneously with Midsummer's Dream and this play was a tale based on Henri IV of France and his court at Nerac in Southern France. It seems appropriate to present a short section of the work of a student on this play as it gives the reason why she and countless others have been fascinated by Henri IV and Shakespeare's Love's Labour Lost.
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