Nostradamus C5 Q99: Information on important issues of the code method.
Copyright: Allan Webber, December 2015, 2022

The following verse has an unusual quality befitting the penultimate verse of the middle chapter of the Prophecies. Its text identifies specific places and a cryptic reference that should aid in dating it. However the anagrams don't point to a historical event but instead they have the consistent appearance of being about Nostradamus' coding technique telling us where to look and what to expect at special locations.

Prior to the sixteenth century the major methods of coding included oral mechanisms such as stress and rhyme, minute variations in images (and lettering) and techniques for splitting the media which recorded the message into parts that could be easily re-assembled.

The invention of the printing press made each of these methods obsolete or far less useful. Instead the printed letters became the vehicle and decoding relied on knowing how to re-arrange them to read the intended message. A shared secret formula for determining the right spacing of the letters provided one type of key for encoding messages imprinted in written texts.

Another method of hiding a message in print that was more difficult to break became quite popular in the sixteenth century. It relied on using a formula for aligning a preset master text with the text carrying the hidden message. This alignment provided the match by which letters and numbers had to be swapped.

In this verse anagrams such as letter-spacing, percentages, equaling, rectangle apexes and phonate piquance, burned, path and numerator fit to the instructions needed for people to adjust from oral to print-based coding.

And one of the best means of embedding names in text where lettering is the prime mechanisim is to use a phonetic profile instead of relying on immaculate spelling. So the profile 'Nstrdmus' would be sufficeint to carry Nostradamus name. Many variants are possible so an optimumal choice can be made that suits the need for a credible text message yet isn't so devoid of structure that it is easily noticed.

DATA section

C5 Q99
Original Verse in English and French (Benoit Ed.)

Milan, Ferrara, Turin and Aquileia,
Capua, Brindisi vexed by the Celtic nation
By the Lion and his Eagle's phalanx,
When the old British chief Rome will have.

Milan Ferrare Turin et Aquilleye
Capne Brundis vexes par gent Celtique
Par le Lyon et phalange aquilee
Quant Rome aura le chef vieux Britannique

Adjacent Anagrams plus Anagrams of highest merit.  ( ~ means full line used)
Selection Order based on letter rarity, word and sequence length plus line completion

L1: <Final Quatrein M (1000=X.100) True rare ill eye> <eTrurian liquAte><rarer FeMinal uTerine equAllity><Terra urinAte / urAnite quill inflaMe eye> <A quill reunite eye rare / rear inFlamer><Terra inflaMer ruin eye>

L2: <Burden is perCentages piquanCe (potential rightness) vex><Bindrune letter-spaCing vexes><presag-ient Celt> <reCtangle quite Cap><quite negleCt> <presage vex><Burn devixes>apexes

L3: <reaLly note alpha equi-angle><Lonely> <phaeton / phonate (sound source) reaLly aPe-lique (ape-like) angel> <onLy aPe-lique angel rePeal path>

L4: <Quatrain-unique numeRator> <QuateRon (set of four) anti quin BurieX five><quintain (fifth]) fleche (church spire) exurBiant (outside city) iv /vi [4/6]> <five uxe inquinate (to defile) QuateRon (set of for) riB><inquirant uuaQen>QuateRn (poetic term for four verses)

Table listing anagram occurrences (1-23) in Nostradamus' Prophecies

1: letter-spacing, percentages, exurbiant, bindrune, buriex,
2: equallity, equiangle / equaling, Phaeton /phonate,
3: piquance, really, apexes,
4: rectangle, quateron, neglect, aquilege, burned, burden, vexes, path,
5: inflame / feminal,
6: numerator, Etrurian,
7: quatern / querant, alpha, exurb,
8: inquirant, loyaler, lonely, caique,
9: inquinate, quintain, Etruria, grasp,
10: quatrein, five,
11: presage, reunite / uterine, burn,
12: -
13: -
14: quantile, uuaqen, rarer,
15: -
16: liquate, uranite, quill, finale,
17: -
18: final, aural,
19: -
20: -
21: quilt,
22: -
23: -

Key Ideas:

exurbiant, bindrune, buries, letter-spacing, percentages, phonate, piquance, really, equaling, rectangle, apexes, quateron, neglect, aquilege, path, inflame, burden, vexes, loyaler, Etrurian, numerator, alpha, quatern, inquirant, inquinate, quatrein, five, reunite, lonely, presage, waken, rarer, quantile, final, uranite, quill, liquate.