Prophecy, Politics and the People in Early Modern England

The influence of the non-Biblical vernacular prophetic traditions in early modern England was considerable; they had both a mass appeal, and a specific relevance to the conduct of politics by elites. Focussing particularly on Mother Shipton, the Cheshire prophet Nixon, and Merlin, this book considers the origins of these prophetic traditions, their growth and means of transmission, and the way various groups in society responded to them and in turn tried to control them.

The Prophecies of Nostradamus

Let us now consider prophecies of Nostradamus, the French prophet Michel de Nostredame of the 1500s, that will shed light on our attempts at identifying the Antichrist. Nostradamus lived from 1503 to 1566 in France, and he wrote a book of prophecies consisting of ten sets (or Centuries) of 100 quatrains. The prophetic quatrains have been studied and published continuously in the years since his death.