Hobbies And Interests
Michel de Nostredame
More commonly known by the Latinised form of his last name, Michel de Nostredame -- Nostradamus -- was born in December 1503 in Saint Remy de Provence in the south of France. The prophecies were Nostradamus' most famous works, published in three parts in 1555, 1557 and 1558 before being compiled in "Centuries," published posthumously in 1568. This work, based on "judicial astronomy," then seen by the Catholic church as heretical, has led to Nostradamus becoming arguably the most studied and celebrated astrologer of all time. Verses are reputed to have predicted the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States, the 1986 Challenger space shuttle explosion and Hurricane Katrina. Scholars point out that these predictions are only noticed retrospectively.
Jacob ben Immanuel Lates
Lates was an astrologer and physician born in Provence in the 15th century. Now known more commonly as Bonet de Lates, the thinker was forced to leave Provence for Carpentras before settling in Rome, where he became the private physician of Pope Alexander VI and later, Pope Leo X. Lates major astrological work was "The Prognosticum," which was published in Rome in 1498 and predicted that the messiah would return in 1505. "The Prognosticum" made Lates a renowned figure. In 1507, mathematician Charles Bovillus tracked him down in Rome and their encounter is mentioned in the preface to Bovillus' own book "Dialogi de Trinitate."
Jean-Baptiste Morin
A prodigious young scholar, Morin was studying philosophy at Aix-en-Provence at the tail end of the 16th century. Born in 1583, Morin's most well-known contribution to astrology was his treatise "Astrologica Gallica" -- Latin for French Astrology -- which covered theories on astrological techniques as well as philosophical interpretations. The text of 26 books was translated into French, Spanish, German and English.
Johannes Stadius
Although Flemish in origin, Johannes Stadius conducted much of his work in Paris and Cologne, which was then a French city. Stadius was born Jan Van Ostaeyan in May 1527 and famously performed astrological predictions for the French royal court. His major work, "Ephemerides" was published in 1554 by Arnold Birckmann in Cologne and allowed Stadius to demonstrate his rejection of the traditional astrological methods in favor of new ones based upon the observations of himself and his teacher, Gemma Frisius. Stadius died in Paris in June 1579 and is buried there.