The story of this stolen Nostradamus copy could be a template for a crime thriller. The original manuscript turned up at an antique dealer in Pforzheim.
Rome/Pforzheim – It is a historical copy of a work by the French physician and astrologer Michel de Nostredame, better known as Nostradamus. The work is approximately 300 years old and is an original manuscript of the Prophecies of Nostradamus. The enigmatic and dark verses of Nostradamus have fascinated people for generations. The interest of posterity in his writings is enormous. Handwritten texts very precious.
16th-century Nostradamus manuscript set to sell for €12,000
This is probably how it happened that an antiques dealer wanted to auction a manuscript of the manuscript as “Nostradamus M. Prophecies by Michele Nostradamo” via a Pforzheim auction house in April 2021. 12,000 euros were called as a starting offer.
The Roman public prosecutor’s office got wind of it and contacted their German colleagues. The work was to be confiscated by European investigative order. Because there was an urgent suspicion that the manuscript offered had been stolen from a library in Rome in 2007.
Stolen Nostradamus Manuscript found after 20 years
The Nostradamus work entitled “Profetie di Michele Nostradamo” was seized in May 2021. The investigations revealed that the book had reached Pforzheim from Rome via a book flea market in Paris and via Karlsruhe. Experts determined that the book is actually the stolen original manuscript, which is around 300 years old. Based on the library stamp, it could be clearly assigned to the library in Rome, the Baden-Württemberg State Criminal Police Office and the Karlsruhe Public Prosecutor announced in mid-March.
Now, after 15 years, the Nostradamus work can be returned to its rightful owner. The Carabinieri in Rome have returned the precious copy stolen in 2007 to the library in Rome.
Destruction, darkness and desolation – who was Nostradamus?
The Frenchman Michel de Nostredame (Latinized: Nostradamus) lived in the 16th century. He is on December 14, 1503. He is said to have worked as a doctor and also as an astrologer. As a committed doctor in the fight against the plague, he gained a great reputation. His verses are written in a coded language, a mixture of Old French, Latin and also his own word structures. A lot of things are hard to understand and difficult to translate. Over the centuries there have been countless interpretations of the verses. Nostradamus became famous with the supposed prediction of the French king Henry II:
“The young lion overcomes the old one on a warlike field in individual competition. In the golden cage he will gouge out his eyes. Then one out of two dies a horrible death.”
Although the verses do not contain any concrete information, the event of the poetry Nostradamus was subsequently assigned. The fact that a tournament was not an act of war even then did not change that. Henry II was killed in a tournament by a lance point penetrating his head. After agonizing suffering, the king died of this injury on July 10, 1559. The prophecy was simply alluded to the event. His fame as a soothsayer was still spreading during Nostradamus’ lifetime. Nostradamus died on July 2, 1566. (ml)
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