The History Channel does it again--this time with a two-hour documentary on Nostradamus, premiering tonight (October 28) at 9pm EST, 8pm Central. This is on the goofy, occult side of the History Channel's offerings. It's definitely in the realm of the Von Daniken School of History. 'Tis the season. Unfortunately, instead of historians, we get a lot of Nostradamus "scholars" (although Peter Lemesurier comes across as reasonably sensible), a psychic and a "metaphysical writer". I suspect that the latter two terms are synonyms.

But never mind--what is it all about? Well, there's a potted bio of Nostradamus himself, of course. And there is lots of blather about the quatrains found in an alleged new book by Nostradamus, including lots of illustrations. Some of the astrological exposition, late in the documentary, also has some nice celestial animation.

A Frenchman living from 1503 to 1566, Nostradamus was an astrologer who straddled the medieval and Renaissance period. He made a living selling almanacs that made statements about the future. He also lost his first family to the plague. This probably has a lot to do with the darkness of his predictions, which he cast as quatrains. Nostradamus traveled around, selling his almanacs, many of them to rich people. He became popular among royalty of his time, especially Catherine de Medici, wife of Henry II of France. His relationship with the Church is more controversial. His supporters claim that he lived in fear of the Church, while critics claim that he enjoyed a good relationship with Church officials.

This documentary is fun if you like late medieval and Renaissance occult lore and especially if you've always found Nostradamus fascinating. The documentary centers itself around an alleged manuscript, frequently illuminated with rather simply colored watercolor illustrations, that has been discovered in the Italian National Library. An ample selection of these illuminations is given pride of place, which is a nice plus (since I doubt most of us will be getting access to this manuscript any time soon).

Alas, proving that this manuscript was actually created by Nostradamus soon falls by the wayside in favor of his "new" alleged predictions. A late admission that the front page of this manuscript appears to date after the 18th century is blithely and lightly passed over. An even later admission that the book appears to have been copied over time is explained away by saying that the book we have is a copy of an earlier manuscript. While this is possible, it doesn't help much in proving whether or not Nostradamus actually wrote the thing, or if it even dates from his lifetime. And the documentary's assertion that the book has his name on the cover, so it must be his, doesn't hold water. Lots of things get mislabeled in archives. That doesn't mean very much.

I couldn't help wondering about the coincidence that this manuscript and the Chinon Manuscript (the one in which Pope Clement V secretly admitted that he believed that the Templars were innocent) are being promoted at the same time. It made me wonder about the intended connection, especially since the Templars randomly appear in the last twenty minutes of the documentary. Supporters of the idea of Nostradamus as a prophet see occult meaning in the appearance of this manuscript. I think that its "appearance" is far more mundane and commercial.

The Chinon Manuscript has been uncovered for a while. So, I suspect that the "Nostradamus" manuscript has not been uncovered quite as recently as the documentary implies, but has rather been ignored until now due to its uncertain provenance. The first page claims that the manuscript originally came from the Vatican Library and the authors of the documentary claim that the Vatican took in the manuscript in order to suppress it until now. But more likely, it is being dug up now because it is good publicity for its promoters. And it is probably being linked to the equally overblown publication of the documents of the papal inquiry during the Templar Trial in order to garner more publicity. That's not a conspiracy, just good marketing.

It's not that big a surprise that Nostradamus has remained so famous: he lived during a time of great religious upheaval; he wrote pretty exclusively about disasters; he was both colorful and vague. He's perfect for the New Age. Those who believe he was a prophet have been criticized for mistranslating his quatrains, or bending them severely to fit events--and ignoring the fact that his predictions only become "clear" after they allegedly come true. We have yet to see a prediction that has been accurately interpreted before the event. Critics have also noted that he lifted many of his predictions from the Bible and other ancient sources.

I don't see much point in trying to prove or disprove whether or not Nostradamus made accurate predictions, especially since his predictions are too vague to truly illuminate the future. I don't think that Nostradamus himself was especially wedded to the accuracy of them, so why should we? I do think it's rather sad that there are people who see him as a prophet. This strikes me as rather like following a television magician as a messiah. However, there are some very simple explanations for why Nostradamus haunts our culture today--and these do bear study.

First, Nostradamus extensively used a source that many people still use for inspiration and prediction--the Bible. For example, the documentary makes a big deal about an image in the alleged Nostradamus manuscript that depicts a burning tower. Naturally, they insist that this must represent the Twin Towers on 9/11. As with other predictions, this is pretty vague. If the image represents the Twin Towers, why is there only one tower? Couldn't it represent the Oklahoma City bombing instead? Or any number of bombings and building collapses that have happened, or could yet happen? Also, the image is quite clearly connected to the Tarot, and probably represents the Tower of Babel from the Book of Genesis. So, are those who claim the image represents the Twin Towers trying to conflate 9/11 the legend of the fall of the Tower of Babel? Sounds a bit goofy when I put it like that, doesn't it?

Second, supporters of Nostradamus' reputation as a prophet often point to Nostradamus' portrayals of a war with Islam and the Antichrist, images that were in turn taken from the Book of Revelations, the biblical description of the Christian take on the end of the world. Look, they say, Nostradamus predicted a war with Islam and we're now in a war with Islam. Never mind that Christianity has been in conflict with Islam since the seventh century. Nostradamus lived during a period when Europe and Christianity were in a chaos of civil war, both political and religious. It was also a period when Islam seemed all-powerful in the Ottoman Empire. Today, the balance of power has shifted radically--now, it is the Islamic world that is in political and religious chaos and the West that appears ascendant.

Yet many in the West continue to fear Islam and see it as the source of worldly evil. Millennarian movements are highly popular, and have been since the 19th century. Nostradamus' anti-Islamic quatrains, therefore, are essentially preaching to the choir. Many Christians readily accept these quatrains as predictions of the future, rather than examining why they are so culturally primed to believe assertions of future Islamic evil, let alone of a world that will end at a millennium. Apparently, even in our supposedly enlightened 21st century, a lot of people in the West still perceive Muslims as part of the army of an antichrist, even though many of them don't remember what the Antichrist was supposed to be.

I'd recommend this documentary for getting a look at the manuscript, which has some nice illustrations in the William Blake mold (though they may not be authentic). It's also goofy fun for those interested in the occult and I quite liked the little minidoc about the Zodiac toward the end. Take it in the spirit of the season. Just don't take any of it very seriously.

Paula R. Stiles