Does Nostradamus really predict the end of the world?
A. No. In fact he never mentions the idea in his ‘Propheties’, though he does sometimes allude vaguely to its imminence in the Presages. True, he does seem to indicate that there will be some kind of Apocalypse or Last Judgement. He also states quite specifically in his prefatory letter to his son Csar, however, that his prophecies are designed to cover the history of the world up to the year 3797 — which presumably means that the world will still be here then (always assuming that he is counting from the same point as everyone else). Whether that represents some kind of finality, though, is not stated. The standard cosmological model of the time had the world ending in 1800 or 1887, but Nostradamus seems to have stretched this model in such a way as to give a theoretical terminal date of 4722 (see FAQ B).
A. No. In fact he never mentions the idea in his Propheties, though he does sometimes allude vaguely to its imminence in the Presages – and the ‘Last Times’ idea, derived from his sources such as the ‘Mirabilis liber’, of course pervades the whole work. True, he does seem to indicate that there will be some kind of Apocalypse or Last Judgement. He also states quite specifically in his prefatory letter to his son César, however, that his prophecies are designed to cover the history of the world up to the year 3797 – which presumably means that the world will still be here then (always assuming that he is counting from the same point as everyone else – after all, 3797 is merely the sum of Roussat’s proposed date for the end of the world [2242] and the date when Nostradamus wrote it [1555]). Whether that represents some kind of finality, though, is not stated. The standard cosmological model of the time had the world ending either in 1800 (or 1887) or in 2242, but Nostradamus seems to hav
