The true prophecies or prognostications of Michael Nostradamus, physician to Henry II. Francis II. and Charles IX. Kings of France, and one of the best astronomers that ever were. / A work full of curiosity and learning. Translated and commented by Theophilus de Garencieres, Doctor in Physick Colleg. Lond.

by Nostradamus

LXV.

French.

Gris & bureau demy ouverte guerre,

De nuit seront assaillis & pillez,

Le bureau prins passera par la serre,

Son Temple ouvert, deux au plastre grillez.

English.

Between the Gray and sad Gray shall be half open War,

By night they shall be assaulted and plundered,

The sad Gray being taken, shall be put in Custody,

His Temple shall be open, two shall be put in the Grate.

ANNOT.

This Stanza affordeth us a commical History, which is, that about the year 1601. when there sprang up in France a Kind of Friers, who bosted themselves to be the true observers of the Rule of St. Francis, and that the Cordeliers and Capushines did not keep it so exactly, but they had need of a great reformation; the King Henry IV. granted them a Convent at Beaufort, and upon his example many other places desired them, they went to possess themselves of the house of la Blamet, near Angiers; but the Cordeliers being loath to be dispossessed by these new comers, called Recollets, did besiege them by main force, broke open the Gates, scaled the Walls, the besieged did not defend themselves by words or exorcismes, but with good Stones and Flints, so that if the people had not come, the fray would not have ended without murder, some of them were put in Prison, others kept in Custody: this is the meaning of the Author, when he saith, There will be half an open War between the Gray and the sad Gray; for the Cordeliers have a Gray habit, and the Recollets a sad Gray.