NOSTRADAMUS (1503-1566)  , the assumed name of MICHEL DE NOTREDAME, a French astrologer, of Jewish origin, who was born at St Remi in Provence on the 13th of December 1503 . After studying humanity and philosophy at Avignon, he took the degree of doctor of medicine at Montpellier in 1529 . He settled at Agen, and in 1544 established himself at Salon near de' Medici; and in 1558 he published an enlarged edition with a dedication to the king . The seeming fulfilment of some of his predictions increased his influence, and Charles IX. named him physician in ordinary . He died on the and of July 1566 . The Centuries of Nostradamus have been frequently reprinted, and have been the subject of many commentaries . In 1781 they were condemned by the papal court, being supposed to contain a prediction of the fall of the papacy . Nostradamus was the author of a number of smaller treatises . See Bareste, Nostradamus (Paris, 184o) .