Prophecies of Nostradamus Author:Charles A. Ward Michel de Nostredame was born in Provence in 1503. He became a respected physician, a renowned astrologer, and, by the time of his death in 1566, an infamous prophet. In a fervor of foresight fueled by his scientific training and his passion for astrology, he began writing Centuries, the oracles now know as the Prophecies of Nostradamus.