|

1941-Vreede-translation,
Servire publishers, The Hague
|
The
1941-Vreede-translation
The
first time a complete, Dutch translation of the Prophecies
was published, was in 1941. This translation, made by prof. dr. mr. H.
Houwens Post, also known as mr. dr. W.L. Vreede, was published by Servire
publishers, The Hague and was meant as a reply to the Dutch
national-socialist brochure Hoe zal deze oorlog eindigen?,
published in april 1940 by W.J. Ort in The Hague. After the war, Houwens
Post's translation (on this Site
abbreviated as the "1941-Vreede-translation") was not
published again. At the end of the seventies, the use of this
translation was granted to Nico Schors, director of Schors publishers, Amsterdam.
In that time, there was a huge increase of interest in the Netherlands
in esoteric and occult literature. As a result, the
1941-Vreede-translation was reprinted countless times during twenty
years. For the last
time, this happened in 1994.
In The 1941-Vreede-translation
and the 1558-Lyon-edition the source texts, used by Houwens Post
for his translation, are discussed thoroughly: the copy of the
1668-Amsterdam-edition, made by the Frenchman P.V. Piobb in 1927 (with
addition of a version of the Letter to Cesar, printed in 1558) and the
book Das Mysterium des Nostradamus by dr. Chr. Wöllner (Leipzig,
1926).
In De Profetieën
van Nostradamus (mr. dr. W.L. Vreede, NL, 1941) it is discussed in what way Houwens Post
turned himself against national-socialist Nostradamus-publications,
published in Germany.
A
modernized version

Schors-facsimile-1982 |

Schors-facsimile-1992 |
In 1979, the cover of the facsimile-edition of the
1941-Vreede-translation contained a horoscope figure for the Solar
Eclipse of August 11,
1999, 11:17 GMT, Paris. Underneath the horoscope, the publisher's name
was printed. In later editions, the publisher's name was replaced by Houwens Post's
translation of quatrain 10-72. According to some Century-scholars,
this quatrain dealt with the Solar Eclipse of August 11, 1999. The book
does not contain information about the source of this horoscope figure
or about the one who erected it. The cusps of this
horoscope were calculated by means of the Placidus system of house
division. Aspect lines showed that Sun conjunct Moon on 18 Leo was in
square with Mars on 18 Scorpio and Saturn on 16 Taurus, and that Mars
and Saturn squared Uranus on 14 Aquarius. The aspects Sun/Moon opposite
Uranus and Mars opposite Saturn were not shown by means of aspect lines.
There were many errors in this chart. Mercury (1 Leo), Venus (2 Virgo
retrograde), the North and South Lunar Node (13 Leo and 13 Aquarius) and
the Part of Fortune (conjunct the Ascendant) were not depicted; the
zodiacal longitudes of Uranus, Neptune and Pluto were given without
mentioning their retrogradation and Neptune, whose longitude was 2
Aquarius (retrograde), was situated in the last decanate of Capricorn.
The eighth reprint of the 1941-Vreede-translation, published in 1992,
had a new cover,
designed by Chris Kok, on
which a colonnade was depicted with a view on clouds from above. At the top of the cover, the words Kijken
in de toekomst (tr: looking into the future) were printed.
|
|

Vandervoort-1998
|
The fact that the 1941-Vreede-translation was reprinted until the
nineties, without any change, meant that people had to buy a translation
of the Prophecies, which was written according to obsolete rules
of spelling and grammar. In 1998, Schors publishers replaced the reprint
of the 1941-Vreede-translation by Nostradamus De grootste ziener
aller tijden (tr.: Nostradamus, the greatest visionary of all times).
This book is written by Jan Vandervoort. It contains a linguistic
revision of the 1941-Vreede-translation, a biography of Nostradamus,
descriptions of predictions which are fulfilled, abused or interpreted
in a sometimes hilarious way and prescriptions for pills, elixirs and beauty
devices.
The cover of Nostradamus De grootste ziener aller tijden is
designed by Studio Paul C. Pollmann in Amsterdam. On the background, an
old-French version of the quatrains 01-01 and 01-02 is depicted
continously. A portrait, supposing to represent Nostradamus, is printed
on the foreground. On the left side, photographs are depicted of the
Jalta meeting of the British PM Churchill, the American president
Roosevelt and the Soviet dictator Stalin, Arab women carrying an
automatic weapon, an astronaut on the moon and armed vehicles marching
onward. The backside contains photographs of the British PM Thatcher and
a missile launch.
According to the preface, Nostradamus De grootste ziener
aller tijden differs from books which contain dubious
interpretations, which are sensational with sometimes shocking
photographs or which were accomplished by conversations with the seer
himself or by a channeled dialogue.
Nostradamus De grootste ziener aller tijden is entering its
eighth year of publishing. During my investigation of national-socialist and allied
Nostradamus-publications, which started this year, I noticed correspondences between the chapter Wonderbaarlijke interpretaties en
'uitgekomen'
voorspellingen (tr.: amazing interpretations and 'fulfilled'
predictions) in the book by Vandervoort and the chapter VERLEDEN, HEDEN en TOEKOMST Op wonderbaarlijke
wijze voorspeld door den Franschman MICHEL NOSTRADAMUS in zijn
"Les vrayes Centuries et Prophéties" (tr.: PAST, PRESENT
and FUTURE predicted in a remarkable way by the Frenchman MICHEL
NOSTRADAMUS in his "Les vrayes Centuries et Prophéties"), in Hoe zal deze oorlog
eindigen?
(tr.: How will this war end?, The Hague, 1940), a national-socialist
Nostradamus-publication. These correspondences show that Vandervoort copied texts from this
book, without mentioning its title.
The correspondences not only stretch out to the interpretation of
fulfilled quatrains, but also to the Dutch texts of these quatrains in
this chapter of Hoe zal deze oorlog eindigen?.
In this review, the contents of Vandervoorts book and his methods are
thoroughly discussed. The aim of this discussion is to answer the
question to what extent the replacement of the 1941-Vreede-translation
by Nostradamus De grootste ziener aller
tijden fits to the translation by Houwens Post and the aim he
wanted to achieve.
|
The
nature of the revision of the 1941-Vreede-translation
In the preface,
(p.8) it is written that Houwens Posts translation was the starting
point for the revised version. The revision was a linguistic one; hardly
it affected the contents. The revision consisted of re-writing the text,
according to contemporary rules of Dutch grammar and spelling. Some
old-fashioned words or expressions were replaced by contemporary ones.
When necessary, changes or corrections were applied.
The revised version is on p.63-227. The revision clearly contributed to
the readability of the 1941-Vreede-translation.
In this part of the book, Vandervoort does not specify the corrections
and replacements. Quite a pity, especially since there is no parallel
French source text. Mistakes, made by Houwens Post, were not corrected.
For example, his translation of Saurome in quatrain 03-58 in the
Saar region instead of in Sarmatia, was copied by Vandervoort (1941-Vreede-translation,
p.73, Vandervoort, p.108). In the discussion of this quatrain on p.43,
the word Saurome was translated in Sarmatia. The reason for this
discrepancy is discussed in "Peculiar quatrain texts", one of
the next paragraphs in this review.
Houwens Post could translate all quatrains, except 29. He decided to
keep the translation of these quatrains incomplete, to mark this in the
Dutch text and to include the French text of these quatrains in an
appendix. In the revised version of the 1941-Vreede-translation, the
translation of these quatrains remained incomplete and the French text
of these quatrains was included in Appendix I.
General
knowledge
The variety of
themes, discussed in Nostradamus De grootste ziener aller tijden,
as well as the remarks in the preface lead to the supposition that the
author is thoroughly acquainted with Nostradamus and his work.
In Appendix III, a list of recommended literature, Vandervoort gave the
maximum number of quality stars to among others Nostradamus
- ses origines, sa vie, son oeuvre (Salon-de-Provence, 1993 [1972]),
written by dr. E. Leroy. The biography of Nostradamus, written by Vandervoort
around 1998, does not exceed the biography, written by
Houwens Post in 1941. Despite his opinion about Leroys book, Vandervoort maintained legends about Nostradamus'
ascendancy which were refuted by Leroy.
On p.13, Agen, the place of residence of Jules-César Scaliger and in
the period 1533-1538 also Nostradamus' place of residence, was
twice printed as Aken (i.e. Aachen, Germany). This mistake raises the
idea that Nostradamus spent a couple of years in Germany, which has not
been the case.
Vandervoort briefly discusses a horoscope of Nostradamus, calculated with
present-day software. The horoscope figure which is the result of this
calculation, is depicted on p.26. The birth data: December 14, 1503,
11:40 True Local Time, Saint-Rémy de Provence. The zodiacal longitude
of the Ascendant: 23:49:40 Pisces. The zodiacal longitude of the MC:
26:58:08 Sagittarius. On p.28, an older, square horoscope figure is
depicted. Vandervoort did not specify in which book this figure was
depicted originally. Its birth data: December 14, 1503, 12:14 True Local
Time, Saint-Rémy de Provence. The zodiacal longitude of the Ascendant:
11 Aries. The zodiacal longitude of the MC: 5 Capricorn.
The author of this review adds to this theme that two sources point to a
birth around noon. First: a remark in a letter of Nostradamus to Laurens
Tubbe, dated on October 15, 1561, and published in Amadou's L'astrologie de Nostradamus - dossier,
p.118-119. In this letter, a configuration is mentioned which seems to
point to Nostradamus' birth chart: le Soleil est réprésenté en haut, trois
planètes en bas (tr.: the Sun is depicted high, three planets
low). This remark might correspond with the zodiacal longitude of
the Sun on 2 Capricorn and the ones of Jupiter retrograde (11 Cancer),
Saturn retrograde (16 Cancer) and Mars retrograde (19 Cancer), with the
MC located in either the last degrees of Sagittarius or the first
degrees of Capricorn. Second, in the section Brief Discours
in Ianus Gallicus (1594), it reads: Michel de Nostredame [...]
naquit en la ville de Saint-Remy, en Provence, l'an de grâce 1503, un
jeudi 14 décembre, environ les douze heures de midi (tr.: Michel de
Nostredame [...] was born in the city of Saint-Remy, in Provence, in the
year of our Lord 1503, on Thursday, December 14, around noon.). However,
these remarks do not contain an exact birth time. From an
astrological-technical point of view, one should first rectify the
birth-time, for example by means of important events which occurred in
the life of Nostradamus, before discussing his birth-chart. It makes a
difference whether the Ascendant is in Pisces or Aries, as well as it
makes a difference whether the Sun is in Capricorn in the 9th house,
conjunct an MC in Capricorn, or in Capricorn in the 10th house, conjunct an MC in
Sagittarius. Vandervoort does not discuss these differences. He does not
explain why he maintains 11:40 True Local Time Saint-Rémy de Provence
as birth-time. Nothing in
his book points to a rectification of the birth time by means of for
example important events which happened in Nostradamus' life.
|

Wöllner,
1926
|
Houwens
Posts source texts
Regularly, Vandervoort
writes that the 1941-Vreede-translation was based upon a
1558-Lyon-edition, a remark which also occurs in the colophon of the
book, written by the publisher. Both copy the remarks, written by Houwens
Post in 1941. On p.10, Houwens Post writes that some copies of the
editions, dated in 1555 and 1558, are preserved in some French
libraries.
Vandervoort copied this remark (Vandervoort, p.53). However, not one
copy of a 1558-edition has been found in the past centuries. Experts
doubt - for various reasons - the existence of such an edition.
In The
1941-Vreede-translation and the 1558-Lyon-edition it has been
demonstrated with numerous arguments that the remarks by Houwens Post
and Vandervoort are the result of a misunderstanding. The main arguments
are that the quatrains 06-100, 07-43 and 07-44 did not occur before 1605
(the 1605-Sève-edition). The book by Houwens Post only contains
pictures from the 1668-Amsterdam-edition, not from a 1558-Lyon-edition.
The book by Vandervoort contains pictures from the
1555-Bonhomme-edition, one of the 1557-Du Rosne-editions and the
1668-Amsterdam-edition, but not one from a 1558-Lyon-edition. The title,
given by Vandervoort on p.238 (Les vrayes centuries et propheties de maister Micheld
Nostradamus, Lyon, 1558) resembles the title of the 1668-Amsterdam-edition.
Further, it has been shown that the text of the second biblical
chronology in the 1941-Vreede-translation is not translated from a
1558-Lyon-edition, but from Wöllners Das Mysterium des Nostradamus
(Leipzig, 1926). Wöllner,
who used the text of the quatrains and the Letters as printed in Le Pelletiers Les Oracles de Michel Nostradamus (1867),
revised this part of the Epistle. Houwens Post almost completely copied
this revision.
Further research by the author of this review showed that in the case of
the translation of the Preface to Cesar, Houwens Post once in a while
also used Wöllners translation. For example, Wöllner translated the
words anaragonique révolution in dann nähert sich die
Welt einer sowohl todbringenden als lebenzeugenden Umwälzung (Wöllner,
p.83). Houwens Post translated this German translation in nadert de
wereld tot een zowel den dood brengende, als het leven vernieuwende
omwenteling (tr.: the world approaches a revolution which brings
death and renews life as well; 1941-Vreede-translation, p.31). Vandervoort
copied this translation (Vandervoort, p.68).
The source texts, used by Houwens Post, are the 1927-Piobb-copy (a copy
of the 1668-Amsterdam-edition, completed with the Letter to Cesar) and
the 1926-Wöllner-comment. The idea that the 1668-Amsterdam-edition is
related to a 1558-Lyon-edition, might be based upon a part of the
subtitle of the 1668-Amsterdam-edition: Reueües
& corrigées suyuant les premieres Editions imprimées en Auignon en
l'an 1556. & à Lyon en l'an 1558.& autres. Except for the
addition & autres, this subtitle was used previously in the
1649-Rouen-edition, entitled Les vrayes centvries de Me
Michel Nostradamus. This subtitle does not say anything about
the contents.
In good faith, Houwens Post might have assumed that the 1927-Piobb-copy
was a revised 1558-Lyon-edition and therefore listed it as such. He also
might have decided to refer to a 1558-Lyon-edition in order to hide his
real sources. By the end of 1940, in France, the Gestapo confiscated a
book, written by De Fontbrune sr., and the most important of Houwens
Posts source texts was a French one, the 1927-Piobb-copy.
Anyway, it is correct and better that authors list the titles of the
books they actually used instead of listing titles of previous editions
which they only know by reference. If listed correctly, there is no room
for misunderstandings.
|

Hoe
zal deze oorlog eindigen?
|
Peculiar
quatrain texts
Vandervoort
revised the 1941-Vreede-translation and made some changes
and/or corrections. He does not indicate which changes and/or
corrections he made. In Vandervoorts book, the 29 quatrains which
Houwens Post could not translate completely, remained incomplete. The
French texts of these quatrains is included in Appendix I.
One of the quatrains which Houwens Post could not translate completely,
is quatrain 09-34. On p.32 and p.199 in Vandervoorts books, there are
Dutch versions. These versions are different. In the version on p.32,
the first line is translated completely, without any restriction,
whereas on p.199, there is a restriction, the same one which Houwens Post
made. In the French text on p.225, the second line, it reads thuille.
On p.32, this is translated in Tuilerieën; on p.199 in dakpan
(roof-tile, modern-French: tuile). In both Dutch versions,
the number vijf honderd (five hundred) is given. But in
the French text in the 1941-Vreede-translation as well as in the French
text in Vandervoorts book, it reads cinq (five) instead of cinq
cent (five hundred). In the 1668-Amsterdam-edition, it reads cinq
cens (five hundred). Closing: in the third and fourth line in the
version on p.32 in Vandervoorts book, it reads that Saulce is the son of
an oil-trader. This is not the translation of the French text, but an
interpretation. In the translation on p.199, nothing is mentioned about
oil-traders.
This is only one example out of many. In this chapter, the texts of a large
number of Dutch quatrains differ from the modernized translation, made
by Vandervoort.
Quatrain
09-34
|
Vandervoort 1998, p.32. |
1941-Vreede-translation, p.174
Vandervoort 1998, p.199. |
1941-Vreede-translation,
p.203.
Vandervoort 1998, p.225. |
|
De eenzame
echtgenoot zal gekroond worden met de mitra
Bij zijn terugkeer zullen er vijfhonderd de Tuilerieën
bestormen
Hij zal verraden worden door Narbonne en Saulce,
de zoon van een oliehandelaar. |
....*
onder
de echtgenoot zal een mijter dragen.
De terugkeer van het conflict zal de dakpan voorbijgaan.
Door vijfhonderd zal een verraad aangeduid worden.
Narbonne en Saulce hebben door messen olie. |
La part sous
mary sera mitré.
Retour conflict passera sur la thuille
Par cinq un trahyr sera tiltré
Narbon & Saulce par couteaux avons d'huille. |
The way Vandervoort
worked,
raises a couple of questions. One of these
questions is why he did not change the translation of quatrain 09-34 on
p.199, since a complete, although different, translation was available.
Next, what to think about the more than 20 other quatrains in
the chapter Wonderbaarlijke
interpretaties en 'uitgekomen' voorspellingen, each of them different from the revised translation in another part of this
book, each of them discussed as being fulfilled.
Quite probably, Vandervoort did not explain these
quatrains by himself, but copied a number of interpretations of
quatrains, including quatrain texts, from other publications, most of
the times without mentioning the source. Only in one case he mentions an author:
De Fontbrune. This is J.C. de Fontbrune, the author of Nostradamus, historien et prophète
(1982 [1980]).
This De
Fontbrune should not be confused with his father, the author of Les
Prophéties de Maistre Michel Nostradamus expliquées et commentées (1939
[1938]).
In my
research on national-socialist and allied Nostradamus-literature, I
found a liberal German translation of the quatrains 01-01 and 01-02 in a
brochure, entitled Die Prophezeiungen des Nostradamus, volume 18
from the series Informations-Schriften (1940, abbreviated with Brochure-18-D).
Originally, this liberal translation was made by dr. Bruno Winkler (Und dies geheimnisvolle
Buch...! Das Leben des
Michel Nostradamus, 1937,
Görlitz,p.80). He published it again on p.12 of Nostradamus
und seine Prophezeiungen für das zwanzigste Jahrhundert (Görlitz,
1939).
The Dutch translation of this liberal German translation is published in
the Brochure-18-NL
and - in slightly different words - on p.13 of Hoe zal deze oorlog
eindigen?, a national-socialist propaganda booklet, published by W.J.
Ort, The Hague, 1940. According to the preface, in 1940, a Dutchman
translated this booklet from the leftover writings of a French friend.
From the minutes of Goebbels' Ministry
of Propaganda
(Boelcke: Kriegspropaganda
1939-1941), it can be derived that in December 1939, Goebbels
ordered Hans Wolfgang Herwarth von Bittenfeld, a retired
lieutenant-colonel who worked in his Ministry as extraordinary chief of
the Foreign Press department to write this booklet. Others who were involved,
were prof. dr. Karl Bömer, chief of the Foreign Press department of the Ministry
of Propaganda, and Leopold Gutterer, head of the
Propaganda department
in the Ministry of Propaganda. The compilers copied
large amounts of text from books by the Germans Loog (1921), Kritzinger
(1922), Noah (1928) and Winkler (1939) and a book by the Frenchman De Fontbrune sr
(1939 [1938]). From April 1940, this booklet was published in several
languages such as English and Swedish. The Swedish version was published
by Stockholms bokindustri ab and carried the author's name Norab; a
common Scandinavian family name. The English version, also published in
1940 by Stockholms bokindustri ab, also carried the author's name Norab.
Norab is the pseudonym of the Swedish baron Lage Fabian Wilhelm Staël von Holstein
(1886-1946), who wrote quite a number of national-socialist propaganda
books.
In Vandervoorts book, the revised versions of quatrains 01-01 and 01-02
are printed on p.73. In the chapter Inleiding bij de
Profetieën (tr.: Introduction to the Prophecies), different Dutch
versions of these quatrains are printed on p.56. These versions
correspond word by word with the versions, printed in Hoe zal deze oorlog
eindigen?.
One has to keep in mind that a literal translation of the quatrains
01-01 and 01-02 in Dutch can only result in the translation, made by
Houwens Post and copied by Vandervoort on p.73. It is impossible that the
Dutch text of these quatrains, printed on p.56 in Vandervoorts book, is
the result of a literal translation.
Quatrains
01-01 and 01-02
|
1668-Amsterdam-edition,
p.1. |
1941-Vreede-translation, p.34.
Vandervoort 1998, p.73. |
Winkler 1937, p.80;
Winkler 1939, p.12. |
"Pasteur", 1940, p.13;
Vandervoort 1998, p.56. |
|
Estant
assis, de nuict secret estude,
Seul, reposé sur la selle d'airain?
Flambe exigue, sortant de solitude
Fait proserer qui n'est à croire en vain. |
's
Nachts, gezeten voor de studie van verborgen dingen,
Alleen, rustend op de bronzen zetel:
Een klein licht, dat uit de eenzaamheid ontspruit,
Doet ontluiken, wat niet als ijdel te verwerpen valt. |
Sitz
ich des Nachts, geheimen Dingen offen,
In stiller Einsamkeit auf ehrnem Seherthron,
Lässt bald mich das verlorne Flämmchen hoffen,
Dass meinem Glauben wird der rechte Lohn. |
Zit
ik 's nachts, ontvankelijk voor geheime dingen,
In diepe eenzaamheid, op een harde zienerstroon,
Dan laat mij een verloren vonkje weldra hopen,
Dat mijn geloof op juiste wijze zal worden beloond. |
|
La
verge en main mise au milieu des branches,
De l'onde il moulle & le limbe & le pied,
Un peur & voix fremissent par les manches,
Splendeur divine, le devin pres s'assied.
|
Met
de staf in de handen, midden in de takken geplaatst,
Maakt hij met het water zowel de zoom als voeten nat.
Een gevoel van vrees en een stem trekken omhoog door de armen
heen.
Goddelijke verhevenheid. Het goddelijke komt nader. |
Wenn
ich die Rute mit den Händen fasse,
Netzt bald die Welle Saum und Füsse mir.
Ich höre eine Stimme und erblasse.
Himmlisches Licht! Das Göttliche ist hier! |
Als
ik de roede in de handen vat,
Besproeit weldra de golf mij zoom en voeten,
Ik hoor een stem dan en verbleek,
O hemels licht, hier is het goddelijke! |
A
comparison between the contents of Hoe zal deze oorlog eindigen?
and the contents of Vandervoorts book shows that Vandervoort copied both
the explanation of quatrains and the Dutch translation of these
quatrains. The copied quatrains:
the quatrains 01-01, -02, -35, -36, -47 and -60, the quatrains 02-68,
-75 and -100, the
quatrains
03-13, -35 and -58, the quatrains 05-28 and -57, quatrain 06-20, the quatrains 07-13 and
08-60 and the quatrains 09-18 and -34. The order in which these
quatrains are discussed in Nostradamus De grootste ziener aller
tijden is identical with the order in Hoe zal deze oorlog
eindigen?. A couple of times, Vandervoort copied
texts word by word, some other times, he summarized the main meaning. He
worked accurately; in
Hoe zal deze oorlog eindigen?, quatrain 07-13 carries the wrong
number (VIII-13); Vandervoort lists the correct number. Three
examples are discussed which show the way in which Vandervoort might have
worked. On p.36, he writes: Nostradamus
heeft minstens een dozijn kwatrijnen gewijd aan Napoleon Bonaparte.
(tr.: Nostradamus dedicated at least a dozen quatrains to Napoleon
Bonaparte).
In Hoe
zal deze oorlog eindigen?, it reads on p.18:
Daar
wij ons nu toch bij Napoleon Bonaparte bevinden, verdient het wel de
aandacht dat Nostradamus aan hem ongeveer een dozijn van zijn
vierregelige verzen heeft gewijd.
(tr.: Since we are now dealing with Napoleon Bonaparte, the fact that
Nostradamus dedicated about a dozen of his four-line verses to him, does
deserve attention.) While
discussing quatrain 07-13, Vandervoort writes on p.37:
Frappant
detail is, dat Nostradamus als hij doelde op Napoleon, schrijft over het
'geschoren hoofd'. Bekend is dat Napoleon zijn haar ook daadwerkelijk
kort droeg.
(tr.: A striking detail is that Nostradamus, when he meant Napoleon,
writes about the 'shaven head'. It is known that Napoleon actually
weared his hair short.)
In Hoe
zal deze oorlog eindigen?, p.19 reads as follows:
Hij
spreekt, wanneer hij Napoleon bedoelt, van het "Geschoren
hoofd"! Napoleon droeg, in tegenstelling tot de mode van zijn tijd,
zooals bekend mag worden verondersteld, kortgeschoren haar.
(tr.: He speaks, when he means Napoleon, about the "Shaven head"!
Napoleon weared, in contrast with the fashion in his time, as might
supposed to be known, short-shaven hair.) The
third example: Vandervoorts translation and discussion of
quatrain 08-60 on p.38-39. He writes that in this quatrain, the end of
the war is predicted. With the words "the war", Vandervoort means
World War I. Next, he translates the first line (Premier en
Gaule,
premier en Romanie) in Als eerste in Gallië, als eerste in
Italië (tr.: As first one in Gallia, as first one in Italy). In the
revised 1941-Vreede-translation, this line reads: De
eerste in Gallië, de eerste in Romanië (tr.: the first in Gallia,
the first in Romania; p.189).
In Hoe zal deze
oorlog eindigen? p.22 reads:
Het
einde van den wereldoorlog tenslotte wordt opgetekend in VIII, 60. Het
vers luidt vertaald als volgt: Als eerste in Gallië, als eerste in
Italië [...]
(tr.: Closing, the end of the world war is described in VIII, 60.
This verse reads, translated, as follows: As first one in Gallia, as
first one in Italy [...]). Last:
a demonstration of the correspondences between the Dutch texts of
quatrain 09-34, in Vandervoorts book, p.32, and Hoe zal deze oorlog
eindigen?, p.17:
Quatrain
09-34
|
Hoe zal deze oorlog eindigen?, 1940, p.17. |
Vandervoort 1998, p.32. |
|
De
eenzame bedroefde echtgenoot zal gekroond worden met de mitra.
Bij zijn terugkeer zullen er vijfhonderd een stormloop op de
Tuilerieën ondernemen.
Hij zal verraden worden door den veelbetitelden Narbonne.
Een zoon en nakomeling van oliehandelaren, Saulce genaamd, zal
hem overleveren aan de bewakers. |
De eenzame
echtgenoot zal gekroond worden met de mitra
Bij zijn terugkeer zullen er vijfhonderd de Tuilerieën
bestormen
Hij zal verraden worden door Narbonne en Saulce,
de zoon van een oliehandelaar. |
On the
pages 42 and 43, Vandervoort writes that the Frenchman Dr. de Fontbrune
linked the quatrains 02-75, 02-100 and 03-58 to World War II. He also
writes that the Germans regularly used quatrain 03-85 for propaganda
purposes. These remarks are references in veiled terms to Hoe zal deze oorlog eindigen?,
in which De Fontbrune's name is mentioned a couple of times. The Dutch
versions in the chapter Wonderbaarlijke interpretaties en 'uitgekomen'
voorspellingen of the quatrains 02-75, 02-100 and 03-58 are
linguistically revised versions of the versions in Hoe zal deze
oorlog eindigen?.
In Vandervoorts book, Appendix III, a list of recommended literature,
does not contain the title Hoe
zal deze oorlog eindigen?.
Summary
and conclusions
Vandervoort achieved a
readable linguistic revision of the 1941-Vreede-translation, which
improved the accessibility of this translation. However, for several
reasons, the quality of his book is affected negatively. Vandervoort is
lacking knowledge about the life and work of Nostradamus. In some ways,
his biography is obsolete. He does not discuss astrological differences
between given birth-charts of Nostradamus. There is no proof for his
supposition that Houwens Post used a 1558-Lyon-edition. He did not
correct Houwens Post's translation mistakes, although these mistakes
could have been corrected easily when Houwens Post's translation was
compared with the French original (the 1668-Amsterdam-edition or the
1927-Piobb-copy). It became clear that Vandervoort used several sources
simultaneously without specifying them. One of these sources is in a
political sense contaminated: a national-socialist source. The
unpleasant thing is that material which originates from Hoe zal deze
oorlog eindigen?, a
national-socialist Nostradamus-brochure, is included in a book which
contains a revision of a translation, made as a token of resistance to
this national-socialist Nostradamus-brochure.[1] Vandervoort's
references in veiled terms raises the idea that he was aware of the dubious nature
of this brochure. It
has been for good reasons that Schors publishers decided to replace the
1941-Vreede-translation by a contemporary version. With his linguistic
work, Vandervoort achieved a readable result.
Regarding the information about Nostradamus and his work, the
explanation of the quatrains, the different translations and the sources
which are not mentioned - one of them, the brochure Hoe zal deze
oorlog eindigen?, in a political sense contaminated - it has to be said that Vandervoort did not do a proper job.
Considering the objective Houwens Post had in mind in 1941: a counter-react to
Hoe zal deze oorlog eindigen?, this is quite regrettable. De Meern,
the Netherlands, November 1, 2004
T.W.M. van Berkel
actualized on January 13, 2008
|
Nostradamus
- De grootste ziener aller tijden
Author: J. Vandervoort
Publisher: Schors, Amsterdam
ISBN: 90 6378 401 5 |
Notes
- Van Berkel: De
profetieën van Nostradamus (mr. dr. H. Houwens Post alias mr.
dr. W.L. Vreede, The Hague, 1941). [text]
|