Nostradamus anticipated a successful reception of his prophecies some half a millennium later, and that particular prophecy has come true. But was he really a man of extraordinary prophetic vision? Or did he cobble together prophecies current at the time? And how did he survive and prosper in the rigidly Catholic and inquisitorial world of 16th-century Europe? The answers to such questions are not necessarily the same as they were even a few years ago. New texts have been discovered and new archives unearthed, and many of the myths and dogmas need to be jettisoned. In the process the real man who emerges from the mists of history turns out to be a lot more interesting, and his legacy a lot less fearsome, than we have supposed. This book opens up the medieval world of the time as well as Nostradamus's life and work. Appendices present a selection of key texts both by and about him, most of which have never before been published in English.