Nostradamus

Born in December 1503 to a recently converted Catholic family, Michel de Nostredame studied briefly at the University of Avignon before plague closures sent him into apothecary work. He was expelled from the University of Montpellier when officials discovered he'd practiced a manual trade - forbidden for aspiring physicians. His first wife and two children died in a 1534 plague outbreak; he remarried Anne Ponsarde and had six more children while working as a plague doctor and astrologer for wealthy patrons, including Catherine de' Medici. He published his first almanac in 1550, then Les Prophéties in 1555 - a collection drawn heavily from historical texts that earned mixed reviews at the time. Severe gout turned to edema, and he died in July 1566, leaving behind verses vague enough that centuries of readers have bent them to fit whatever catastrophe just happened.