# An almanac for 1550 opens a series of annual vernacular prognostications under the name Nostradamus Date: 1550 ## The fact National Geographic records that he began writing annual almanacs in the 1550s whose poetic prognostications introduced the Latinised name to a wider public. Britannica independently places the start of published prophecy about 1547 and the 1555 centuries book as a later, different instrument. The dated public instrument here is the 1550 almanac heading as received, not a later omnibus of monthly presages split into cosmetic rows. It is one event. ## Context Cheap annual prediction is a polarising public office: weather, politics, and unnamed threats travel as copy. Catherine’s later reading of a 1555 almanac is a neighbouring court row. Do not store [Hitler](/people/adolf-hitler) or 11 September 2001 as contents of 1550. [Nostradamus](/people/nostradamus)’s documented role is bounded by other offices and collaborators named in the sources below. Sharing a field with them is not a reason to drop a documented act, and it is not a reason to assign later consequences done in the name after death. Annual almanacs, not the 1555 centuries book, made the living reputation. Later collected ‘presages’ are evidence. Named person as heading of the dated public instrument. Later editors, museums, printers, or offices share publication. Complex where later carriers are the surviving public file. ## Evidence and sources National Geographic — Who was Nostradamus and Britannica — Nostradamus independently describe this instrument. Official or archival record: National Geographic — Who was Nostradamus (https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/who-was-nostradamus-plague-astrology-predictions; National Geographic). ## Significance Vernacular annual prediction is a polarisation path of high confidence on the almanac practice, not a verified forecast skill. ## What is established and what is not Established as a sourced public record of this instrument at the date assigned here. What would change the picture: a contradictory original with a different date or name, or a measured series that can be argued, with lag and alternatives, as a consequence of this instrument rather than of later institutions. The date is the date of this instrument, not a licence to back-date every later harm or benefit. Established here: a sourced, dated public instrument with a named contribution by Nostradamus. They are not a public rating. The driver `political-polarization` is attached because the mechanism named in Significance follows from this instrument, not because a standing list of welfare headings needed another tick. Nostradamus did not file a later UNESCO form, a later Loeb colophon, or a later museum label as a personal act. A portrait or conventional bust is not this mechanism. Allegation, reconstruction, and established occurrence stay distinct. One year, one opening almanac. Later years are the same machine, not twelve extra Facts. Keep the carrier date of later English distinct from the received historical year stored in the date field. Do not read a later English edition as a recovered autograph of Nostradamus. ## People - Nostradamus: https://factrail.ai/people/nostradamus ## Drivers - Political Polarization: https://factrail.ai/drivers/political-polarization ## Sources - https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/who-was-nostradamus-plague-astrology-predictions - https://www.britannica.com/biography/Nostradamus ## Methodology https://factrail.ai/methodology Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/nos-almanac-1550