NOSTRADAMUS- EVENTS PROPHECIED. In quatrain 8.68 (written in 1557), Nostradamus predicted the fate of Cardinal Richelieu (to whom he referred as the Old Cardinal) and predicted the date of his death, by means of astrological references. The Cardinal died on 4 December 1642, but his body was not embalmed until 24 February 1643, as Nostradamus predicted would happen. Richelieu at the Siege of La Rochelle - etching by Leopold Flameng after the painting by Henri Mott