Mata-Hari, Kim Philby or Juan Pujol are some of the spy’s most famous History, and must, in theory, by the best. But, of course, the best are those that are unknown their name. The opposite of what happened to the cartographer Juan Vespucci in the SIXTEENTH century, considered until now a secret agent of the powerful Medici family in the House of Hiring of Seville, the real, which controlled the transit of expeditions to America. But this John Vespucci -has been discovered Luis A. Robles Macias, of the Free University of Brussels – he was neither a spy, nor watched the trade with the New World. The true infiltrator was his cousin, who had the same name as him, and what he was spying was the Court of Ferdinand the Catholic, the movements of their troops, the fleet of the Mediterranean and the alliances in Europe: what he was actually interested in the de ‘ Medici family.
In 1988, the historian of the CSIC Consuelo Varela became erroneously to John Vespucci on spy to believe that the three letters encrypted that found in the State archives of Florence were his work, because they were signed by a certain Giovanni Vespucci, and addressed to Lorenzo II de ‘ Medici. Since then, the figure has been repeated in numerous publications, and until it has been believed that John lost his official employment because the Crown also thought that it was an agent. “I was researching about Columbus and the florentine when I found the three letters. I thought they were of John. I was wrong,” admits Varela.
In the article does Not, Mapmaker, Juan Vespucci Was Not a Medici Spy (No, the cartographer Juan Vespucci was not a spy of the Medici), Luis A. Robles, explained that the innocent Juan Vespucci (born Giovanni di Antonio), was a cartographer, navigator and merchant who was the nephew of the famous Amerigo Vespucci. John worked as a pilot of the Casa de Contratación between 1512 and 1525, the year in which it was fired. They ignore the reasons.
Act of the House of Hiring, with the signature of Vespucci, where you will pay 6.666 madaveríes for his services as a pilot.
in order To refute the thesis that John was the confident, Robles reviewed, not three, but 12 cards which are kept in Florence with his alleged signature. In one of them, dated Rome, December 13, 1513, the reporter announced that he planned to travel soon to Spain with the papal nuncio Galeazzo Bottrigari. This assertion could not make never John because on those dates he was already in Seville.
on The 11th of April, 1514, Juan Vespucci sailed for Panama. However, the spy sent one of his reports from Madrid in may of that year. In another letter, signed on the 17th of September 1515, the agent asks for a favor for a relative whom he called “the son of Antonio Vespucci”. Antonio was the father of John, meaning that John could not be neither the author of this petition because it should have referred to the person who asked for the prebenda as “my brother”. In addition, the letter of the letters of florentine “differs markedly” from the script that is conserved from John in the archives of Seville.
But who was then the spy? Oaks studied the family tree of the Vespucci in around 1515. There she found four men called Giovanni. In addition to John, he found Giovanni di Guidantonio, the son of a famous diplomat; Giovanni di Bernardo, second cousin of the preceding; and Giovanni di Bartolomeo.
The investigation focused soon in Giovanni di Guidantonio Vespucci, because he had worked as a diplomat for Giuliano de ‘ Medici, brother of pope Leo X and uncle of Lorenzo. Thus, had direct contact with the powerful family. In addition, in January 1514 he accompanied to Spain the papal nuncio Bottrigari, as progressed, the secret report, signed on 13 December. It all fit in. On the other hand, the ambassador of florence in Spain was Giovanni Corsi, that he had a secretary named Agostino Nettucci, who was the preceptor of Giovanni di Guidantonio. That is to say, the author of the reports was always where pointed to the letters and had preferential access to the embassy and to the Medici family.
The study concludes that, therefore, Juan Vespucci was not the secret agent, because “the powers that italians were not interested in information” from the House of Recruitment. Or, simply, their spying on the real it was so perfect that it has never been detected. The Court, yes, but it has taken 500 years.
