April 21, 2026
History’s spiciest group chat
Leonardo, Borgia, and Machiavelli: A Fateful Collusion
Genius, spy, and warlord take a messy road trip—commenters lose it
TLDR: New research says Machiavelli’s secret “friend” feeding him intel was Leonardo da Vinci, while Cesare Borgia intercepted the reports. Commenters are split between calling Leonardo a traitor or a civic hero, and they’re memeing hard about “encrypted weather” and Renaissance group chats—because power, art, and espionage still collide today.
Renaissance gossip just dropped: during a 1502 war tour, power player Cesare Borgia hired genius engineer Leonardo da Vinci, while diplomat-spy Niccolò Machiavelli sent coded reports back to Florence. The twist? The article says Machiavelli’s mysterious “friend” source was Leonardo himself, quietly feeding intel while Borgia read their mail. Comments exploded with “Renaissance Avengers road trip” memes and debates over who betrayed whom. Folks loved the drama of weather notes doubling as secret messages, Borgia intercepting dispatches, and two brainiacs fencing ideas while the mercenaries sharpened swords.
Strongest takes: one camp calls Leonardo a snitch in a fancy hat; another says he did his civic duty amid chaos. A big thread argues whether Machiavelli’s later book The Prince was Borgia fanfiction or a cautionary tale. Jokes flew: “Leonardo invented encrypted tweets,” “LinkedIn endorsements: Machiavelli endorses Leonardo for espionage,” and “Among Us: Leonardo is sus.” Hist nerds compared it to corporate email snooping and bad OPSEC (operational security). The vibe: messy, brilliant, and very human—three legends trapped in a traveling court where loyalty, philosophy, and survival collided. Commenters say it feels shockingly modern: office politics with swords, genius under pressure, and a CEO-of-war reading everyone’s DMs while the artist quietly leaks the truth.
Key Points
- •In 1502, Cesare Borgia campaigned in Romagna to build a personal princedom, backed by Pope Alexander VI.
- •Borgia hired Leonardo da Vinci as chief military engineer to reinforce defenses and create new military machines.
- •Niccolò Machiavelli was sent by Florence as an emissary to assess Borgia’s intentions and report back.
- •Borgia intercepted Machiavelli’s dispatches, prompting Machiavelli to use oblique, coded language and protect sources.
- •Evidence in the article indicates Leonardo da Vinci was the primary source behind Machiavelli’s referenced “friend.”