The final witness of the day was especially problematic for the prosecution. At exactly 1:45 p.m., Lorenzo di Pier Francesco de Medici was called to the stand. Mr. de Medici acted as an incredibly potent character witness for the defendant, and also set the stage for the most intriguing aspect of the alleged forgeries. “Mr. de Medici, we have already heard from my client and your trusted friend, Mr. Vespucci, as to the nature of his relationship with Mr. Soderini. This, once again, is the man to whom one of the forgeries, Mundus Novus, was addressed. In your opinion, sir, did Mr. Soderini envy your position as the Gonfaloniere (political boss or ruler of the city) of Florence?” Another emphatic objection by the prosecution was overruled. Mr. de Medici’s answer was a resounding affirmative (Pohl 151-152). Then the defense skillfully laid out its idea of how the forgeries, namely Mundus Novus, came into existence.

    In 1504, the new Gonfaloniere of Florence was Piero Soderini. Jealous and fearful of the powerful de Medici family, Piero was quite envious when he heard that “Lorenzo de Medici, of all the men in Florence, had received first news of the discovery of a New World.” In a vain attempt to enhance his position and empower him with the association of the likes of Amerigo, followers of Soderini planted the rotten seed of implication that one of the addressees was Piero Soderini (Pohl 151-152). This work had more fantastic events than all the others and would do nothing more than undervalue Amerigo’s relationship with Lorenzo in respect to Soderini. Therefore, making Piero a very important, trusted Gonfaloniere. Amerigo, however, neither wrote these forgeries nor did he befriend Soderini.

    This reporter’s own research sides with the defense. The forgeries (Mundus Novus and Four Voyages) seem to be the rampant machinations of someone other than Mr. Vespucci. Unfortunately, throughout the trial the jury sequestration has been strict and understandably tight. After all, the fate of an entire nation’s identity rests on their decision. Reaction from the jurors has been minimal as well, but some reports leaking from undisclosed sources pit the final decision on a character battle between Mr. Columbus and Mr. Vespucci.

    The final witness of the trial came forward. Martin Waldseemuller, the former professor of geography at Saint-Die (Pohl 169). On April 25, 1507 a small pamphlet, Cosmographiae introductio, was published at the printing press in Saint-Die (Pohl 170). In this booklet were the lands of the known world of the time. Built on the work of Ptolemy and now with the additions of Amerigo Vespucci, this was the most current geographical study of the moment. There was, however, one difficulty. “We were a group based on accuracy. And when we heard about Amerigo’s letter of the Four Voyages, we incorporated those details into our edition. America, at least in our publication, pertained to the lands of South America only (Pohl 169, 174).” In essence, America became America on a blunder, a non-event. Vespucci did travel extensively along the coast of South America, but he did not make four voyages nor did he do many of the things that the forged, inaccurate letter claim. Waldseemuller and his colleagues learned, later on, of their misfortunate step. However, America was “so euphonious and so happily paralleled with ‘Asia,’ ‘Africa,’ and ‘Australia’” that it inevitably and irretrievably caught on (Pohl 174). As Waldseemuller noted, in his edition America only applied to the southern continent, but it eventually found its way onto the northern part as well.

    Closing arguments lasted even longer than the opening remarks. Futilely, almost painfully, Columbus’ lawyer attempted to patch the damage sustained by the last two days’ testimonies. His speech noted over and over that Mr. Columbus was indeed the first of these two Europeans to reach this New World. Mr. Vespucci’s lawyer, however, returned to his opening point of Amerigo’s higher purpose. “’It was no error and no injustice to name the new continent after the man who had discovered that it was a new continent (Pohl 176).’ For the good of humankind, Amerigo discovered a New World; In his own ambitious mind, Columbus was merely revisiting the old one. In fact, when Amerigo returned from a voyage and remarked to Columbus that he was on his way to see the Sovereigns about his discovery of a New World, Mr. Columbus told him that they weren’t interested in one (Tirado HIST 392). Or was Mr. Columbus not interested in it?”