He was one of the most skilled music scribes of his time, and many now-famous works of Franco-Flemish composers owe their survival to his renowned illuminated manuscript copies; in addition he was a spy for the court of Henry VIII of England.
Between 1515 and 1518, under cover as a merchant of manuscripts, chaplain, singer, and instrumentalist, he traveled between London and the continent, as a spy for Henry VIII against the pretender to the English throne, Richard de la Pole, who mainly resided in Metz.
Henry VIII and Wolsey came to distrust him, however, and indeed soon learned that he was working as a counter-spy for de la Pole himself; Alamire, valuing his head, wisely never returned to England after this discovery.
Erasmus described him as "not unwitty", and Alamire's frequent scurrilous commentary on contemporary singers and players bears this out; many of his letters survive, and they are filled with epigrams and clever insults.
Music was not his only skill; he received a generous payment on behalf of King Christian III of Denmark for instruction in the "craft of mining" (unless that was a metaphor for spying; but more details of this commission are not known).