Migliorino Ubaldini (active 1548), known also as "Captain Mellerin," was an Italian military engineer working in Scotland.
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During the war with England known as the Rough Wooing, on 5 February 1548 Regent Arran appointed Migliorino Ubaldini as supreme commander of all Scottish forces by land and sea. Ubaldini had been sent to Scotland by Henry II of France who called him a famous captain. Despite this, Marcus Merriman, a modern historian, found no recorded details of his previous career. Merriman linked Ubaldini's appointment in Scotland with Lord Methven's plea to Mary of Guise in December 1547 for a French captain who had intelligence to assiege and order artillery.[1]
In March 1548 he was working to strengthen Edinburgh Castle. A lodging was found for the "Italiane devisar of the forte of the castle hill" in the Royal Mile.[2] Where Master John Hamilton of Milnburn had begun building a rampart in the previous year,[3] Ubaldini commenced the construction of a renaissance style 'trace italienne' fortification in front of the castle on the present esplanade. This triangular blockhouse became known as the Spur. The Imperial envoy Mathieu Strick noted in July 1551 that the completed Spur was decorated with the arms of France.[4] There had been a French contribution of at least £4070 Scots for the work.[5]
Mary of Guise strengthened the 'Esperon' in April 1560.[6] She held a parley in the "blockhouse at the first gate of the castle" before the commencement of the siege of Leith and according to John Knox, watched fighting at Leith from the "foir wall" of the Castle.[7]
The Spur was finally demolished in 1650, and the stones were taken for the use of John Milne for the town's building work at the Parliament House and the Citadel and fortifications at Leith. It was planned to erect the gate arch at the Parliament.[8]
The spur was described by Rowland Johnson, Surveyor of Berwick upon Tweed who came to assist the siege of Edinburgh Castle on 26 January 1573;
"we fynd upon the said este syde a spurre lyke a bulwarke standing befor the foot of the rocke, which spurre enclosethe that syde flanked out one bothe sydes; on the sowthe syde is the gaite wher they enter the castle. Which spur is like 20 foote high vamured with turf and basketes set and furnished with ordinance."[9]
A woodcut illustration of Ubaldini's spur appeared in Holinshed's Chronicle depicting the 1573 siege which may derive from a drawing made by Johnson. Ubaldini went on to design works at Dunbar Castle in September which were demolished in 1567, and perhaps Stirling Castle where there are still traces of a similar work, called the 'French Spur.'
Two letters written by Ubaldini in 1548 to Mary of Guise survive.[10] In 1548/9 he wrote two letters to the brother of Mary of Guise, the Duc d'Aumale, which note a French form of his name as; "Captain Mellerin."[11]
Other Italian engineers who worked in Scotland for the Scottish side during the Rough Wooings include Leone Strozzi, Piero Strozzi, and perhaps Giovanni Portinari, who Nicolas Throckmorton later recruited for English service because he already spoke Scots.[12] At the same period, there was another Ubaldini in Scotland; Petruccio Ubaldini, who fought for English at Haddington.[13]