- Migiliorino Ubaldini
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Woodcut of Edinburgh in 1573, showing Ubaldini's Spur
Migiliorino Ubaldini (active 1548) was an Italian military engineer working in Scotland.
Contents
Scottish assignment
During the war with England known as the Rough Wooing, on 5 February 1548 Regent Arran appointed Migiliorino 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]
Fort of the castle hill
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] The Spur was finally demolished in 1650, and the stones were taken for the Parliament and the Citadel at Leith.[7] However it 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."[8]
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.[9] 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 tried to re-recruit for English service because he spoke Scots.[10] At the same period, there was another Ubaldini in Scotland; Petruccio Ubaldini, who fought for English at Haddington.[11]
Footnotes
- ^ Calendar State Papers Spain, vol.9, (1912), 246: Merriman, Marcus, The Rough Wooings, Tuckwell (2000), 321-323: Cameron, Annie I., ed., The Scottish Correspondence of Mary of Lorraine, SHS (1927), 208-211.
- ^ Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, vol. 9 (1911), 163.
- ^ Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, vol. 9 (1911), 56, February 1547.
- ^ Calendar State Papers Spain, vol. 10 (1914), 340.
- ^ Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, vol. 9 (1911), 21.
- ^ Calendar of State Papers Foreign Elizabeth 1559-1560, Longman (1865), 604, no. 1093.
- ^ Wood, Marguerite, ed., Extracts from the Burgh Records of Edinburgh, 1642-1655, (1938).
- ^ Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 4 (1905), 475:quoted in Merriman, Marcus, The Rough Wooings, (2000), 325.
- ^ Merriman, Marcus, The Rough Wooings, Tuckwell (2000), 327-330: illustrations in Merriman, (1999)
- ^ Calendar State Papers Foreign Elizabeth, 1559-60, Longman (1865), 110, Killigrew to Elizabeth, 14 November 1559.
- ^ Merriman, Marcus, The Rough Wooings, Tuckwell (2000), 370.
Further reading
- Merriman, Marcus H., 'Intelligens to asseg - Migiliorino Ubaldini and the Fortification of Scotland in 1548,' in Achitetti e ingegneri militari italiani all'estero dal XV al XVII Secolo, vol. 2, ed., Marino Viganò, Rome (1999), 233-255.
- Merriman, Marcus H., The Rough Wooings, Tuckwell (2000)
External links
Categories:- Condottieri
- 16th-century Italian people
- Italian soldiers
- Year of birth uncertain
- Year of death uncertain
- 1548 in Scotland
- 16th century in Scotland
- The Rough Wooing
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