Rodrigo de Villandrando

Rodrigo de Villandrando (died c. 1457) was a Spanish routier from Castile and mercenary military leader in Gascony during the final phase of the Hundred Years' War. He was famous for his pillaging and was consequently known as the Emperor of Pillagers (empereur des brigands) or L'Écorcheur (the slaughterer).

Originally from Biscay, he was the son of Pedro de Villandrando and Agnes de Corral. He became count of Ribaldo and Valladolid. Around 1410 he arrived in France and was admitted into the company of Amaury de Séverac. He rose to become captain of the routiers, veritable mercenaries in the pay of the seneschal or various other powerful lords and even bishops. When his protector Amaury died in 1427, he entered the service of Charles VII of France. In 1428 he was joined by Juan Salazar, who became his lieutenant. In his early career he is known to have pillaged Treignac, Meymac, and Tulle.

On 11 June 1430 he participated in the Battle of Anthon with around 400 men armed with such prosaic devices as billhooks, sledge hammers, and spades. He participated on the side of the French king against Louis II of Chalon-Arlay, Prince of Orange and a vassal of Philip the Good.

In 1431 he was rewarded by John II of Aragon with the county of Ribadeo and the right to eat at his table once a year. That same year he pillaged Saint-Clément-de-Régnat and was employed by the French to put down a peasant rebellion, which he did by massacring the refugees at Saint-Romain-le-Puy. In September 1432 his routiers, in the pay of Georges de la Trémoille, held Les Ponts-de-Cé against the assaults of Jean V de Bueil. Around 1433, at the height of his power, he had around 10,000 mercenaries, mostly Englishmen called Rodrigoys, under his command and he was the terror of the countryside of the Médoc, where his men habitually held the petty lords of the region for ransom and forced protection money from the populace; they were constantly pillaging and ransacking the bastides. In 1433 he took the castle of Lagarde Viaur and held it for a very high ransom. In the late 1430s he pillaged Bor-et-Bar, Salers, and Laparade.

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