Everything about Rodrigo De Villandrando totally explained
Rodrigo de Villandrando (died c. 1457) was a
Castilian routier 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's 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 de 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'd 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.
On
24 May 1433 he married Margaret, the half-sister of
Charles I, Duke of Bourbon, and illegitimate daughter of
Duke John I. For 6,000
écus he bought the castles of
Ussel and then
Châteldon from his brother-in-law. Between 1434 and 1439 he was subsequently installed in the fortress of
Montgilbert.
In 1436 his men pillaged
Cordes; in 1438
Lauzun,
Fumel,
Issigeac, and
Blanquefort were hit. In 1437 his men violently despoiled the
furriers of Charles VII at
Hérisson. In 1438 he joined
French forces under
Charles II of Albret and
Poton de Xaintrailles and embarked on a
chevauchée in the
Bordelais and Médoc. They were stopped only by the walls of
Bordeaux itself.
In 1440 he fought with Charles of Bourbon against Charles VII in the revolt known as the
Praguerie. In 1441
Changy and
Pavie were pillaged by his men. In 1442 he again had the support of the French king for the depredation of northern Gascony. Later that year he and Albret threatened
Bazas.
In 1443 a party of his men on the command of Salazar returned to Spain, plundering upper
Languedoc and the
Lauragais on the way. Banned thenceforward from the realm, Rodrigo returned to Spain, where he was made
marshal of
Castile. He willed his worldly goods to the church of Castile and retired fromt he world to a monastery, where he died sometime around 1457.
Sources
- Labarge, Margaret Wade. Gascony, England's First Colony 1204–1453. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1980. ISBN 0 2411 0309 6.
- Lodge, Eleanor Cabot. Gascony under English Rule. Port Washington: Kennikat Press, 1926. ISBN 0 8046 1232 3.
- Quicherat, J. E. J. Rodrigue de Villandrando, l'un des combattants pour l'indépendance française au XVe siècle. Paris: Hachette, 1879.
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