Nicolas Durand, sieur de Villegaignon, also Villegagnon (1510 – 9 January 1571) was a commander of the Knights of Malta,[1] and later a French naval officer (vice-admiral of Brittany) who attempted to help the Huguenots in France escape persecution, before turning against them due to Eucharistic disputes.

Villegagnon was born in Provins, Seine et Marne, France, a nephew of Philippe Villiers de L'Isle-Adam, Grand Master of the Order of Malta.

After setting out from Dumbarton Castle, the French ships were forced by an adverse wind back into the Firth of Clyde, and anchored at the "road of Lamlash", beside the Holy Island, before making a successful voyage to Roscoff.

The Scottish high command held a vote which was inconclusive, but finally, after the intervention of the French ambassador Henri Cleutin, Nicolas's plan was adopted.

[5][6] Villegagnon illustrated himself by courageously defending Gaspard de Vallier, the vanquished Commander of Tripoli, who was being heavily criticized by the Grand Master d'Homedes who wished to assign all the blame for the defeat on him.

[7] Villegaignon became an important historical figure in the attempt for king Henry II to build a "France Antarctique", by invading present-day Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1555 with a fleet of two ships and 600 soldiers and colonists, mainly French Huguenots and Swiss Calvinists who sought to escape Catholic persecution in Europe.

New attempts were made to create a Huguenot colony in the New World, again at the instigation of Coligny, this time in French Florida from 1562 to 1565, under Jean Ribault and René de Laudonnière.

Hating any regular occupation, despising the most enviable positions and the highest honours, his volatile spirit prefers to be free to indulge unhampered its fantastic moods.

Nobody knows which side he is serving, and he himself probably doesn't know much more than that he wants to do something big, something different from anyone else, something wild and daring, something romantic and extraordinary.On 2012 French-Portuguese-Brazilian TV series Rouge Brésil/Vermelho Brasil (Red Brazil), on the history of France Antarctique, Villegaignon (spelled Villegagnon) is portrayed by Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård.