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.

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.

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.

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 1438 he joined French forces under Charles II of Albret and Poton de Xaintrailles and embarked on a chevauchée in the Bordelais and Médoc.