Nicolas Durand de Villegaignon

Nicolas Durand de Villegagnon (* 1510 in Provins, † 1571 in Beauvais -en- Gâtinais ) was vice-admiral of Brittany in the service of the French crown and founded a short-lived colony in Brazil: the Antarctic France ( France Antarctique ).

Villegagnon was as illustrious as controversial figure of his time. He came early to the later reformer John Calvin in contact, studied law at Orléans in 1531 and joined the Order of Knights of Malta in. Subsequently, he participated in the conquest of Algiers by Charles V in 1541 and 1548 commanded the expedition that brought Mary Queen of Scots to the French court. 1553 he was appointed Vice- Admiral of Brittany.

However, the most important station of his life was undoubtedly his 1555 expedition undertaken to Brazil. The French king Henry II had the Calvinist Admiral Gaspard de Coligny granted permission founding a colony where the French Huguenots could practice their religion freely, a measure to mitigate the increasing religious conflicts. Villegagnon ended up with about 600 men in the bay of Rio de Janeiro, where he built Fort Coligny. As economic basis of the colony, especially the export of Brasil - wood should be used. Two years later, the colony was supported by a second expedition, which was also a number of Calvinist preachers took part, among them Jean de Léry. Subsequently, the conflicts within the colony aggravated by Villegagnons authoritarian style of leadership and independent interpretation of Scripture, which ultimately led to a rift with the Calvinists, who were exiled to the Brazilian mainland. 1558 the Calvinists were sent back to France, five people who refused to let, execute Villegagnon. Only a year later, in 1559, he also left his own colony, which was finally destroyed in 1567 by the Portuguese.

This episode describes one of the adversaries Villegagnons, Jean de Léry in his famous "Histoire d'un voyage fait en la Terre du Brésil " by 1578th

After his return to Villegagnon reconciled with the Catholic Church and was an exponent of the opponents of the Huguenots. In 1567 he was Governor of Sens, four years later he died in the village of Beauvais -en- Gâtinais.