Nicolas Durand de Villegaignon, born 1510 in Villegaignon, Seine et Marne, France was a naval officer (vice-admiral of Brittany) who attempted to help the Huguenots in France escape persecution.

Crest of the Durand de Villegaignon family

A notable public figure in his time, Villegaignon was a mixture of soldier, scientist, explorer, adventurer and entrepreneur. He fought pirates in the Mediterranean and participated in several wars. He also commanded the French naval fleet that took Mary Stuart, then five years old, to France, since she was promised to marry the Dauphin of France.

In his book, "Brazil, A Land of the Future", Austrian writer Stefan Zweig describes well the colorful character of Villegaignon:

"Nicolas Durand de Villegaignon, half pirate, half scientist, a dubious but attractive figure, is a typical product of the Renaissance (...) He has been brilliant in war and a dilettante in the arts. He has been praised by Ronsard and feared by the Court, because his character is incalculable. 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. The Huguenots believe he is a Catholic and the Catholics believe he's a Huguenot. 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."

Villegaignon became an important historical figure in his failed dream 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 were unsatisfied with Catholic persecution in Europe. He wanted also to secure a permanent base in Brazil in order to explore brazil wood, then a very valuable source of red dye and hard wood for construction (which gave the name to what was to become Brazil), and to explore precious metals and stones, which the Europeans believed to exist in abundance in the land.

After a number of battles against the Portuguese, the French colonists were defeated by Estácio de Sá, a nephew of the third Portuguese Governor-General of Brazil, Mem de Sá, in January 20, 1567. Villegaignon had already returned to France, in 1557, disgusted with the infighting between Catholics and Protestants in the small colony. He embraced the Catholic faith in France and died on January 9, 1571 in Beauvais.