The écorcheurs were armed bands who desolated France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 in the reign of Charles VII

Charles VII of France

Charles VII , called the Victorious or the Well-Served , was King of France from 1422 to his death, though he was initially opposed by Henry VI of England, whose Regent, the Duke of Bedford, ruled much of France including the capital, Paris...

, stripping their victims of everything, often to their very clothes.

They were mercenaries

Mercenary

A mercenary, is a person who takes part in an armed conflict based on the promise of material compensation rather than having a direct interest in, or a legal obligation to, the conflict itself. A non-conscript professional member of a regular army is not considered to be a mercenary although he...

 without employment since the Treaty of Arras which ended disputes between Armagnacs and Burgundian

Burgundian (party)

The Burgundian party was a political allegiance in France that formed during the reign of Charles VI during the latter half of the Hundred Years' War...

 in 1435. Rodrigo de Villandrando

Rodrigo de Villandrando

Rodrigo de Villandrando was a Spanish routier from Castile and mercenary military leader in Gascony during the final phase of the Hundred Years' War...

was known as the "Emperor of Pillagers" (empereur des brigands) and "L'Écorcheur" (the slaughterer).