Despite standing well over six feet tall, and boasting flaming red hair to match his violent temper, Bos de Vries had intended to become a Catholic priest but the outbreak of the bloody Frisian Rebellion changed the young seminarian's life forever. The Hapsburg Emperor's attempts to add the marshes and islands of the Dutch coast to his imperial possessions was met with violent resistance but the revolt was finally crushed by the Black Band, the most ruthless of the emperor's mercenary armies. Abandoning the path of peace Bos joined the rebels and fought with distinction but the collapse of the rebellion forced him to flee to England. He settled in East Anglia and it was here that he was converted to the new theology of Martin Luther. Becoming a passionate evangelist for the new religion, Bos began to preach Protestantism across England but his heretical harangues led to his arrest and a sentence to death by burning.
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