On 1 July 1523, in front of a crowd of spectators, Hendrik Vos and Johann van den Esschen, were burned alive on the Grand Plaza of Brussels for adhering to “Lutheran” beliefs. The executions of these two young friars from the Augustinian cloister in Antwerp were the first of the Protestant Reformation, and the event was publicized throughout Europe, particularly in the German-speaking lands. Well-known in scholarly circles, historians have investigated the executions from a variety of angles and perspectives; despite this, very little is known about origins of the event and the details of its development, and a comprehensive understanding of its overall implications for the early Reformation therefore still eludes us. Most modern scholars seem to have the following vague impressions about the case: first, that the executions were an isolated incident without any noteworthy prehistory; second, that little concrete connection existed between what was happening in Antwerp and Brussels and what was happening in Wittenberg and in the early Reformation more broadly; and third, that the event’s impact, particularly within the empire, was limited to what we might call its potential for propaganda. For these reasons, the case is virtually ignored in general histories of the Reformation.