His father, formerly known as Jean Du Beguinage (alternatively: Jan le Béguinage), was an itinerant blauschilder [lit.
blue painter] which is indicative of the tin-glazed process, a precursor to Delftware, introduced into the Netherlands by Guido de Savino in 1512 at Antwerp.
The de Bres family was known for their skills in glass painting, and young Guido was trained in this art before moving to England.
Mr Nicholas, his friend and two wives were caught by the authorities and charged with subversion of the Roman Catholic faith.
Guido probably kept company with a number of refugees from continental Europe: Tremellius, Valérand Poullain, Martin Bucer, John a Lasco, Jan Utenhove, Marten de Klyne (Marten Micron or Micronius), Wouter Deelen, François Perucel de la Rivière and others.
John à Lasco served as superintendent to a number of foreign congregations including the Dutch.
This confession was meant for the Spanish government to show them that the Calvinists were not a radical Anabaptist sectarian movement but demanded a Reformation in the biblical sense of the Roman Catholic Church.
On the night of 1 November 1561, de Bres threw his creed over the castle wall of Tournai, where Margaret of Parma, governor of the Netherlands stayed, to bring the confession to the attention of the Spanish government.
The Belgic Confession is part of the Three Forms of Unity, a set of official statements of doctrine used by churches with roots in the continental Reformed tradition.