Haraclid (or Heraclid Despot), an adventurer and forger of Greek Maltese origin, depicted himself as, among other things, a nephew of Stephen the Great. His various links with Moldavia included accounts about his father, John Heraclides. According to Iacob's own account, John had been killed on Moldavian territory, possibly at Hârlău. He blamed this execution on either the Ottomans or on Prince Ștefăniță (reigned 1517–1527). The pretender built up his career as a mercenary from 1553, when he became a military expert for the "Reichsarmatur", seeing action during the war in Flanders. In late 1555, he became an Imperial Count Palatine. Heraclid's parallel career was as a religious polemicist and preacher. His involvement with the Reformation began ca. 1554, when he met Philip Melanchthon; he was prompted to consider designs for a unification between the Protestant and Orthodox faiths, and came to view Moldavia as a stepping-stone toward that ultimate goal. While spreading the faith in Poland, he moved away from mainline Lutheranism, embracing Calvinism and finally Nontrinitarianism, though he remained discreet about his personal religion.