Johan Rantzau

Frederick I of Denmark, the younger son of Christian I, had in 1532 succeeded in capturing his deposed predecessor Christian II, who had tried to make a political comeback in Norway.

As King of Norway, Frederick is most remarkable in never having visited the country.

He has never been crowned King of Norway, and therefore styles himself King of Denmark, the Vends and the Goths, elected King of Norway.

Frederick dies at the age of sixty-one on April 10, 1533, in Gottorf Castle, Schleswig, and is buried in Schleswig Cathedral.

Duke Christian of Gottorp, his father Frederick I having died the previous year, is in 1534 proclaimed King of the Kalmar Union under the name Christian III at an assembly in Rye, a town in eastern Jutland.

Christopher of Oldenburg organizes an uprising against the new king, demanding that Christian II be set free.

Supported by Lübeck and troops from Oldenburg and Mecklenburg, parts of the Zealand and Skåne nobilities rise up, together with cities such as Copenhagen and Malmø.

Count Christopher has the support of most of Zealand, Scania, the Hanseatic League, and the small farmers of northern Jutland and Funen.

Christian III finds his support among the nobles of Jutland.

The port city of Lübeck, a prominent member of the Hanseatic league of northern German mercantile cities, seeks to maintain commercial supremacy in the Baltic region at the expense of the Swedes, Danes, and Dutch.

Jürgen Wullenwever, who was probably born at Hamburg in 1492, has settled in Lübeck as a merchant and takes some part in the risings of the inhabitants in 1530 and 1531, being strongly in sympathy with the democratic ideas in religion and politics which have inspired them.

Having joined the governing council of the city and become leader of the democratic party, he is appointed burgomaster early in 1533 and throws himself into the movement for restoring Lübeck to her former position of influence.

Preparations had been made to attack the Dutch towns, the principal trading rivals of Lübeck, when the death of Frederick I, king of Denmark, in April 1533 changed the position of affairs.

The Lübeckers object to the bestowal of the Danish crown upon any prince favorable to the Empire or the Roman Catholic religion, and Wullenwever goes to Copenhagen to discuss the matter.

At length an alliance is concluded with Henry VIII of England; considerable support is obtained in North Germany.

Copunt Christopher of Oldenbourg is the grandson of Gerhard of Oldenburg, a brother of King Christian I of Denmark.

Educated a clergyman as a young man, he had later chosen a military career, participating in wars in Germany, probably because of economic pressures.

He is described an "intellectual condottiere" possessing a classic Greek knowledge but apparently no great military talent.

As a second cousin of both Christian II and Christian III, he takes an interest in Scandinavian politics.

When the civil war breaks out in Denmark 1534 after the death of Frederick I, Christopher, who has converted to Protestantism, is hired by Lübeck as the military leader of the alliance of Danish commoners, Lübeck and Protestants against Christian III and the Danish nobility.

The formal purpose of this alliance is the restoration of Christian II.

Christopher's own zeal seems to have been for the Danish crown.

The Danish State Council (rigsraad), dominated by the still Catholic bishops and nobles, refuses to accept Frederick’s son Duke Christian as king and turns to Count Christopher of Oldenburg in order to restore Christian II to the Danish throne (Christian II had supported both the New and Old Faiths at various times).

In opposition to King Christian III, Count Christopher is proclaimed regent at the Ringsted Assembly (landsting), and at …

…the Skåne Assembly (landsting) at St Liber's Hill at Lund Cathedral.

This results in a two-year civil war, known as the Count's Feud (Grevens Fejde, 1534–36), between Protestant and Catholic forces.

The violent phase of the Count’s Feud begins in 1534, when a privateer captain who had earlier been in Christian II's service, Klemen Andersen, called Skipper Clement, at Count Christopher's request instigates the peasants of Vendsyssel and North Jutland to rise up against the nobles.

Clement, born to a farmer family in Aaby parish (Aaby Sogn i Kjer Herred) in the district of Vendsyssel in North Jutland, had become a merchant in Aalborg and later captain and vice admiral in the navy of King Christian II of Denmark.

Christian II in 1523 had been sent into exile and his uncle, Frederick I of Denmark, had taken over the throne.

Clement had mutinied in 1525 and become a privateer, later allying himself to Christopher of Oldenburg.

At Count Christopher instruction, he has instigated the peasants of Vendsyssel and North Jutland to rise up against the nobles.

Clement’s peasant army, reinforced with professional soldiers from Count Christopher, on October 16, 1534, meets the army of the Jutland nobility that had been sent to crush the revolt.

The Battle of Svenstrup (Slaget ved Svenstrup) results in the defeat of the noble army.

Christian III, realizing his hold on the throne is in imminent danger, negotiates a deal with the Hansa States, which allows him to send his trusted advisor Johan Rantzau north with an army of Protestant German mercenaries.

Clement and his army flee north, taking refuge inside the walls of Aalborg.

The rebellious peasants have controlled a major part of northern Jutland for a couple of months, expelling the nobles and burning down many of their manor houses.

However, in the long run the peasant army is too poorly armed and too undisciplined.

King Christian III, in the meantime, forces a peace with Lübeck, from which great reinforcements.

led by general Johan Rantzau, s devout protestant,can be freed up to fight against the rebels, who have retreated to Aalborg and strengthened the defenses of the city.

After a hard battle on December 18, 1534, Rantzau's army overcomes the defenses, sacks the city and kills as many as two thousand people in the process.

Clement, although badly wounded, manages to escape, but is betrayed and captured by his enemies.

He will be kept in prison until the end of the civil war and will then be executed by being broken on the wheel in Viborg, Denmark.

Christian III, having largely secured his control of Jutland, next focuses on gaining control of Scania.

He appeals to the Protestant Swedish king Gustav Vasa for help in subduing the rebels.

Gustav immediately obliged by sending two armies to ravage central Scania and Halland.

One Swedish army invades Skåne at Loshult and plunders burns, and murders their way throughout the Gønge area as it advances toward the town of Væ.

The other Swedish army invades Halland, which is destroyed by fire and sword.