Christian II's exile was filled with anxiety, humiliation and despair. Every effort at reinstatement failed. It was only thanks to a hectic round of activity that the king remained a living memory in the North, a threat to churchmen and nobles, a promise to common folk. His agents repeatedly stirred up dissatisfaction and unrest, but once Søren Norby had exited the Baltic, Christian II was not the most immediate concern of the northern regimes.

After his pilgrimage to Wittenberg, the king and a small court settled in Lier, south of Antwerp, where the Habsburgs could monitor their erring kinsman. Christian and Queen Elysabet spent much of their time in the Reich, trying to raise an army or otherwise effect a return to Denmark. From the summits of European power Charles V promised to aid his kinsman, and from time to time the promises seemed on the verge of realization. In 1524 Charles's victory at Pavia awakened hope of imperial support, but the occasion passed. In 1526 Charles V and François I signed a treaty in Madrid, and expectations in Lier revived, only to be dashed by a new outbreak of violence. Early in 1527 Archibald Douglas, the regent of Scotland, offered men and ships; the offer required Christian to provision the ships and pay the mercenaries, money the king did not have and could not raise. Charles V's military expenses were not the only obstacle.