At the close of 1520 King Christian II ruled the greatest realm in northern Europe. His ambitions extended even beyond this enormous region. He meditated an expedition to Greenland, led by Søren Norby, to reestablish the old tie with Norway. From Greenland Norby might push on to the new world. Closer to hand the king had taken one of Lübeck's gates, but the free imperial city on the Trave remained tantalizingly out of reach. And his uncle Friedrich continued to sit brooding at Gottorp.

Over the next year the regime reshaped crown administration, issued a number of reforms, and undertook the instauration of a chaotic legal system. A new item pushed its way onto the royal agenda, church reform. As events in the Reich unfolded after 1517, reports reached Copenhagen, and were followed intently in some circles. A young Carmelite, Poul Helgesen, lectured on theology at the university after 1519, and found auditors open to church renewal. Helgesen was a severe critic of church abuses, and he condemned “the riches and indolence of certain spiritual persons.” “Nothing,” he wrote,