At his accession King Friedrich promised to defend the faith and never to establish any heretic, Luther's disciple or another, to preach against the church or the pope. In 1523 King Friedrich, like his fellow princes, was aware of the faults of the old church, and he probably favored internal reform. He may even have favored reform outside the church. But no one can say with certainty what King Friedrich had in mind. Religion was one of the many topics on which he was silent.

The reservation of high church office for men of noble birth in King Friedrich's accession agreement was an attempt by churchmen to coopt the worldly nobility. The clergy reinforced the alliance with formal written obligations. At King Friedrich's coronation the lords temporal and spiritual pledged their obedience to the pope and the Roman Church; they would resist the heresy of that renegade monk Martin Luther (June 28, 1524). A week later (July 5) the lesser nobility sealed a similar agreement.

The alliance between the privileged orders was strained by the worldly competence of churchmen. Lay nobles viewed the power and wealth of the bishops, and the efficiency of church administration, with exasperation and alarm. A petition by the lesser nobility to king and council at a meeting in Copenhagen in 1525 offers an insight into the rivalry of the privileged orders. The lesser nobility insisted that not only bishoprics, but prelatures and canonries be reserved for noblemen.