Rantzau who was in command of the royal troops expelled them. Oldenburg went to Copenhagen, and being determined to push on the war vigorously, demanded of the gentry their silver plate and the jewels, necklaces, and bracelets of their wives and daughters. But at the call of the new king, Sweden, having no desire to see its butcher, the terrible Christian II., reascend the throne of Scandinavia, despatched an army into Scania which pursued the Lübeckers as far as Malmoe. Christian III., for want of a fleet, passed the Little Belt in ordinary boats. The German army was defeated in two engagements. More than two hundred German lords perished in these fights; and the famous Archbishop Troll, the friend of Christian the Cruel, who, in conjunction with Hoya, was in command of the army of the invaders, was severely wounded and died. At length the spring of 1535 permitted the vessels of Sweden and Prussia to join those of Denmark. This fleet touched at the island of Zealand, and the king and the army encamped at a distance of four leagues from Copenhagen, and soon invested the city. The siege lasted a year; and during this time Christian III. overran the other provinces for the purpose of driving away the enemy. In the midst of these struggles and conflicts the Reformation was making its way without the co-operation of the king. Its adherents were gradually regaining possession of the churches and offices of which they had been deprived by the bishops in the fatal year 1533. Christian undertook a journey into Sweden; and the order, peace, and prosperity which prevailed in that country, since the Reformation achieved the victory over the Romish hierarchy, attracted his attention, and convinced him more than ever that in this victory was to be found the source of the welfare of the individual and the community. [Sidenote: The Lubeckers Repulsed.]