It was the king’s intention to set at liberty immediately such of the bishops as were still in confinement, and he caused the offer to be made to them, requiring only in return that they should not meddle with affairs of state, that they should not resist the Reformation, and that they should lead a peaceable life. The majority agreed to these terms; and the king not only restored to them their hereditary estates, but, in addition, made liberal presents to many of them. The best treated was Ove Bilde, who had defended his castle with cannon, and who, respected by every one, received as a fief the estate of Skovkloster, near Nestved. Towards the close of his life he embraced the evangelical doctrine. One bishop only, Roennov, absolutely refused submission. He had changed with every wind, but he remained steadfast now. Of a character at once feeble and fiery, he protested against the course adopted towards him, and his indignation vented itself in sharp sayings and violent gestures. This restless and versatile man was removed successively to four or five castles, and at last died, in 1544, in this same town of Copenhagen, where the people continued to believe that he had aimed at establishing himself as king. Christian III. reunited the castles of the bishops to the domains of the crown; but the rest of the properties of the bishops he assigned, by Luther’s advice, to the hospitals, the schools, the university and the churches. It had been his intention to give an important position to the ‘third estate’; but in this he did not succeed. This class, consisting of workmen without moral weight, and peasants without intelligence, had to wait till their time was come.[365]