Lübeck had declared war on the Netherlands in the spring of 1533, intending to establish a monopoly on northern trade. War's end found Wullenweber reaching out for support from towns in Holland and the Burgundian court. More surprisingly the regent of the Netherlands responded, and encouraged continued conflict in the Baltic.

New prospects had opened up at the Burgundian court and in the Reich, prospects that promised to serve imperial interests far better than the treaty of mutual aid with Denmark and Holstein. The elder daughter of Christian II, the fourteen-year-old Dorothea, married the fifty-one-year-old Count Palatine Friedrich in September 1535. King Ferdinand had originally proposed the alliance as a reward for a faithful retainer whose loyalty had been stretched to the breaking point. By adept manipulation of the war in the North, the bride's imperial kin thought to provide the couple with a kingdom or kingdoms. Denmark was to become another imperial satellite, serving the interests of the Netherlands, and bringing pressure to bear on Protestant princes and towns in the northern Reich.

The count palatine and his brother, the elector, considered the alliance with skepticism; long service with the Habsburgs made the brothers wary of nebulous imperial promises. The crown of Denmark would involve untold expense and the hostility of princes who supported Holstein; it might even cost Friedrich the succession in the Pfalz.