Editing Frederick II of Denmark (section)

=== Early relationship with the Council of the Realm ===
The adversarial king–Council relationship improved relatively quickly however, and not because Frederik caved in to conciliar opposition. Rather, the two parties quickly learned to work together because their interests, and the Kingdom's, required that they did so. From an early time, the council invested much power in Frederick, as they had no desire to go back to the destructive near-anarchy of the pre-civil war years.<ref>Lockhart, Paul D., page 37</ref>

Frederik would soon learn how to play the constitutional game, that is required in a consensual monarchy, such as Denmark; namely to humour the Council without sacrificing his own royal interests. This meant showing generosity to the conciliar [[aristocracy]] through various gifts and concessions, which he did in grand style. Shortly before the signing of his coronation charter (''[[haandfæstning]]''), [[Andreas von Barby]], leader of the German Chancery, died. Barby was not well liked in the Council of the Realm, but he was extreamly wealthy.<ref>DFH, i. 78–80; Colding, Studier, 68–77; Peder Enevoldsen, 'Lensreformerne i Danmark 1557–96', HTD, 81 (1981–82), 343–98</ref> The extensive [[fief]]s in his possession reverted to the Crown, and Frederik was careful to distribute out these properties among the leading members of the Council of the Realm. Throughout his reign, Frederik would reward his conciliar aristocracy generously. Fiefs were distributed on highly favourable terms.<ref>Lockhart, Paul D., page 38</ref>

The substantially warmer relationship between king and Council of the Realm after the [[Dithmarschen|Ditmarschen]] campaign is best illustrated by the Danish central administration's performance in the greatest national crisis of the reign, the [[Northern Seven Years' War]] (1563–70) against Sweden.