over to Rantzau. Skipper Clement was later sentenced to death by the judicial council in Viborg and executed in 1536. The battles of Helsingborg and Øksnebjerg Fortune did not fare well for the rebelling supporters of the Catholic faith, nor for the farmers on the Swedish front. The Swedish King Gustav Vasa sent a Swedish army to the aid of Christian III, which invaded Skåne at Loshult and plundered, burned, and murdered their way throughout the area as it advanced toward the town of Væ. Later, a Swedish army invaded Halland, which was destroyed by fire and sword. Some of the Scanian nobles sided with the Swedes, but Tyge Krabbe in Helsingborg Castle supported Count Christoffer. In January 1535, the Swedes and the army of nobles advanced on Helsingborg. An army consisting of residents of Lübeck and Malmø under Jørgen Kock was entrenched outside of the castle, and in a decisive moment, Tyge Krabbe suddenly had the castle's cannons open fire against its defenders, after which he opened the castle to the Swedes, who set fire to Helsingborg and reduced the town to ashes. With that, Denmark east of the Sound was lost for Count Christoffer. After the victory at Aalborg, Rantzau brought his troops to Funen, and on 11 June 1535, they fought the Battle of Øksnebjerg, where the rest of Count Christoffer's army was decisively defeated. Both Copenhagen and Malmø, however, were able to hold out until 1536, when they were forced to capitulate after several months' siege. With this, the Count's Feud was officially over. The aftermath In the aftermath of the feud, the nobles regrouped and healed the rifts the usual way, namely through inter-marriage. One of the most powerful among the Danish nobility in Skåne at this time was the Bille family, who were tied through blood relations to seven of the eight Catholic bishops of Denmark. The Billes also had six family members on the Council of the Realm and owned castles throughout Denmark and Norway. In order to keep the family's powerful position, in spite of the religious affiliation with the Catholic faith, Claus Bille (of Stockholm Bloodbath fame, second cousin to Gustav Vasa), protected the family by forming a political alliance through marriage with the Brahe family, another powerful Scanian family among the Danish nobility at this time. The Brahe family was one of the first among the nobility to convert to