Tallinn handed over castles to the Teutonic Order in 1344–1345. Beset by pressing problems at home and unable to break the monopoly of the Hanseatic League at sea, Valdemar decided to sell the territory to the master of the Teutonic Order for 10,000 marks. The final sale was approved by the king's Danish counsellors, and the shift of sovereignty took place on 1 November 1346. In Sweden, the court was continually reminded of its religious duties by Bridget of Sweden, who was the king's cousin and beginning to win fame as a prophetess. Her primary aim was to reform and purify the upper class, and her posthumously complied Revelations contain thoughts on the Northern Crusades which must have been expressed in the 1344–1348 period. After King Magnus II of Sweden had tried and failed to take possession of Denmark in the early 1340s, she advised him not to offend his people by raising taxes to fund wars against their co-religionists, but instead to raise taxes only for self-defence or in crusading against unbelievers. Therefore, after Magnus had at least temporarily resolved difficulties at home, he prepared for a crusade against the Russian Orthodox Novgorod. Envoys were sent to the Russians in 1347, and an army was assembled that included Danish and German auxiliaries, and the support of Henry of Rendsburg. The army set sail for the campaign in 1348. Accordingly, there were political divisions in the Russian states in this decade. The southern territories of Novgorod had been subjugated by Prince Algirdas of Lithuania in 1346, and Simeon of Moscow had failed to intervene. The city was divided between competing boyar factions, and the lack of unity between Novgorod and her allies allowed for the success of Magnus' campaign of 1348. Pskov officially broke away from Novgorod that year; and Simeon was again delayed in helping against the Swedes, this time by business with his overlord, the Khan of the Golden Horde. Orekhov was taken by the Swedes, although it was to fall in 1349. Eastern Europe Byzantine civil war of 1341–1347 within the Byzantine Empire John III Comnenus becomes emperor of Trebizond (1342) Guy de Lusignan becomes King Gosdantin II of Armenia (1342) The Patriarchate of Antioch is transferred to Damascus under Ignatius II (1342) Serbian expansion In 1342, Louis I became King of Hungary. Southern Europe In Rome, the general despair brought on by the Plague and the