He also served as a Privy Councillor of the Margraviate of Brandenburg and Chancellor of the University of Frankfurt (Oder), commonly called the Viadrina.

In 1528, he became involved in a feud with aristocrats from the Brandenburg region and narrowly escaped an attack on the episcopal palace in Fürstenwalde.

In 1529, however, he came to Ratzeburg and had the reformist-minded preacher Thomas Aderpul imprisoned, which led to a feud with the nobles of the Klützer Winkel and to a lengthy Imperial Chamber Court process, which only ended in 1540 with a verdict in favor of the bishop.

He acquired the respect of his opponents, including the Margrave Joachim II himself, for his principled stand against reforms which he believed to be wrong and opposed by every legal means possible.

He was twice besieged in his palaces by Protestant brigands; once at Fürstenwalde by the robber-baron Nickel von Minkwitz, an event which drew Martin Luther into the controversy, and once at Ratzeburg.