He entertained the idea of building a fort inside the city of Utrecht to keep the citizens in check.

When the resistance of the Utrecht citizens escalated to the point where they invited troops from Guelders to occupy the city, Henry had no choice but to ask the Habsburgers for help.

The Habsburgers quickly restored order, but in return the bishop was forced to relinquish all the lands controlled by the bishopric.

The relinquishment was secured in the treaty of Schoonhoven on 15 November 1527,[1] and on 21 October 1528 the bishop swore fealty to Charles V. This was the end of the Bishopric of Utrecht as a territorial power.

He restored the bishop's summer-residence in Dirmstein that had been dismantled during the German Peasants' War of 1525.