[3] [4] [5] At the age of nineteen, Trolle went to Metropolitanskolen (Vor Frue Skole) at Copenhagen, subsequently completing his studies at Wittenberg University from 1536–1537.
Herluf Trolle's lively manners made him popular everywhere but not with his wife's nephew Peder Oxe (1520–1575), the subsequently distinguished finance minister, whose narrow grasping ways, especially as the two men were near neighbors, did not contribute towards family harmony.
He also promoted literature and learning by educating poor students both at home and abroad, endowing Latin schools and encouraging historical research.
Supported by two other Danish ships, Trolle attacked the Swedish flagship Mars (also known as Makalös or Jutehataren), then the largest warship in northern waters, but was beaten off at nightfall.
The fight was renewed at six o'clock the following morning, when the Makalös was again attacked and forced to surrender, but blew up immediately afterwards, no fewer than 300 Lübeck and Danish sailors perishing with her.
[6] Despite the damage done to his own fleet and flagship Fortuna by this great victory, Trolle, on 14 August, fought another but indecisive action with a second Swedish fleet under Finnish born, Swedish nobleman and Naval Admiral Klas Horn (1517–1566), Lord of Joensuu, his distant kinsman, and kept the sea until 13 October.
Both Herluf Trolle and Birgitte Gøye were buried together at Herlufsholm in a tomb made by the Flemish sculptor Cornelis Floris de Vriendt (1514–1575).