he was the son of eric arvidsson trolle, a former regent of sweden during the era of the kalmar union. after returning from studies abroad, in cologne and rome, he was in 1513 elected vicar in linköping. one year later he became archbishop of uppsala. in 1515 he got into an argument with the swedish regent sten sture the younger, who spread the rumour that he was allied with the king christian ii of denmark. true or not, it resulted in trolle being removed from his office and put under siege in the archbishops mansion almarestäket at lake mälaren. in the winter of 1517, almarestäket was demolished by orders from the swedish government.