Martyred king of Denmark, sometimes called Knud. Born in 1042, he was the illegitimate son of King Sven II Estridson of Denmark. Canute succeeded his brother Harald III Hen in 1081. After marrying Adela, the sister of Count Robert of Flanders, Canute built churches and monasteries. In 1085, he planned an invasion of England, but the nobles of the court rebelled against him and forced him to flee to the isle of Funen. There, Canute, his brother Benedict, and seventeen companions were slain in the church of St Alban in 1086. Pope Paschal II authorised Canute’s cult in 1101.
