Canute (2)
Canute (or Knut), Saint and Martyr, king of Denmark, was the son of Sweyn or Sueno II, and greatnephew of Canute the Great of England. When he became king, in 1080, he revised the laws of his realm, and set himself to restore its piety and discipline; and seeing that due respect was not paid to the order of bishops, he issued an ordinance, giving to them precedence over dukes, and the rank of princes. His failure to conquer England, and other causes, excited a spirit of insubordination and revolt, and the rebels, headed by one Blacco, surrounded him as he prayed in the church of St.
Alban, in the island of Funen, and murdered him at the altar. This probably happened on July 10,1086, on which (lay he is honored. April 19 is the festival of his translation. See Baillet, ii, 151; Landon, Eccles. Dict. s.v.; Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generale, s.v.
