Canute IV of Denmark |Saint Canute of Denmark| Murder of Canute
the Holy by Christian Albrecht von Benzon, 1843 |Died||10 July
1086 |Honored in||Roman Catholic Church, Lutheranism|
|Canonized||19 April 1101| |Major shrine||Saint Canute's
Cathedral, Odense| 13 January (in Sweden & Finland)
|Patronage||Patron saint of Denmark| Canute IV of Denmark
(Danish: Knud IV den Hellige or Sankt Knud; c. 1042 – 10 July
1086), later known as Canute the Holy or Canute the Saint, was
King of Denmark from 1080 until 1086. Canute was an ambitious
king who sought to strengthen the Danish monarchy, devotedly
supported the Roman Catholic Church, and had designs on the
English throne. Slain by rebels in 1086, he was the first Dane
to be canonized. He was recognized by the Roman Catholic Church
as patron saint of Denmark in 1101, under the name of San
Canuto. Canute was born c. 1042, one of the many illegitimate
sons of Sweyn II Estridsson. He is first noted as a member of
Sweyn's 1069 raid of England, and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle