Tags

, , , , , , , ,

Canute IV (c. 1042 – July 10, 1086), later known as Canute the Holy or Saint Canute was King of Denmark from 1080 until 1086. King Canute IV 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 Danish king to be canonized. He was recognized by the Roman Catholic Church as patron saint of Denmark in 1101.

Life

Canute was born c. 1042, one of the many sons of King Sweyn II Estridsson of Denmark by an unknown mistress. He is first noted as a member of Sweyn’s 1069 raid on England, and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reports that Canute was one of the leaders of another raid against England in 1075.

When returning from England in 1075, the Danish fleet stopped in the County of Flanders. Because of its hostility towards King William I of the English, Flanders was a natural ally for the Danes. He also led successful campaigns to Sember and Ester, according to skald Kálfr Mánason.

When King Sweyn II died, Canute’s brother Harald III was elected king, and as Canute went into exile in Sweden, he was possibly involved in the active opposition to Harald. On April 17, 1080, Harald died, and Canute succeeded him to the throne of Denmark as King Canute IV of Denmark.

In 1080 on his accession, he married Adela, daughter of Count Robert I of Flanders and Gertrude of Saxony, the daughter of Bernard II, Duke of Saxony and Eilika of Schweinfurt.

The marriage was arranged as a part of an alliance between Flanders and Denmark against William the Conqueror. During this marriage, she had three children: a son, later Count Charles the Good (born in 1084), and twin daughters, Cecilia and Ingegerd (born ca. 1085/86). When Canute was assassinated in 1086, she fled with her son to Flanders, leaving her daughters behind in Denmark.

Princess Ingerid’s descendants, the House of Bjelbo, would ascend to the throne of Sweden and Norway and Canute IV’s blood returned to the Danish throne in the person of King Olaf II of Denmark.

King of Denmark

Canute quickly proved himself to be a highly ambitious king as well as a devout one. He enhanced the authority of the church, and demanded austere observation of church holidays. He gave large gifts to the churches in Dalby, Odense, Roskilde, and Viborg, and especially to Lund. Ever a champion of the Church, he sought to enforce the collection of tithes. His aggrandizement of the church served to create a powerful ally, who in turn supported Canute’s power position.

His reign was marked by vigorous attempts to increase royal power in Denmark, by stifling the nobles and keeping them to the word of the law. Canute issued edicts arrogating to himself the ownership of common land, the right to the goods from shipwrecks, and the right to inherit the possessions of foreigners and kinless folk. He also issued laws to protect freed thralls as well as foreign clerics and merchants. These policies led to discontent among his subjects, who were unaccustomed to a king claiming such powers and interfering in their daily lives.

Aborted attempt on England

However, Canute’s ambitions were not purely domestic. As the grandnephew of Canute the Great, who had ruled England, Denmark and Norway until 1035, Canute considered the crown of England to be rightfully his and regarded King William I of the English as a usurper. In 1085, with the support of his father-in-law, Count Robert, and King Olaf III of Norway, Canute planned an invasion of England and called his fleet in leding at the Limfjord.

The fleet never set sail, as Canute was preoccupied in Schleswig by the potential threat of Heinrich IV, Holy Roman Emperor with whom both Denmark and Flanders were on unfriendly terms. Canute feared an invasion by Henry, whose enemy Rudolf of Rheinfelden had sought refuge in Denmark.

The warriors of the fleet, mostly made up of peasants who needed to be home for the harvest season, got weary of waiting and elected Canute’s brother Olaf (the later Olaf I of Denmark) to argue their case. That raised the suspicion of Canute, who had Olaf arrested and sent to Flanders. The leding was eventually dispersed, and the peasants tended to their harvests, but Canute intended to reassemble within a year.

Death

Before the fleet could reassemble, a peasant revolt broke out in Vendsyssel, where Canute IV was staying, in early 1086. Canute first fled to Schleswig and eventually to Odense. On July 10, 1086, Canute and his men took refuge inside the wooden St. Alban’s Priory, in Odense. The rebels stormed into the church and slew Canute, along with his brother Benedict and seventeen of their followers, before the altar. According to the chronicler Ælnoth of Canterbury, Canute died following a lance thrust in the flank. He was succeeded by his brother Olaf as King Olaf I of Denmark.