| Destination: DENMARK | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Things To Know
The Modern City
The Old Town The Martyred King |
The Martyred King The violent death of the 11th-century Danish King Knud (Canute), a descendant of Canute, one-time king of England, did Odense a favor. The king and his brother, Benedikt, were slaughtered in Odense's old Church of St. Alban's on July 10, 1086, by Jutland peasant farmers angered by excessive taxes the king levied to finance war with England. Fourteen years later Pope Paschalis II canonized the king as St. Knud the Holy. In an ironic twist, Benedictine monks from England settled in Odense and successfully promoted the town as a place of pilgrimage to the murdered ruler. The reputed skeletons of Knud and Benedikt can still be seen in Sankt Knuds Domkirke. |
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