Saint Knut’s Church

In 1086, Harald Bluetooth’s great-grandson, Knut the Holy, was killed in front of the altar of Sankt Albani Church in Odense by a mob of angry chieftains and peasants. The violence broke out because of taxes and levies the king had ordered. The wooden church of Sankt Albani no longer exists, but you can pay this last Viking king a visit in the crypt of Odense Cathedral – Skt. Knuds Kirke. In 1101, the murdered king was canonised by the Pope, but he was never loved by the people. Knut’s sainthood also signalled Denmark’s full transition to Christianity and, therefore, its religious and political alignment with the rest of Europe.