Ælnoth or Ailnoth was an Anglo-Saxon Benedictine monk originally from Canterbury. He later relocated to Denmark, where he gained recognition as the author of a legend concerning the Danish king Saint Canute (Canute IV). King Canute was martyred in Odense in 1086 and was subsequently canonized by the Pope in either 1100 or 1101.^[1]

Ælnoth may have been prior in the Benedictine community founded in Odense as a daughter house of the Abbey at Evesham.^[2]According to the Danish historian Hans Olrik, who wrote the biography of Ælnoth in the first edition of the Danish biographical reference workDansk biografisk lexikon, Ælnoth came to Denmark and Odense about 1100; he there had compatriots called in earlier by King Eric for the new cathedral planned as the burial church for the slain King Canute, his older brother^[3](in other words at some point after the death of Canute in 1086). However, it has also been suggested that he came as early as 1085, accompanying relics of Saint Alban.^[4]

During his residence in Denmark, believed to span approximately 24 years (potentially between 1109 and 1122, depending on his arrival date), Ælnoth composed his Latin work Vita et Passio S. Canuti (English: Life and Passion of St. Canute). Regarded by Olrik as “one of the most important sources for the history of Denmark in the Middle Ages,” this text offers a valuable account of the era. Despite his reverence for the heroic figure of St. Canute, Ælnoth displays an unusual candor by subtly alluding to the flaws of the king, as noted by Olrik. Moreover, he employs a blend of prose and poetry, a stylistic trait that Olrik identifies as distinctly Anglo-Saxon in nature.^[5][6]

Other than his origins in Canterbury, little is known about the life of Ælnoth, with even the dates of his arrival in Denmark and when he wrote the ‘Life and Passion of St Canute’ being uncertain. There are hints at persecution from which Ælnoth considered himself the object, possibly from a priest higher up in the hierarchy. According to Olrik, Ælnoth shows familiarity with Denmark and Danish customs, but little sympathy for the Danes, and appears to hate the Normans who had caused him to leave his own country.^[5]

Early printed editions of Ælnoth’s Life of Saint Canute includeHistoria S. Canuti Regis et Martyris, Othoniæ sepulti, printed in Copenhagen 1602. A more recent edition isGesta Swenomagni regis et filiorum eius passio gloriasissimi Canuti regis et martyris, in Martin Clarentius Gertz, ed.,Vitae sanctorum Danorum(Copenhagen 1908-12), p. 77-136. A recent Danish translation isÆlnoths Krønike, translated by Erling Albrectsen (Odense: Odense Universitetsforlag, 1984.)