Today is Friday, July 10th, 2020.

On this day in the year 1086, King Canute the 4th of Denmark was killed during a peasant uprising.

After his death, Denmark was thrust into a period of instability,

which eventually led to Canute being canonized as the patron saint of the country.

Welcome to today in true crime, a parcast original.

Today we're covering the assassination of King Canute the 4th.

Let's go back to the city of Odense on the morning of July 10th, 1086.

King Canute the 4th began his day the way he often did by attending Mass.

He sat in the quiet reverence before a priest in the small wooden priory of St. Albans.

As he knelt before the altar of the Almighty, he swore to bring his country back to God.

He prayed desperately for strength.

After all, he'd seen the consequences of weakness and compromise.

His older brother Harold had been mocked as,

Harold the tame for his meekness and goodwill.

Canute believed that the only way to follow God as a king

was to use the power of his throne.

The peasantry couldn't be trusted to look after themselves.

Many of them didn't even pay their tithe to the church until he forced them to.

Canute breathed deeply and finished his prayers.

When he opened his eyes, he saw one of his advisors

waiting nervously beside him.

In hurried whispers, the man told him

...