Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ælnoth

579762Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 01 — Ælnoth1885Alexander Gordon

ÆLNOTH (fl. 1085–1109), monk and biographer, was born at Canterbury, spent his prime in Denmark, and was, perhaps, prior of the convent of St. Canute in Odense. His life of St. Canute the Martyr is dedicated to King Nicholas (1105–1134), but appears to have been written in the reign of Eric, his predecessor. Langebek agrees with Bartholinus in fixing 1109 as the date of the dedication. He there speaks of having lived twenty-four years in Denmark, which would make 1085 the year of his removal from England. This is about the date at which he places the removal to Denmark of relics of St. Alban, and the probability is that he accompanied them. His sole work is the ‘Historia Ortus, Vitæ et Passionis S. Canuti.’ It was first published at Copenhagen in 1602; was republished in 1631; formed a supplement to Jo. Meursii ‘Hist. Danica,’ Florence, 1746; and was first accurately edited in the Bollandist ‘Acta Sanctorum’ (10 July), by J. B. Sollerius.

[Bircherod in Westphalen's Monumenta Inedita Rer. Germ. præcip. Cimbric. et Megapol., Leipzig, 1739–45; Langebek and Suhm's Scriptores Rer. Danic. Med. Æv., Copenhagen, 1772 ff.]

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