Editing Saint Olaf (section)

=== Olaf's dynasty ===
For various reasons, most importantly the death of King Cnut the Great in 1035 but perhaps also a certain discontent among Norwegian nobles with Danish rule in the years after Olaf's death in 1030, Olaf's illegitimate son with the concubine Alvhild, [[Magnus I of Norway|Magnus the Good]], assumed power in Norway, and eventually also in Denmark. Numerous Danish churches were dedicated to Olaf during his reign, and the sagas give glimpses of the young king's efforts to promote the cult of his deceased father. This became typical of Scandinavian monarchies. In pagan times, Scandinavian kings derived their right to rule from their claims of descent from the Norse god [[Odin]], or in the case of the kings of the Swedes at [[Old Uppsala]], from [[Freyr]]. In Christian times this legitimation of a dynasty's right to rule and its national prestige was based on its descent from a saintly king. Thus the kings of Norway promoted the cult of St. Olaf, the kings of Sweden the cult of [[St. Erik]] and the kings of Denmark the cult of [[Saint Canute]], just as in England the Norman and [[Plantagenet]] kings promoted the cult of [[St. Edward the Confessor]] at [[Westminster Abbey]], their coronation church.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://nbl.snl.no/Olav_2_Haraldsson_Den_Hellige |title=Olav 2 Haraldsson Den Hellige, Konge |publisher=Norsk biografisk leksikon |author=Claus Krag |access-date=1 September 2017}}</ref>