King Canute

After defeating Edmund (II) Ironside at Assandun, Essex, in 1016, Canute (c995-1035) was offered the English throne. became king of all England . He succeeded his brother Harold as king of Denmark in 1018 and conquered Norway in 1028 forcing the devout Olaf II to take refuge. Bought up as a pagan, who worshipped the Norse god Woden, Canute converted to Christianity mainly because of the influence of his devout wife, Emma of Normandy.

As king of England, Canute revived the alliance of church and state by instructing his sheriffs to pay attention to the bishops in the administration of justice and by mandating that offenders against church law are to be punished. The Viking king gave rich gifts to monasteries, founded abbeys, and is introducing a number of Christian laws for the payment of tithes to churches. He also legislated that Sunday be observed as a day of rest from business and amusements. However despite supporting the church with great zeal, his murdering of political opponents and his removal of the Christian King Olaf II from the Norwegian throne cast doubts on the extent of his own personal commitment.

Anne Boleyn

Anne Boleyn (1501 or 1507 – 19 May 1536) Having no male heir by his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII wanted to get a Papal annulment so he could marry the flirtatious Anne Boleyn. Unable to do so the English king was forced to break from Rome and the pope ( thus creating the Church of England) in order to divorce Catherine and wed the now pregnant Anne. The new English queen was sympathetic towards the new Bible based Protestantism and Martin Luther viewed her rise to the throne as a positive sign.
Anne gave birth to the future Queen Elizabeth I in 1533, but was unable to produce a male heir to the throne, and three years later was accused of adultery and incest with her half-brother (a charge invented by Thomas Cromwell), and sent to the Tower of London. She was declared guilty, and was beheaded on 19 May 1536 at Tower Green, her last words being “Christ have mercy on my soul.”

Alfred The Great

Alfred the Great (849-899) was the king of Wessex between 871–899. He defeated the Danes who were threatening to overrun England, founded the first English navy and established his kingdom of Wessex in the south of England as a bastion of Anglo-Saxon civilization.
A devout Christian confirmed by the Pope in Rome, Alfred attended the New Minister Church in Winchester, which later became the medieval Hyde Abbey. He came to the throne during a period where the Christian culture of his kingdom was under threat from the Vikings. The new king believed that God was sending those northern heathens as a punishment for his subjects’ neglect of the study of the Bible. His understanding of kingship was based on the conviction that the role of the king is to be Christ’s deputy on Earth and that he is always under the judgement of God.After King Alfred defeated the Vikings at the Battle of Edington, he required their king, Guthrum, to be baptized and he himself stood as a godfather.
Alfred showed the benefits of forgiveness when the Viking leader Haestan broke an agreed peace and made a fortified camp at Benfleet. Arthur’s sons Edward and Ethelred stormed their camp and took Haestan’s wife and sons as captives. Arthur sent them back to him. Haestan never fought Alfred again.
Throughout his reign Alfred attempted to encourage his people to live by the Word of God. To help with this he had many Churches and Monasteries, which had been destroyed by the Vikings, rebuilt and the Gospels and many Psalms translated from Latin into English. He once said “there is only one foundation on which to build any kingdom and that is the sure foundation of Jesus Christ. It is on that foundation I will build my kingdom.”

Czar Alexander II

Czar Alexander II (1818-1881) was motivated by Christian principles and in 1861 he emancipated 23 million serfs. During his reign there was a revival in the Russian church helped by the wide availability to all Russians from the 1860s of the Scriptures in their native language.
In 1881 Alexander was assassinated by bombs thrown beneath his carriage in St Petersburg by Nihilists. His dying words were “I am sweeping through the gates, washed in the blood of the lamb.”

Czar Alexander 1st

Despite being the father of several illegitimate children, Czar Alexander 1st (1777-1825) was a devout Christian who was behind in 1812 the founding of the Russian Bible Society, which translated the Bible into Russian. During the Napoleonic Wars he corresponded with several evangelical European leaders and as Napoleon’s campaign reached a critical stage the Czar found solace in a mystical pietism and regularly held prayer meetings

Prince Adolphus

One of George III’s sons, Prince Adolphus, The Duke of Cambridge (1774-1850), became very deaf in his old age and always sat right in the front of church, where the whole congregation could see him. Unfortunately he couldn't help drawing attention to himself as he loudly provided a running commentary on the service. For instance “Let us pray” got an amiable “By all means” from the duke. Or in response to a prayer for rain, he declared “amen, but you won't get it till the wind changes.”