Ælnoth may have been prior in the Benedictine community founded in Odense as a daughter house of the Abbey at Evesham. According to the Danish historian Hans Olrik, who wrote the biography of Ælnoth in the first edition of the Danish biographical reference work "Dansk 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 (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.