Odense is mentioned for the first time in official documents in a letter from the German Kaiser Otto the 3rd from 988. By that time, the town was already the diocese of a bishop, but had probably also been the centre of the Odin Cult. Archaeological finds indicate that the original settlement was centred around the current site of the Town Hall. Around 980 and just south of the town was one of the circular forts from Viking times, called Nonnebakken.On 10 July 1086, King Knud the 4th was slain in St. Albani Church and was canonised a few years later to become Saint Knud. His earthly remains can still be seen in the cathedral crypt. Specially-imported Benedictine monks from England founded St. Knud’s Monastery shortly afterwards, where the English monk, Aelnoth, wrote Denmark’s first literary work in 1100. St. Knud’s and several other later monasteries quickly cemented the town’s position as a religious and political centre, and in 1482 a German printer called Johan Snell printed the first two books in Denmark at the invitation of Odense’s clergy.