ORENDEL  , a

Middle High German poem, of no great literary merit, dating from the close of the 12th century . The story is associated with the town of Treves (Trier), where the poem was probably written . The introduction narrates the story of the Holy Coat, which, after many adventures, is swallowed by a whale . It is recovered by Orendel, son of King Eigel of Treves, who had embarked with twenty-two ships in order to woo the lovely Brida, the mistress of the Holy Sepulchre, as his wife . Suffering shipwreck, he falls into the hands of the fisherman Eise, and in his service catches the whale that has swallowed the Holy Coat . The coat has the property of rendering the wearer proof against wounds, and Orendel successfully overcomes innumerable perils and eventually wins Brida for his wife . A message brought by an angel summons both back to Treves, where Orendel meets with many adventures and at last disposes of the Holy Coat by placing it in a stone sarcophagus . Another angel announces both his and Brida's approaching death, when they renounce the world and prepare for the end . The poem exists in a single manuscript of the 15th century, and in one print, dated 1512 . It has been edited by von der Hagen (1844), L . Ettmuller (1858) and A . E .

Berger (1888) ; there is a

modern German translation by K . Simrock (1845) . See H . Harkensee, Untersuchungen fiber das Spielmannsgedicht Orendel (1879) ; F . Vogt, in the Zeitschrift fur deutsche Philologie, vol. xxii . (189o) ; R . Heinzel, Uber das Gedicht vom Konig Orendel (1892); and K . Mullenhoff, in Deutsche Altertumskunde, vol. i . (2nd ed., 189o), pp . 32 seq .