Reinold (also known as Reinoldus, Reinhold of Cologne or in German Reinhold von Köln) was a

Benedictine monk The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, they ...

who lived in the 10th century. Supposedly a direct descendant of

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( ; 2 April 748 – 28 January 814) was List of Frankish kings, King of the Franks from 768, List of kings of the Lombards, King of the Lombards from 774, and Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor of what is now known as the Carolingian ...

, and the fourth son mentioned in the romantic poem Duke Aymon, by

William Caxton William Caxton () was an English merchant, diplomat and writer. He is thought to be the first person to introduce a printing press into Kingdom of England, England in 1476, and as a Printer (publishing), printer to be the first English retailer ...

. The poem is Caxton's translation of the long French

Chanson de Geste The , from 'deeds, actions accomplished') is a medieval narrative, a type of epic poetry, epic poem that appears at the dawn of French literature. The earliest known poems of this genre date from the late 11th and early 12th centuries, shortly ...

, ''Les Quatre Fils Aymon'' (

The Four Sons of Aymon The Four Sons of Aymon (, , ), sometimes also referred to as ''Renaud de Montauban'' (after its main character) is a medieval tale centring around the four sons of Duke Aymon: the knight Renaud de Montauban (also spelt ''Renaut'', ''Renault'', , ...

), where

Renaud de Montauban Renaud (or Renaut or Renault) de Montauban (Modern ; ; ; or ) was a legendary hero and knight which appeared in a 12th-century Old French known as ''The Four Sons of Aymon''. The four sons of Duke Aymon are Renaud, Richard, Alard and Guiscard, ...

dies in an almost identical manner.Corpus of Middle English Prose and Text
The right plesaunt and goodly historie of the foure sonnes of Aymon, Caxton, 1489 Reinold began his religious life by entering the

Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

monastery of Pantaleon in

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

, where he was appointed head of a building project occurring in the abbey. He often joined the

stonemasons Stonemasonry or stonecraft is the creation of buildings, structures, and sculpture using stone as the primary material. Stonemasonry is the craft of shaping and arranging stones, often together with mortar and even the ancient lime mortar ...

in their work, at times surpassing them. This led to the unsavoury event of his murder at the hands of the same stonemasons he worked with. Reinold was beaten to death with hammers and his body deposited into a pool near the

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

. His body was later found through divine means, leading to the attribution of Reinold as the

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy or Oriental Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, fa ...

of stonemasons. St. Reinold's Church, Dortmund is dedicated to him; he is the patron saint of the city.

Notes

{{Authority control Benedictine monks 10th-century Christian saints Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown