RINGWALDT, BARTHOLOMÄUS. - German poet, b. at Frankfurt on the Oder in 1530, Lutheran pastor at Langenfeld in der Neumark, where he d. in 1599.
Among other works, he was the author of the widely circulated satirical poem Der treue Echart, a vision of Paradise and Hell whose inhabitants, through their confessions, provide a vivid picture of the vices of that time; of the didactic poem Die lautere Wahrheit, which deals with the duties of religious chivalry in comparison with those of the worldly warrior; and of the comedy Speculum mundi, which sketches a realistic description of the excesses of the nobility. R., who in his satire represents the moral standpoint of the evangelical middle class, is an acute and impartial observer and painter of manners: his poetry, richly interwoven with popular ideas and expressions, possesses, besides documentary value for the history of civilization and customs, not inconsiderable artistic merits.