RINGWALDT, Bartholomäus. - German poet, born in Frankfurt an der Oder in 1530, Lutheran parish priest of Langenfeld in der Neumark, where he died in 1599.
Among other works, he authored the widely circulated satirical poem *Der treue Eckart*, a vision of Paradise and Hell whose inhabitants, through their confessions, vividly depict the vices of the time; the didactic poem *Die lautere Wahrheit*, which addresses the duties of religious knighthood in contrast to those of the worldly warrior; and the comedy *Speculum mundi*, which sketches a realistic portrayal of the excesses of the nobility. R., who in his satire represents the moral viewpoint of the middle-class Evangelical estate, is a keen and impartial observer and painter of manners: his poetry, richly woven with popular concepts and expressions, possesses not only documentary value for the history of civilization and customs but also considerable artistic merits.