Ringoraldt, Bartholomew

Ringoraldt, Bartholomew, a German hymnologist, born at Frankfort-on-the-Oder in 1530, was preacher at Langenberg, in Neumark; but his principal fame was achieved as a writer of spiritual hymns, some of which are still in common use (e.g. Es ist gewisslich an der Zeit). His writings other than hymns are nearly all lost from sight. He believed that the end of the world was near, and had even calculated its date to fall in the year 1684; and his first book, Die lautere Wahrheit (1585), expresses his yearning for the eternal world and warns against the condemnation of hell; while his second book, Christliche Warnung des treuen Eckert (Frankfort-on-the-Oder, 1588), serves as a guide to the mysteries of heaven and hell, which places Eckert traverses in a trance. See Koch, Geschichte des deutschen Kirchenliedes, 2d ed. 1, 156 sq.; Langbecker, Das deutsch-evang. Kirchenlied (1830), p. 201 sq.; Virkel, Ehrengedachtniss evangel. Glaubenshelden u. Sanger (1830), 2, 98; Wendebourg, B. Ringoraldt's geistliche Lieder, etc.