Bartholomäus Ringwaldt

RINGWALDT, Bartholomäus. b. Frankfurt-an-der-Oder, ca. 1530/1532; d. Langenfeld, 9 May 1599. The details of his early life are unknown until his matriculation as a student of theology at Frankfurt/Oder in 1543. He became a pastor in 1556, and in 1559 he was a pastor at Pieske (Polish Pieski), before becoming pastor at Langenfeld (or Langfeld), Neumark (near Sonnenburg, Brandenburg). He was a strong Lutheran presence at a time of division and disintegration in church and state, and a dependable figure in times when the area was threatened by plague and famine. Catherine Winkworth* described him as ‘a man of cheerful, courageous, genial spirit’ (Winkworth, 1869, p. 149). He died at...