Although Heinrich Wittenwiler's didactic verse narrative Der Ring (The Ring, circa 1410) has been preserved in only one known manuscript, it is considered one of the most important literary texts of late-medieval German literature. One cannot say how popular it was in its time or even whether it reached an audience beyond the scribe and reader of the only manuscript. It is certain, however, that a highly satiric, if not sarcastic, view of the world comes to the fore in Wittenwiler's encyclopedic masterpiece, which is replete with references to medical, military, and scientific treatises from antiquity and the Middle Ages. Whereas the text seems to present nothing but a peasant satire, it is really intended as an allegory of the late-medieval world in all its ugliness and stupidity. Der Ring has many similarities to medieval encyclopedic works such as the anonymous Lucidarius (circa 1190); Der Renner (The Runner, 1300), by Hugo...