Matthias Ringmann (1482-1511), humanist, poet, and cartographer, was born in Eichhoffen, Alsace, perhaps in 1482. He studied theology and mathematics at Heidelberg, then ancient Greek, cosmography, and philosophy in Paris. On his return to Alsace in 1503, Ringmann settled in Strasbourg, where he published an edition of Amerigo Vespucci's (1454-1512) letter to Pierfrancesco de' Medici (1487-1525) known as Mundus novus. The work was issued under the title De ora antartica together with a humorous poem of geographic content by Ringmann himself. It attracted the attention of the canon of Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, Vautrin Lud (1448-1527), who invited Ringmann to join the newly established Gymnasium Vosagensis, where the humanist poet took the pseudonym of Philesius Vogesigena. In 1505, Ringmann visited Italy, perhaps stopping in Florence, where he became convinced that Vespucci was the true discoverer of the New World. Ringmann's arguments persuaded the canon of Saint-Dié that Ptolemy's Geography should be updated. For this purpose, the canon set up a work group that also included the cartographer Martin Waldseemüller (ca. 1470-ca. 1520). The joint efforts of Ringmann and Waldseemüller, with contributions from other humanists of the Gymnasium, produced the Cosmographiae introductio of 1507, a cosmographic text accompanied by the letter to Pier Soderini (1452-1522) illustrating Vespucci's four voyages, a small terrestrial globe, and a monumental world map in 12 tables. The text and the large world map carry for the first time the name "America," coined by Ringmann to honor Vespucci for the lands of the New World. The updated edition of Ptolemy's Geography appeared in 1513. It was based on a comparison between the earlier Rome and Ulm editions and a Greek manuscript borrowed from Italy, Codex Vaticanus Graecorum 191. By the time the Ptolemy volume was printed, however, Ringmann had been dead for two years. Aged only 29, the humanist poet died at Sélestat, in Alsace, on August 1, 1511.