Ludwig Helmbold
Born	21 January 1532 Mühlhausen
Died	8 April 1598(1598-04-08) (aged 66)
Occupations	Poet Philosopher Ecclesiastical minister
Known for	Lutheran hymns

Ludwig Helmbold, also spelled Ludwig Heimbold, (21 January 1532 – 8 April 1598) was a poet of Lutheran hymns.^[1] He is probably best known for his hymn "Nun laßt uns Gott dem Herren", of which J. S. Bach used the fifth stanza for his cantata O heilges Geist- und Wasserbad, BWV 165; Bach also used his words in BWV 73, 79 and 186a.

Helmbold was born in Mühlhausen. He became a professor of Philosophy an der Erfurt University in 1554. In 1571 he was appointed a minister at the Marienkirche in Mühlhausen, later as Superintendent.^[2]

Helmbold was crowned poeta laureatus by Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor, in 1566 on the Reichstag at Augsburg.^[2]

The Mühlhausen cantors Joachim a Burck and Johannes Eccard set many of Helmbold's more than hundred hymns to music. Some of his works were used by Johann Sebastian Bach in his cantatas, such as

• Herr, wie du willt, so schicks mit mir, BWV 73
• Gott der Herr ist Sonn und Schild, BWV 79
• Ärgre dich, o Seele, nicht, BWV 186a
• O heilges Geist- und Wasserbad, BWV 165.

A few of his hymns are still included in the German Protestant hymnal Evangelisches Gesangbuch (EG):

• EG 320: "Nun lasst uns Gott, dem Herren"
• EG 365: "Von Gott will ich nicht lassen" (Also in Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary, #465)
• EG (Nordelbien) 558: "Amen, Gott Vater und Sohne"

In 1998, a street named Helmboldstraße, next to Bonatstraße, was named after him in Mühlhausen.

• Waldtraut-Ingeborg Sauer-Geppert (1969), "Helmbold, Ludwig", Neue Deutsche Biographie (in German), vol. 8, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 492–493; (full text online)
• Heinrich Julius Kämmel (1880), "Helmbold, Ludwig", Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (in German), vol. 11, Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 701–702
• Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz (1990). "Helmbold, Ludwig". In Bautz, Friedrich Wilhelm (ed.). Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL) (in German). Vol. 2. Hamm: Bautz. cols. 705–706. ISBN 3-88309-032-8.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ludwig Helmbold.

• Literature by and about Ludwig Helmbold in the German National Library catalogue
• Entries for Ludwig Helmbold on WorldCat