Wilhelm Haring, better known under his nom de plume Wilibald Alexis, a German novelist, born in Breslau, June 23, 1797, died at Arnstadt, Dec. 16, 1871. He served in the army as a volunteer, and studied jurisprudence. Having gained reputation by historical novels, he became especially known by writing a romance entitled Walladmor, in compliance with a wager to produce an imitation of Walter Scott's works. De Quincey undertook to translate this romance into English, but his version, though published with the title of "Walladmor" (London, 1824), was so much modified as to be nearly an original work. He wrote several books of travel, and was engaged in various branches of literature, but most successfully as a writer of historical novels. The best of them are: Schloss Avalon (Leipsic, 1827); Cabanis (6 vols., Berlin, 1832), containing a military song which was set to music and became very popular; Der Roland von Berlin (3 vols., Leipsic, 1840); Der falsche Waldemar (3 vols., Berlin, 1842); Die Hosen des Herrn von Bredow (2 vols., 1846-'8); Ruhe ist die erste Burgerpflicht (5 vols., 1852); Ise-grimm (1854); and Dorothee (1856). A complete edition of his works was published in Berlin in 1861-'6, in 18 vols.

In concert with Hitzig he prepared 28 of the 36 volumes of Der neue Pitaval (Leipsic, 1842-'65), a collection of historical sketches of criminal cases (new series by Vollert, 7 vols., 1866-72).