CANITZ, FRIEDRICH RUDOLF LUDWIG, FREIHERR VON (1654-1699), German poet and diplomatist, was born at Berlin on Nov. 27, 16J4. He attended the universities of Leyden and Leipzig, travelled in England, France, Italy and Holland, and was appointed groom of the bedchamber (Kammerjunker) to the elector, Frederick William of Brandenburg, whom he accompanied on his campaigns in Pomerania and Sweden. In 1697 the elector, Frederick III., made him a privy councillor, and the emperor, Leopold I., created him a baron of the empire. He died at Berlin in 1699. Canitz's poems (Nebenstunden unterschiedener Gedichte) are for the most part dry and stilted imitations of French and Latin models.
A complete edition of Canitz's poems was published by U. Konig in 1727; see also L. Fulda, Die Gegner der zweiten schlesischen Schule, ii. (1883).