Introduction

Biography

Friedrich was the son of Lud­wig von Can­itz, pri­vy and le­gal coun­sel­or in Ber­lin.

He stu­died at the Uni­ver­si­ties of Ley­den and Leip­zig.

From 1675–77, he toured It­aly, France, Eng­land and the Ne­ther­lands. In 1677, he was chosen as Gent­le­man of the Bed­cham­ber by the Elect­or Fried­rich Wil­helm, and ac­com­pa­nied him in his cam­paigns in Po­mer­an­ia and else­where.

In 1680, he was ap­point­ed chief ma­gis­trate of the dis­trict of Zoss­en and Treb­bin, in the Mit­tel­mark, and in 1681 coun­sel­or of the Court and Le­ga­tion.

After a suc­cess­ful em­bas­sy to Frank­furt in 1682, he was ap­point­ed in 1683 chief ma­gis­trate of Mühl­en­hoff and Mühl­en­beck. He exe­cut­ed ma­ny im­port­ant mis­sions un­der Fried­rich III, was a pri­vy coun­sel­or, and in 1698 was made a bar­on by Em­per­or Leo­pold I.

Works

His hymns were first pub­lished post­hu­mous­ly, without his name. They were ed­it­ed by Dr. Joachim Lange, Rector of the Berlin Gymnasium, as Nebenstunden unterschiedener Gedichte (Berlin: 1700).