one of a group of German court poets who prepared the way for the new ideas of the Enlightenment.

Canitz studied at Leyden and Leipzig and traveled in Italy, France, and England before accepting administrative appointments at the court of Frederick William of Brandenburg (the Great Elector). Canitz was made a privy councillor by Brandenburg elector Frederick III in 1697, and the Holy Roman emperor Leopold I created him a baron.

Though his satires (Nebenstunden unterschiedener Gedichte, published posthumously in 1700) are dry and stilted imitations of French and Latin models, they were widely admired and helped to introduce Classical standards of taste and style into German literature.