Karl Ludwig Von Pollnitz, baron, a German writer of French memoirs, born near Cologne, Feb. 25, 1692, died in Berlin, June 23, 1775. He was highly educated, and was attached successively to the service of the Prussian kings, the dowager duchess of Orleans, the pope, the duke of Brunswick, the king of Spain, and various petty sovereigns, and finally became grand master of ceremonies under Frederick the Great. In 1744 Frederick gave him a whimsical parting testimonial, but subsequently employed him again in the subaltern office of chamberlain, and made him director of theatres and member of the academy. He changed his religion a number of times. Frederick wrote to Voltaire that " Pollnitz died as he had lived, swindling the very night before his decease;" and Carlyle says that " Frederick was always rather kind to the poor old dog, though bantering him a good deal." He wrote exclusively in French, and acquired celebrity by his Memoires (3 vols., Liege, 1734), Nou-waux memoires (2 vols., Amsterdam, 1737; republished together with the preceding work, 5 vols., London, 1747), and by other records of his experiences at the courts and of his adventures.

His authorship of the anonymous La Saxe galante (1737) is contested.