Münchhausen, Karl Friedrich Hieronymus, Freiherr (Baron) von Münchhausen (1720–1797)

German soldier. He served with the Russian army against the Turks, and after his retirement in 1760 told exaggerated stories of his adventures. This idiosyncrasy was utilized by the German writer Rudolph Erich Raspe (1737–1794) in his extravagantly fictitious Baron Munchausen's Narrative of his Marvellous Travels and Campaigns in Russia (1785), which he wrote in English while living in London. The book was subsequently enlarged by the insertion of stories culled from various sources.

The emotional disorder known as Münchhausen's syndrome is named after him.