Samuil Micu-Klein

Samuil Micu-Klein (September 1745 – 13 May 1806) was a Romanian Greek-Catholic theologian, historian, philologist and philosopher, a member of the Enlightenment-era movement of Transylvanian School (Şcoala Ardeleană). He is the author of Elementa linguae daco-romanae sive valachicae, a book which is the reference point for the start of Modern Romanian language period.

Biography

Born as Maniu Micu in the Transylvanian village of Sadu, in the Principality of Transylvania (now in Sibiu County, Romania), he was the son of a Greek-Catholic protopope and the nephew of bishop Inocenţiu Micu-Klein.

He began to study at the Seminary of Blaj and he joined the Order of Saint Basil in 1762, taking the religious name Samoil. Micu received a scholarship in 1762 and began studying at the Catholic Pázmáneum University of Vienna. There is little known about his life in Vienna, but it is known he was attracted to science, studying experimental physics, mechanics and mathematics, in addition to theology and philosophy.

He came in conflict with Ioan Bob, voting against his appointment as bishop. The resentment between the two man materialized in Bob's censorship against Micu-Klein's writings and the refused request made by Micu-Klein to dissolve his monastic vow. Even so, he managed to print in 1800 Istoria și lucrurile și întâmplările românilor - his main history book - in which he promoted the idea of Dacian extermination and that Romanians are solely descending from Romans settled in Dacia. He participated in the regional cultural life, meeting with Johann Christian von Engel and Ioan Piariu-Molnar, among others.

Klein moved to Buda in 1804 to become the editor at the University of Buda press for the Romanian-language books, hoping that this would allow him to publish his historical works, a project which did not materialise because of his death just two years later.