Johann Sommer or in Latin Ioannes Sommerus (Pirna

Pirna

Pirna is a town in the Free State of Saxony, Germany, capital of the administrative district Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge. The town's population is over 40,000. Pirna is located near Dresden and is an important district town as well as a Große Kreisstadt...

 1542–Cluj

Cluj-Napoca

Cluj-Napoca , commonly known as Cluj, is the fourth most populous city in Romania and the seat of Cluj County in the northwestern part of the country. Geographically, it is roughly equidistant from Bucharest , Budapest and Belgrade...

 1574) was a Transylvanian Saxon Protestant theologian, poet and Despot Vodă

Ioan Iacob Heraclid

Ioan Iacob Heraclid , also known as Jacob Heraclides, was a Greek soldier and ruler of Moldavia from November 1561 to November 1563, most notable for being the first officially Protestant monarch in Eastern Europe....

's biographer.

In 1562 he enrolled at University of Frankfurt, but did not graduate. Born in Pirna

Pirna

Pirna is a town in the Free State of Saxony, Germany, capital of the administrative district Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge. The town's population is over 40,000. Pirna is located near Dresden and is an important district town as well as a Große Kreisstadt...

, Sommerus came to Moldavia

Moldavia

Moldavia is a geographic and historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester river...

 as secretary to the reforming prince Jacob Heraclides (despot Vodă), becoming the main figure in the short-lived College

College

A college is an educational institution or a constituent part of an educational institution. Usage varies in English-speaking nations...

 of Cotnari

Cotnari

Cotnari is a village and the center of the eponymous commune in Iaşi County, Romania, in the informal region of Moldova. It is located north-west of Iaşi and south of Hârlău, in a major wine-producing region of Romania, and is famous for the wine variety known as Grasă de Cotnari...

 (1562–1563). After the Prince's death in 1563 Sommer and his other supporters had to flee. Sommer moved to Transylvania

Transylvania

Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...

 and led a similar school in Braşov

Brasov

Brașov is a city in Romania and the capital of Brașov County.According to the last Romanian census, from 2002, there were 284,596 people living within the city of Brașov, making it the 8th most populated city in Romania....

 (the one founded by Johannes Honter

Johannes Honter

Johannes Honter was a Transylvanian Saxon, renaissance humanist and theologian...

, the Honterus-Gymnasium in Kronstadt

Kronstadt

Kronstadt , also spelled Kronshtadt, Cronstadt |crown]]" and Stadt for "city"); is a municipal town in Kronshtadtsky District of the federal city of St. Petersburg, Russia, located on Kotlin Island, west of Saint Petersburg proper near the head of the Gulf of Finland. Population: It is also...

), from 1565 to 1567. While he was rector there he wrote the epic Reges Hungarici.

He moved on to the John Sigismund Unitarian Academy

John Sigismund Unitarian Academy

The John Sigismund Unitarian Academy, located in Kolozsvár , was a theological school founded in 1557 by the Unitarian Diocese of Transylvania.-Foundation:...

, Kolosvar

Cluj-Napoca

Cluj-Napoca , commonly known as Cluj, is the fourth most populous city in Romania and the seat of Cluj County in the northwestern part of the country. Geographically, it is roughly equidistant from Bucharest , Budapest and Belgrade...

 (1570–1574), where he married the daughter of Ferenc Dávid

Ferenc Dávid

Ferenc Dávid was a Transylvanian Nontrinitarian and Unitarian preacher, the founder of the Unitarian Church of Transylvania.-Life:Born in Kolozsvár to a Hungarian family, he studied in Wittenberg and Frankfurt...

.

Works

• Arbor Illustristissimae Heraclidarum familiae, quae ad Dasorina Basilica ac Despotica vocatur, justificata, comprobata, monumentisque et insignibus abaucta ab invictissimo Carolo V. Rom. Imp. et ab Imperiali consistorio. Anno 1555. (Brassó).
• Elegia In Nvptias Clarissimi Viri D. Petri Bogneri Coron: LL. Doctoris, & pudicissimae virginis Annae filiae D. Ioachimi Koch, Consulis Mediensis Quarum solennitas erit die 20. Februarij Anno 1569… Albae-Ivliae.
• Oratio Funebris, In mortem Illustrissimi Et Regiis Virtutibus Ornatissimi, vera etiam pietate excellentis Principis ac Domini D. Ioannis Secundi Electi Regis Hungariae & C. Qui natus est Anno Domini 1540. Diem vero suum sancte obijt 1571. Mart. 14. … Clandiogoli 1571.
• Reges Hungarici. Et Clades Moldavica: Cujus Etiam Hortulus Amoris Cum Colica in formam Dramatis scripta, ad finem adjectus est. Omnia studio & opera Stephani Helneri, Senatoris Bistricensis, in Transylvania, collecta & in lucem edita. Witebergae, M.D.LXXX. (Költemények. 1573-ból. Újra lenyomtatva. Paraeus, Joh. Phil., Deliciae Poetarum Hungaricorum Francofurti, 1619. 355-404. 1.)
• Refutatio scripti Petri Carolini, editi Witebergae, Scripta a Joh. Sommero … Ingolstadi, 1582.
• Tractatus aliquot Christianae Religionis … U. ott, 1582.
• Vita Jacobi despotae Moldavorum Reguli … edita sumptibus Ill. & Gen. Dn. Emerici Forgách … Adjectae sunt ejusdem autoris de Clade Moldavica, Elegia XV. quibus etiam historia Despotica continetur. Una cum explicatione quorundam locorum in hoc Sommero Scripto, & Commentatiuncula brevis de Walachia & rebus Walachicis Petri Albini… U. ott, 1587.