Born in Vladimiri, Gorj county in a family of peasants, at the age of 12 he was sent to Craiova, at the house of the Glogoveanu boyar, where he would later learn rethorics, grammers and Greek language. He became "logofăt" (administrator) of the boyar's estate and in 1806 he was named "vătaf" (leader of the local militias) at Cloşani.
Wanting to get rid of the phanariotes regime of Romania, he started the revolution in 1821, as leader of an army of pandurs. The programme of the revolution was written in his proclamations: of Padeş and of Bucharest. He was allied with the Greek revolutionary society Philikí Etaireía ("Friendly Brotherhood"), but was eventually assassinated by them.