Jan Francisci

(pen name, Janko Rimavský). Born June 1, 1822, in Hnuštá, Gemer Župa (District); died Mar. 7, 1905, in Turčiansky Svätý Martin. Figure in the Slovak national liberation movement. Writer and journalist; collector of Slovak folklore.

Francisci graduated from the lycée, in Bratislava in 1843. He was an associate of L. Štúr’s and J. Hurban’s. In 1844 he founded a lycée, in Levoča modeled on the one in Bratislava; he pursued a career of private teaching. During the Revolution of 1848, Francisci served as a captain in the National Guard at Prešov. In 1861 he founded the Slovak political journal Pest budinske vedomosti. In 1863, Francisci helped found Matice Slovenská.