Political figure, Author. Jan Francisci received notoriety as a Slovak author during the 19th century. He was a close supporter of the Stur group, who supported a strong Slovak culture. Born Jan Samuel Francisci-Rimavsky, the son of a tailor, he studied religion at the "Evangelical Lyceum" from 1834 to 1839. While there, he met Lodovit Stur, a leader of the 19th century Slovak National Revival and the author of the nation's language standard. He passed the final exams in theology and continued his studies at the Law College in Presov, graduating in 1843. He held a post for a short time as deputy professor at the Lyceum and an aide to a member of the County Council. Wanting Slovak to become a democracy of its own, there was the 1848 Slovak Uprising, which failed and according to historians," refused to even acknowledge Slovak existence." The aims of the Slovak were to have permanent abolishment of serfdom and equalize the commoner with nobility. The conflict lasted from September of 1848 to November of 1849. Since he was an officer in the local militia, he was sent to prison for a time. After this ordeal, he continued to be active with the county council and publishing from 1861 to 1863 a bi-weekly political newspaper, the "Pestbud Knowledge." In 1863 he became vice-chairman of the Matica slovenská, the Slavic cultural institution in the city of Martin. From 1864 to 1867 he was the county administrator of Lipto County, but resigned in protest at the merge of the monarchies forming under the Austro-Hungarian Compromise. His culture would be buried deep into this merge. At this point, he left politics and was a leader in the school system until 1874 when he retired. After his retirement, he became a full-time author. The United States Library of Congress has letters that he wrote and two collections of poetry that were translated to English, "Sparks from Embers" and "Slovak Legends." Two of his books can be found at the National Library of Austria. All others have been lost in time and wars. His grave marker has the name of "Jan Francisci" causing some confusion as a 18th composer has that name. . He used numerous pseudonyms, including Janko Francisci, Janko Rimavsky, Slavoub and Vratislav Rimavsky. In 1988 a high school was named in his honor. A painting of him in uniform during the Slovak Uprising is on display at the Slovak National Museum.