Jakub Surovec

Jakub Surovec, more commonly known in Poland as Jakub Surowiec (born in 1715 in Tisovec, Kingdom of Hungary; died on 11 October 1740 in Brezno) was a Slovak outlaw, one of the most famous in the country. Along with his group, he engaged in banditry across significant areas of the Central and Inner Western Carpathians. Challenging the feudal system, he gained considerable recognition among the impoverished population. After capturing Surovec, Austrian authorities sentenced him to death. Tales of him made their way into fiction; he is portrayed in a significant number of Polish and Slovak works of art depicting outlaw themes. He is often mistakenly believed to be associated with Juraj Jánošík.

Early life Jakub Surovec was born in Tisovec as the son of a poor shepherd named Ondrej. Already in childhood, he stood out for his developed sense of justice and sensitivity to social inequalities. In his youth, he worked as a shepherd in Tisovec, near Muráň and in Horehronie. He had reddish hair and dark mustache. He was twice caught stealing sheep, resulting in a punishment of two hundred lashes the first time and a year's imprisonment in Rimavská Sobota the second time. or ten)

The group assembled in full around 24 June 1740, in a hut near Valaská, from where, between late June and early July, they set off on a banditry journey, following Poliak's advice and heading towards Orava, the Tatras, and Podhale. They robbed, among other places, the church in Valaská, a dyeing workshop in Slanica, a customs office in Mýtna, as well as numerous travelers on the roads and shepherds. Already in 1862, described how a Goral from Szlachtowa presented him with such a painting along with a story.

Bohuslav Tablic published a poem in Czech in 1809 titled Jakub Surowec Loupežnjk Orawský – it was a translation from an anonymous Slovak manuscript (the manuscript has survived; its creation is dated between the fifth and eighth decades of the 18th century) This poem, consisting of 348 lines, takes the form of an elegiac self-portrait, with the lyrical subject being imprisoned Surovec. It frequently uses a motif of a bandit betrayed by his lover, which is often employed but contradicts the facts. However, there is also a folk song criticizing him for gluttony, and on the (as of 2019), an old small-leaved lime tree still grows, under which – according to legend – the bandit often rested; the nearby mountain hut gladly uses this story for advertising.