Štefan Marko Daxner

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Štefan Marko Daxner (26 December 1822, Tisovec - 11 April 1892, Tisovec) was a Slovak lower nobleman, politician, lawyer, and poet. He was one of the most significant persons in Slovak history of the 19th century. He was a member of the Ľudovít Štúr generation.

He studied at the Lutheran Lyceum (preparatory high school plus freshmen college) of Bratislava and at the College of Prešov. Between 1846-72 he was a lawyer in Tisovec, an official of several counties and an associate judge of the Commercial Court of Debrecen.

In 1847, during the 1848-1849 Revolution in the Kingdom of Hungary, Daxner outlined a program unifying the requests for national (Slovak), cultural, political and social liberties. He was sentenced to death by Hungarian authorities in 1848, but was freed by the Austrian Imperial and Royal Army (which was fighting together with Slovaks against the Hungarians) and became a captain of Slovak volunteer campaigns during the 1848-1849 revolution.

He was a co-author of the Slovak Requests of Liptovský Mikuláš (1848), Requests of the Slovak Nation (1848), Memorandum of the Slovak Nation in 1861, and was one of the founders of the Matica slovenská (Slovak Foundation) in 1863. He was also a founder of the first Slovak Gymnasium in Revúca in 1862.

He is buried at the National Cemetery in Martin.