Ján Botto

Born into a family of farmers, he began to attend Latin Gymnasium at Ožďany and from 1843 the Evangelical lyceum at Levoča, where he wrote his first literary works.

From 1853 he had been engaged as a land surveyor in different towns throughout Slovakia, Zvolen, Martin and Banská Štiavnica.

Together with Samo Chalupka, Andrej Sládkovič and Janko Kráľ he is one of the most important poets of Slovak romanticism.

Poems written by Ján Botto often took inspiration from common Slovak legends and folk tales.

An example of which is the poem "Čachtická Pani" (Slovak: Lady of Čachtice) which recounts the bloody story of the Hungarian countess Elizabeth Báthory.