Jakub Surovec

They robbed, among other places, the church in Valaská, a dyeing workshop in Slanica [pl], a customs office in Mýtna, as well as numerous travelers on the roads and shepherds.

[4][5][6][8] The group's range of activity was exceptionally wide: from Horehronie (the forests between Brezno and Tisovec served as the main base) through Gemer and Novohrad [pl] to Liptov, Orava, and the Tatras, all the way to Nowy Targ.

[5][6] The members of the group mostly came from the poorest layers of society, which is why the fact that Surovec undertook to provide his subordinates with free clothing played a significant role in recruiting them.

[2] Surovec focused on attacks on the nobility and wealthy merchants, trying to maintain friendly relations with the rural population, which made it much easier for the group to disperse and escape pursuit; sometimes he is attributed the intention of inciting an anti-feudal uprising.

Surovec's execution took place near Brezno, on a hill called Viselnice, by breaking wheel from above on October 11[2][3] (some sources mention beheading[1] and other dates, such as September 20,[1] November 10 or 11).

[1] There is a tradition that after the execution (and shortly before her coronation as Queen of Hungary), Maria Theresa visited the parents of the deceased to offer condolences and listen to stories about him.

[5] Legend made him a companion of Juraj Jánošík, which is impossible for chronological reasons (Surovec was born two years after the execution of the most famous Carpathian bandit).

Out of 459 glass paintings preserved in the collections of the Tatra Museum, only thirteen have secular themes, but nine of them repeat the motif called "the reception of Surowiec".

[10] Today, the name of Jakub Surovec was given to an educational trail in the Muránska planina National Park,[13] and on the Zbojská pass [pl] (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.