Średniowieczne klasztory żeńskie w polskiej prozie historycznej po 2000 roku (na wybranych przykładach)

Medieval female convents in a Polish historical novel after 2000 (on selected examples) The aim of this paper was to present the folded and dubious face of the female monastic life in the Middle Ages current in selected Polish historical novels published after 2000 – such as Gra w kości and cycle “Odrodzone królestwo” (Korona śniegu i krwi, Niewidzialna korona, Płomienna korona) by Elżbieta Cherezińska, Słowo i miecz by Witold Jabłoński and second tome of “Hussite trilogy”, Boży bojownicy, by Andrzej Sapkowski. They are included in a current named historical fantasy, combining features of the historical and fantasy prose. In the first part of the article described literary relations between female convents and the politics which Cherezińska is fixing her attention – in her novel we find references to relationships of convents with ruling families and the political role of nuns. The second part concentrates on — underlined particularly by Sapkowski — connections nuns with medieval heresies. In his vision the monastery is becoming a counterpart of the university, a place of the secular learning intended only for women. In part third explicitly a negative image of the medieval convention will be an object of analysis in the novel of Jabłoński – he creates the monastery as a place which wasn't an intellectual asylum for women. The writer described female convent only as the prison or a penal institution. A care of authors of selected novels is reconstructing the reality of the age and the creation of the rich social and cultural background. Above all a social-cultural, visible context is important for selected writers among others in connecting monasteries with the lordship, the politics and with medieval heretical movements. In analysed novels the monastery is losing sacred character, however gains a new, less known until now secular faces. The images of monasteries, created by Cherezińska, Jabłoński and Sapkowski are paying attention on their creating culture and political importance and the connections between nuns –familiar and intellectual