History Literature / HussiteTrilogy

The novels are written primarily as historical adventure novels, but in each installment, there's an ever-present element of the realistic late-medieval world of the series getting intertwined with ancient and mysterious supernatural forces beyond the average person's comprehension. Part of the fun comes from seeing how the worldly and mundane interacts with the mystical and fantastical, and how they influence each other where one would least expect it.

NeedsWikiMagicLove.

* NarratorAllAlong: By the end of the third novel, we get final proof that the series' snarky omniscient narrator is none other than [[spoiler:Szarlej himself, reminescenting about his past adventures with Reinmar and Samson. Fitting.]]

The series is set during the 1420s and early 1430s primarily in Polish Silesia and the Czech lands, during the upheavals of the Hussite Wars (hence the nickname for the series).

* WarIsHell: Late-medieval warfare is heavily deromanticised throughout the series. Combat is unglamorous to begin with and becoming increasingly unchivalrous, pragmatism trumps honour, flashiness and often even basic human decency. The destruction and upheavals caused by war are horrible and dehumanising, even if officially carried out in the name of high-minded ideals (on either or whichever side). Many characters are changed by war drastically and [[Literature/StrangerInAStrangeLand have to struggle with readjusting to a calmer life]].

* WarIsHell: Late-medieval warfare is heavily deromanticised throughout the series. Combat is unglamorous to begin with and becoming increasingly unchivalrous, pragmatism trumps honour, flashiness and often even basic human decency. The destruction and upheavals caused by war are horrible and dehumanising, even if officially carried out in the name of high-minded ideals (on either or whichever side). Many characters are changed by war drastically and [[StrangerInAStrangeLand have to struggle with readjusting to a calmer life]].

* FantasyGunControl: Completely and ''brutally'' averted. Sapkowski is all too conscious about showing how the advent of early artillery and portable hand-held guns led to changes in late-medieval warfare. The characters mostly use melee weapons and crossbows, but they're keen on firing off a gun in self-defence or combat if the need arises. The spread of gunpowder weaponry in warfare is all the more TruthInTelevision when you realise the Hussite Wars were one of the main catalysts for this during the late-medieval history of central European nations.

* EstablishingSeriesMoment: Some of the sentences included in the first few paragraphs of the first novel's prologue include "[[TheWorldIsAlwaysDoomed The end of the world did not come in AD 1420, as prophesied.]] [[MoodWhiplash But there was still enough merry stuff happening anyway.]]". The text that follows lives up to that grim-but-amusing promise.

* HistoricalDomainCharacter: ''And how...''. In addition to plenty of fictional characters, the novels in the series include appearances by a slew of actual noblemen, church people, scholars, war leaders, famous traders and townsmen from period Silesia, Poland and the Czech lands. In the prologues of each novel and some of the character dialogues, other famous contemporary figures from elsewhere in Europe are also namedropped.

* HistoricalFantasy: Firmly in place. The trilogy is more akin to historic adventure novels, with supernatural and fantasy elements regularly interfering from behind the scenes, rather than straight-up fantasy. Sapkowski deliberately tried to go a different route than the DeconstructorFleet SwordAndSorcery path he tread previously in ''Literature/TheWitcher'' series, and while his writing style and the themes he covers are similar, he wanted to avoid a retread of Geralt and related characters.

* HistoricalFantasy: Firmly in place. The trilogy is more akin to historic adventure novels, with supernatural and fantasy elements regularly interfering from behind the scenes, rather than straight-up fantasy. Sapkowski deliberately tried to go a different route than the GenreSavvy and DeconstructorFleet SwordAndSorcery path he tread previously in ''Literature/TheWitcher'' series, and while his writing style and the themes he covers are similar, he wanted to avoid a retread of Geralt and related characters.

* EstablishingSeriesMoment: The ''opening line'' of the first novel can be translated as "[[TheWorldIsAlwaysDoomed The end of the world did not come in AD 1420, as prophesied.]] [[MoodWhiplash But there was still enough merry stuff happening anyway.]]". The text that follows lives up to that grim-but-amusing promise.

* FanNickname: Because the trilogy doesn't have a single author-approved official title, several popular names for it have been floating around since first publication. "The Hussite Trilogy" is by far the most popular of these, at least among central European readers. "The Narrenturm Trilogy", in reference to the name of the first novel, also shows up from time to time.

* NoExportForYou: The trilogy has been translated into German, Spanish, French, Czech, Slovak, Ukrainian, Russian... but even in 2015, there's no English translation in sight. The fully-cast audiobook adaptation of the series also exists only in Polish. Good luck waiting for an English translation (though with ''Literature/TheWitcher'' series getting the translation treatment, the trilogy might get one too, someday...).

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: Despite this beig a historical fantasy series where folk magic, alchemic experiments and other supernatural elements pop up frequently, there are a few events and occurences the true nature of which is left to the reader's own imagination.

* WarIsHell: Late-medieval warfare is heavily deromanticised throughout the series. The destruction and upheavals caused by war are horrible and dehumanising, even if officially carried out in the name of high-minded ideals (on either or whichever side). Many characters are changed by war drastically and [[StrangerInAStrangeLand have to struggle with readjusting to a calmer life]].

* TookALevelInBadass: Part of Reinmar's character development. Sometimes played for horror though, to show his previous grip on his own ethics slipping away due to war-weariness or a lust for vengeance.
* WarIsHell: Late-medieval warfare is heavily deromanticised throughout the series.

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Sapkowski doesn't flinch from depicting the fact that some of the attitudes and opinions of early 15th century society would seem weird at best, and horrifying at worst to a modern day person. On the other hand, he also frequently shows that medieval people were not some constantly infighting, universally bigoted morons, and had greatness, knowledge, skill, artistry and compassion in them just as much as various vices, prejudices and superstitions.

* ''Literature/WarriorsOfGod'' (Boży Bojownicy, 2004)

* ''Literature/{{Narrenturm}}''
* ''Literature/WarriorsOfGod''
* ''Literature/LuxPerpetua''

* FanNickname: Because the trilogy doesn't have a single author-approved official title, several popular names for it have been flowing around since first publication. "The Hussite Trilogy" is by far the most popular of these, at least among central European readers. "The Narrenturm Trilogy", in reference to the name of the first novel, also shows up from time to time.

The primary trio of protagonists consists of Reinmar of Bielawa (aka Reynevan), a former student of medicine at the University of Prague and naive would-be sorcerer and ladies' man, Szarlej, a roguish and persistently snarky adventurer with a possible criminal past that Reinmar is forced to befriend, and Samson Miodek ("Meady"), a hulking GentleGiant village idiot who becomes the epitome of ObfuscatingStupidity after a mysterious event triggered by a chance encounter with Reinmar and Szarlej grants him and eloquent and studied genius intellect.

* NoExportForYou: The trilogy has been translated into German, Spanish, French, Czech,
Slovak, Ukrainian, Russian... but even in 2015, there's no English translation in sight. The fully-cast audiobook adaptation of the series also exists only in Polish. Good luck waiting for an English translation (though with ''Literature/TheWitcher'' series getting the translation treatment, the trilogy might get one too, someday...).

The three installments in the series are:

"The Hussite Trilogy is the informal name for a trilogy of {{historical fantasy}} novels written by Polish writer Creator/AndrzejSapkowski, first published in 2002, 2004 and 2006 in Polish by [=SuperNowa=].

The novels are written primarily as historical adventure novels, but in each installment, there's an ever-present





As befits a work of {{historical fantasy}}, part of the fun comes from witnessing how a realistic late-medieval world and its mundane matters get intertwined with ancient and mysterious forces beyond the average person's comprehension.

The three installments are:
Literature/''Narrenturm'' focuses on the increasingly convoluted and improbable personal adventures of young surgeon, apothecarist and wannabe-wizard and ladies' man, Reinmar of Bielawa, aka Reynevan. All of this with the bubbling cauldron of the ongoing Hussite Wars in the neighbouring Czech lands as a backdrop.

The two sequels are ''Literature/WarriorsOfGod'' and ''Literature/LuxPerpetua''.