„Nie chcę, aby płodzili oni synów i córki” – średniowieczny dualizm a prokreacja
“I do not want them to beget sons and daughters” – medieval dualism and procreation

Summary/Abstract: The text discusses the phenomenon of abstaining from having progeny in the Middle Ages in the broader context of the attitudes of that time towards procreation. It points to the overwhelming dominance of pronatalist attitudes in society, which are supported by the Catholic Church. It also points out that the choice to abstain from having children almost never constituted a value in itself, but was mostly either forced upon people by external factors, or was a manifestation of practicing the virtue of chastity. Presented are a spectrum of views of adherents to dualistic religious, esp. the Cathars, whose rejection of procreation was a spontaneous and ideologically conditioned value.

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