Strange Landscape

The Fires of Faith (1x2)

: 03, 1995

As medieval society, still haunted by the terrible spectre of the Apocalypse and the day of judgment, struggled to cope with the changes overtaking it, religious dissidents paid a terrible price fortheir non-conformism. Francis of Assisi's belief in a life of poverty led him into conflict with an often extravagant Church, although he was eventually reconciled and established a monastic order underthe auspices of Rome. But other dissidents were not so lucky. The Pope, alarmed at signs of disorder, called for a crackdown against heretics in the south of France. What followed proved to be one of the most brutal episodes in French history.