Episodes
Root Out Heretics
High in the Pyrenees in the southwest of what is now France, in a time when the Church of Rome proclaims itself the one true religion, heresy has taken hold. The Pope sends the Inquisitors f Heretical Depravity to exterminate the heresy. Unbelievers are hunted down, condemned, and burned- In 1308 the entire village of Montaillou is taken prisoner of the Inquisition. No one is safe – not even the village priest and the chatelaine of its castle.
EPISODE TWO
The Tears of Spain
Spain, 1468. A land where Christians, Muslims and Jews have lived in tolerance. But that time is ending. A young King and Queen bent on immortality proclaim themselves the Catholic Monarchs and start an Inquisition. Jews who had converted to Christianity are accused of secretly sabotaging the Christian faith. They become the pawns in a game with dire consequences. Thousands perish in a ritual called the act of faith. An inquisitor is assassinated, setting off a wave of reprisals. Mothers will die to protect their children, and the highest in the land will pay the ultimate price. It is the beginning of the Spanish empire and a long dark night that will last for centuries.
EPISODE THREE
The War on Ideas
The decadence of a Medici pope in Rome outrages a devout priest in Germany named Martin Luther. In the face of the Prot4stant reformation, a fanatical monk sets out to exterminate the heresy. On his path to power he will create the Roman Inquisition. And he will become the most hated pope in history. Powerful Catholic leaders are arrested and imprisoned, accused of reading Luther´s books. Freethinking students are silenced. Darkness descends on the cfenters of learning and the arts.
EPISODE FOUR
End of Inquisition
The Roman Inquisition leaves a legacy that lasts into the 20th century. Napoleon spreads the ideas of the Enlightenment. He conquers Italy, abolishes the Inquisition. Spain´s greatest painter Goya will depict the Inquisition for the first time – and then run for his life. The kidnapping of a young Jewish boy secretly baptized is a desperate attempt to exert the power of the inquisition. The devoted father fights to get back his son, who becomes a priest.