2000 Years Of Christianity: Episode IV - Cross And Sword

By Martin Papirowski

Following Charlemagne's death, the Carolingian Empire was broken up. The separate regional powers again took over. The useful alliance between pope and emperor was on shaky footing. In 1504, it led to a split in Christianity. This brought about the crusades which became a mass movement and ended in fiasco.

Christianity had become a monopoly religion. Everything that seemed to upset the unity of this religious-political cosmos was regarded as a massive threat to world order and combated with ever tougher measures. This had a disastrous effect on dissidents like the Catharians, Albigensians and Waldensians.

While the pope and emperor fought one round after another in their battle for primacy, Francis of Assisi and Dominic founded new kinds of mendicant and wandering orders, which promised to follow a biblical ideal of poverty.

This series explores the archeology and origins of Christianity and how it came into the world. Filmed on location in actual historical and biblical sites, this series features many memorable, full-scale dramatic re-creations.