"In the late 12th century `Cathars" started preaching an alternative form of Christianity to that of Roman Catholicism, in the French region of Languedoc. Empowering abstinence and poverty, they called themselves Good Men, and believed that the world was an alien environment for man"s soul. The Roman Catholic Church tried unsuccessfully to persuade them they were wrong. Then came the Inquisition, followed by the Albigensian Crusade which crushed the rebels with a military campaign. The `heretics" were burned at the stake by the hundreds, and again Gnosticism was supressed. Brian Blessed plays a Cathar Bishop, and Ian Brooker plays a Spanish Monk, in an attempt to recreate a theological dispute in France, 1206."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8iuWixkFXw