Henri-Maximilien and Zenon have chosen different paths to explore the world.
One has chosen the path of military glory, the other the path of truth.
Thirty years later, Zenon Ligre, wanted for his dissident writings, returns home...
...under a false name, to Flanders, now occupied by the Spaniards, and devastated by wars of religion...
...and by the Inquisition.
You still want to become a captain, and to fight in Italy?
In 10 years, I'll be as famous as Caesar or Alexander.
Or you'll be dead!
Benedictus, Zenon, pray for me at Compostella.
Farewell, cousin captain.
Farewell, cousin pilgrim. May God preserve you.
Your papers?
Jean-Louis de Berlaimont, Prior of Cordeliers at Bruges.
- All in order. - What's going on?
We're looking for a couple of peasants who took off into the woods with their son.
But don't worry, it won't take long.
The father and the son are to hang, the woman will be buried alive.
A woman with her skirt flapping in the wind, that's indecent.
Isn't that so, Monsieur le Prior? Especially for the children.
Is this gentleman travelling with you?
Sebastien Theus, Strasbourg. Very well.
- Are you travelling to Bruges, Monsieur? - Yes. Is it much further?
No, you should be there by evening.
You, stay there!
- Let him be, he's a doctor. - Very well.
Where is my son?
Yes, yes...yes, yes...
Give me a little of that oil.
Well? Can I interrogate her?
Not a chance, she's too far gone.
Well, come on, don't just stand there like dummies! Don't you have arms?
Get going, search the wood! Hurry! Track them down!
The Lord be praised that that poor creature no longer suffers.
She could have held out for a few more hours.
But for what purpose?
To relieve the body of its suffering, only to deliver it to the executioner.
We live in stupid, cruel times, Monsieur Theus.
Bruges, Monsieur Prior.
You have returned to Bruges, Monsieur Prior?
And who is this gentlemen?
His name is Monsieur Theus, a doctor of medicine. His luggage is with mine.
Very well. Go on.
Here are your books. There's no danger now.
I don't know how to thank you.
Sure you won't get lost?
Thank you, Monsieur Prior, they explained it all in detail.
I hope you will find time to visit the convent, Monsieur Theus...
...we can always use good doctors.
- Goodbye Monsieur Prior, and thank you again. - May the good Lord protect you and watch over you.
- Hey! - Hey! - Hey!
Monsieur Myers is expecting me, I think.
Welcome.
- Zénon! - Ah, no! No!
Don't use that name, now I'm called Sebastien Theus.
That other, Zenon, is sought in France, from Paris to Lyons...
...as the author of certain ideas, of certain writings...
...which have moreover been been burned by the Spanish authorities.
Well, now my name is Sebastian Theus.
Attention, your surgeon barber...
...has need of a good doctor, Zenon.
- No, no... - I mean, dear Sebastian!
- Catherine? - Thank you.
This evening we're going to feast. - Yes! And we'll deny ourselves nothing. - Nothing!
Catherine...
Tell me, in Padua, or at Montpellier, where you practiced....
...has anyone discovered a cure for gout?
To tell the truth, it's becoming so insupportable...
...that I can't even visit my patients.
No-one really knows exactly why those swellings come about...
Beer is not so good for them, as for wine...
But after an attack you can take as much as you like...
...provided it's good wine, and not too old.
Always the companion of the fire, Zenon.
Sebastian.
Did you find the secret you were looking for, in Spain? - No.
Not long after my arrival in Lyon...
...Don Blas de Vela was asassinated in the abbey by his own followers.
Because his old head was full of imaginings which could have led to heresy.
Poor Don Blas de Vela. I could neither follow him, nor defend him.
He left this earth in my absence.
I began to go through his correspondence concerning metals.
Fire imbues matter with its own heat.
From the ashy dawn to the sunfire of the gold, is but one step.
You'll be burned yourself if you talk like that, my dear Jean. You must be tipsy.
There's a time to talk, and a time to be silent.
And a time to sleep.
Is everything all right? Not too hot?
ZENON LIGRE "Treatise on the Physical World"
ZENON LIGRE "Prediction of Things to Come"
One can easily lose oneself in the alleys and by-ways.
Split a red cabbage in two, and you have a map of Bruges.
No, only old people remain here now.
The young people all left, before the Spaniards arrived...
...gone to join the rebels in Zeland.
Yes, the new faith has its attractions...
...especially when there are military detachments marching in the streets.
How old were you when your mother placed you with Canon Campanus...
...so as to instruct you in Latin?
Do you remember my mother clearly?
She was so beautiful, and so fragile, your mother.
She had such a beautiful name: Hilzonde.
Mother?
What are you doing there?
- You haven't left? - No, not yet. In a little while.
You're alone? - Yes.
And my father?
Zenon. Stop staring at that.
How is your sister? Your sister?
Marta... -Good.
I saw her once in Cologne.
She is a grand lady now.
Tell her that I think about her?
I learned only much later that my mother had died at the stake in Munster.
And that she had had a daughter with Simon Adriansen...Martha...
...who had escaped the massacre...
...and whom I never would have seen...
...if I hadn't been stationed in Cologne during the Great Plague.
My half sister, Martha.
Martha!
- I can do nothing for your sister. - She's not my sister.
My name is Martha Adriansen. I am...
I'm her cousin. - Adriansen?
I beg you, don't let me go without a good purpose.
No, don't be afraid.
I see that you have married Philibert.
She's delirious.
Breathe. Breathe deeply.
You must give her one of these every half hour.
I know of an Adriansen. Simon Adriansen.
His wife was called Hilzonde.
He was my father, he died at Munster when it was occupied.
MARTHA!
Stay close to your cousin, until the end. The plague will claim no more victims. Have no fear.
After Benedicte died, they removed her name from the marriage certificate.
They replaced it with Martha's name.
They say that Martha is a miser, and that Philibert is a big baby...
They live in Brussels in a fine house...
...close to the seat of power.
I imagine that your paths have never crossed?
Don't forget that I'm Sebastian Theus, a native of Strasbourg.
And besides, who would think of searching for Zenon inside such a labyrinth.
No names between us, Sebastian.
Don't move! Don't move, I said!
A broken leg, kicked by a horse. I'll look for what what I need.
- No, leave it, I'll go. - You're mad! They'll recognize you.
The horse lost a shoe, and my cousin brought it to my father.
My father's the blacksmith. Suddenly the horse kicked him.
Don't you know there's a curfew?
Monsieur Theus is a surgeon. My father broke his hand.
The gentleman is a doctor.
He knocked his fingers with a hammer. In Lane Street.
[- A man broke his hand] [- Don't they know it's forbidden?]
It's forbidden, don't you know that?
[- Don't they know what time it is?] - Didn't you hear the hour strike?
[- Go! go!] - Well, go!
Hold, hold hard! Harder!
And you say that was done by a horse?
Hold the torch in your mouth. You too.
Hold still! Hold him down! Don't shout! Don't shout!
Han! I don't want to cut you, but if you scream, I will!
Bring the light!
Light!
You're a fool! You had to amputate, and now everyone knows.
I didn't want to do it.
Tomorrow the fever, the day after, gangrene, then delirium and so on.
I cleaned him up properly.
The fracture is perfectly set and properly splinted.
With some cartwheel spokes, no doubt? Idiot!
Please, Jean, that's enough, I want to sleep.
No... no.
Go on, brothers, it's all right.
You see Monsieur Theus, I followed your advice and returned to my cell.
- And do you feel less tired today? - No, I followed the procession on foot.
The whole way. And I'm out of breath.
Your friend Myers told me yesterday...
...that you have only a few patients.
Yes, that's so.
But it's not my intention to stay here in Bruges.
Stay here a bit longer, there are many poor people here...
...and on market days many peasants come in search of a cure.
I thought that you might be able to help us at the dispensary.
Your voice is a bit husky. That will help.
Very good, Cyprien! Place them a little higher. -- Boo.
Even higher.
Well, go on, go on.
- What is this game you're playing? - If you touch me, I touch higher.
It's just like at mass.
How do you mean, at mass?
The evil spirits know that at my baptism....
...my godmother poisoned the holy water...
...because the cure held his breviary upside down.
- What are you talking about, Cyprien? - Sir, one never knows!
An hour in the morning, and again in the evening....
...bring all the patients in here.
And an hour before that, light a fire to heat the stones.
How many faggots and bundles of wood will be required for the fire, Doctor?
I don't know how much wood is needed to sweat out smallpox, Mr Economist.
If I've understood you right, you have agreed to stay?
- Yes, at least for 3 weeks. - And your books?
Your "Predictions of Things to Come" is still banned in Paris.
Have you forgotten that they sent Dolet to the stake?
As regards my library in the rue Jacob, there is no problem.
You must be careful, Sebastian.
The police are infinitely patient, and they never close an open file.
Who saw that other Sebastien first, in Strasbourg and in Paris?
What is this, an interrogation?
What do you want to know? Where they tried to arrest me last?
How do I know? I have before me a vision of the Pont-Saint-Esprit
I risked my life and my medical reputation...
...for an adulterous woman who wanted an abortion!
I buried the fetus under an olive tree...
...and paid the maids to wash the sheets.
When they came to arrest me I had already left for Italy.
And now I see Innsbruck, where...by chance...
...I ran across my cousin, Henri-Maximilien.
I hadn't seen him since our ecape from Granoche.
Still hawking your theories until they finish by burning you.
A subterfuge...of war, Captain.
I have reached the first stage [L'Oeuvre au Noir] .
And rumour has it that you have transmuted gold.
Henri-Maximilien...
I have studied metallurgy...
...observed the stars, dissected corpses...
But...I haven't made gold. And I don't cure anybody.
Again! More Swiss-German wine.
- Joseph, are you there? - Yes, sir.
Everything's nicer in Italy. The women, the wine...
You eat better in Flanders.
But what am I doing in Innsbruck?
In a drowned city with a mad cousin.
A cousin who seeks the truth.
No, Maximilian. You and I are very fortunate.
Because...you and I have dreamed our dreams.
Because our truths and our lies...
...are not what you think.
Because, in addition to the stake, there are other fires.
Behind the glory, there are other glories.
And we are going to die a little less ignorant than we were born.
For you, perhaps. I believe I'll die...
...just as stupid as when I was born.
You already smell a rat.
I write little romantic verses, I read Petronius.
I only take minor risks...
...war wounds, smallpox, creditors.
I would like to have lived in Plutarch's golden time, or in Ovid's.
No, no. These are but mirages, cousin.
Joseph!
We should leave immediately!
And a little later, we left the city, and we parted.
Dear, dear, Henri-Maximilien.
From that day on, I never saw him again.
He died in Siena, during the siege.
Wouldn't it be wise for you to burn your manuscripts?
These are just medical commentaries...
...which could be of service to other doctors.
- Why must one always burn?
If I was you, I would burn everything.
Zénon! Henri-Maximilien!
Can you come, he's broken his ribs.
He talked during a bout of fever.
It wasn't a horse, that was a lie.
It appears that he fired his arquebus at a Spanish officer.
...who had come to suppress a revolt at Dranoutre
The soldiers and the officer had set fire to the barn...
...and Han jumped from the roof, that's how he got the fracture
Did you know that? Did you?
Yes, our security depends on the silence of the people.
If you pull the least thread, the whole ball unwinds.
It's true, I've lost a little weight, it's because I eat less.
Everything disgusts me, even the meat which you prescribed.
I feel as though I am digesting a mortal agony.
What difference is there between the slaughtered beast and a human corpse?
I can only agree. But as a doctor I must help you overcome this weakness.
I'm saving my strength. I always go to bed after lunch.
- Go, then. - One hour's rest.
Sebastian, didn't you say that the humble folk that you treat...
...are in sympathy with the so-called Reform movement?
But...you know well that whoever holds such compromising opinions...
...should guard well his silence.
But nevertheless, the majority are in fact good catholics.
- If only out of habit. - From habit?
I perceive in this nothing more than the eternal confusion of huuman affairs.
The Spaniards persecute the Reformists, and send them to the stake...
...the reformed evangelicals slaughter the superstitious Anabaptists...
...and the state of Liege enriches itself by furnishing weapons to all parties.
What one hears less and less...
...is the voice of the tortured, Monsieur Prior.
I must pray, as is required...
...for the prosperity of His Majesty and of the Governate.
But the authority can no longer be delegated.
One discerns in the lineaments of those grotesque faces...
...those signs which serve to conceal the hidden depths of our crimes.
Have you looked closely at the faces of our ministers?
One can always pray for the enlightenment of those who govern us.
More than that, I need to enlighten myself.
My advice is that you drink hot wine morning and evening.
For your sore throat.
The gentleman is dead.
Dead. An attack.
What have you done?
I did what I had to.
I did it for him.
He was old, he was ill. See, I've cured him.
I did it for you. Now it all belongs to you.
I helped him die.
You are the master of this house, master of the fire, my master!
I did it...I did it alone.
Don't send me away! No, no!
- Out! Out! - No! I'm staying put!
- Out! Move!
Monsieur Sebastian Theus hereby declares that he donates herewith to the Saint Comes Hospice....
...the earthly goods which Jean Myers bequeathed to him in his last will and testament...
...including his personal effects, his books, and his professional instruments.
As a result of the admirable generosity... - Very admirable!
...very admirable generosity of Monsieur Sebastian Theus...
...the above-mentioned dwelling will become an annex of the hospice of St Comes.
...in which Catherine will remain in her capacity of servant.
The money will go towards the repair of the damage caused by the bad weather.
Monsieur Theus, we very much appreciate your generosity.
Good.
And your prudence.
- What is it? - She can't turn her head.
Call Cyprien.
Give her a gentle massage.
Listen, listen...away with the evil, banish the illness.
Cure the misery of the poor, who suffers from neck pain.
Away with the evil, away with the evil, cure the neck pain of the poor sufferer.
What is this?
Hold the gauze in place.
Rub this in every evening...
...and then come back here.
Yes...yes.
- Ssh... - Zénon.
Make two copies and then go immediately to the prior.
Sir, the old woman left this for you.
Salted butter.
I dance and am danced!
I sing and am sung! - I sing and am sung!
I call and am called! - I call and am called!
I watch and am watched! - I watch and am watched!
It's delicious, try a bit.
Watch out for the cream! It always happens to me.
Look, there in the garden! It's him!
I eat and am eaten! - I eat and am eaten!
I sing and am sung! - I sing and am sung!
He says that you want want him - Do you understand what he means?
- Isn't that funny? - He's always joking.
Now it's time to go.
I dance and I love! - I dance and I love!
He says that he wants to love me!
Anyone could be looking, it's dangerous.
Once more! Wait, please.
Where will we meet?
Call and am called, think and am thought, dream and am dreamed...
...want and am wanted, love and am loved, call and am called...
...think and am thought, dream and am dreamed...
I know that at night certain monks jump over the wall.
They don't have to, because Brother Florian has found a secret passage...
...through which the Angels come and go.
There are Quirin, François, Matthieu, brother Florian...
...Pierre de Hamaere, who loves the Angels, but he hardly ever comes.
Hardly ever? And how can you be sure that I won't denounce you?
Monsieur doesn't want to injure me?
The Beauty and the little black girl don't always come either.
Through the underground ways the blessed sisters bring their nourishment.
They feel no jealousy or shame for their bodies' rapture.
But it is Cyprien whom she loves!
And you, how do you call the Beauty? - Eva.
Eva.
Eva! Eva!
How will you support the flames of the stake over all your body?
God relieves the pain of the Angels in the fire.
Doctor, sir, do you have a moment? - Yes.
I have to talk about the expenses of the dispensary, the baths...
...our new purchases, the costs are multiplying.
The sick, they also, are multiplying.
You may have noticed a worsening situation since our prior became ill.
Are you referring to the clinic and its staff?
No, absolutely not, Monsieur Theus.
...but our prior's ill-health means that he cannot supervise as closely as he did before.
Therefore I must ask you to prepare a register of all the patients...
...especially those in transit.
Name, address, origin, date of arrival, destination.
- Is this a joke? - Does it look like I'm joking, Monsieur Theus?
The point is that, in high places, our convent....
...is suspected of being a refuge for all kinds of dissidents...
...and even heretics.
"In high places"?
A procurator, a certain Pierre le Cocq, has been talking to our Bishop.
This Le Cocq is ambitious. That's what worries me.
Could we not at least close our infirmary?
Will you at least think about the register, Monsieur Theus?
- Shall we talk again tomorow - Very well.
I entrust this to you.
I wanted to comfort Count Egmont's widow.
They say that his suffering is carrying her to the grave.
Egmont asked to be beheaded first...
...so as not to witness the death of his friend.
They say he went to the gallows in a purple robe...
...with a black cape embroidered with gold.
They say that the people cried so loudly in their grief...
...that even the Spanish soldiers had tears in their eyes.
What they didn't say was that a poor man with an obscure name
...who was for years in Egmont's employ, an ordinary man...
...was arrested just a few hours after his muster...
...and was beaten with iron bars to the point that, three hours later...
...he was still groaning.
Why are you upsetting yourself over the death of this unfortunate person?
Don't talk like that...pain and sorrow are limitless.
Even now, while we are talking...
...torture and murder proceed apace all around us.
I can't go on, my friend...Sebastian...
The prior is going through his dark night of the soul.
Nearly 1600 years have gone by since the birth of Christ...
...and one would think that he is still hanging there on the cross.
It almost seems that the purpose of the Redemption...
...was to prepare the world for what it has now become.
If one amongst us sought execution...
...martyrdom...
...instead of the one being burned at the stake, out of charity...
That has become a bright light for me. The disease has opened the way.
And if they came to arrest us, then surely His Kingdom will come.
And if God, in his weakness, has need of our aid?
If God were only a little flame in our hands...
...who depended on us not to let him flicker out?
Perhaps it's we who are the more far-sighted, to whom He turns for help.
That child that you treated, what was his name.
Han.
That old women that you helped die, near the burning barn...
...that was his mother, wasn't it?
Do you know why he has escaped prosecution?
He was healed, and I did not wish to see my work consumed by fire.
Here's the money. Take what you need.
Doctor, the messengers to whom you entrust your letters....
...are being regularly searched at the city gates.
They open the letters.
I don't know how to ask... Please excuse me.
Of course, nothing dangerous.
Evil entities...
...in particular...
...those of the flesh...
...devour, little by little, the surrounding structure.
He has utmost difficulty in swallowing.
He has no voice.
Yes, sir, our prior is a good soul.
Zenon?
Yes?
Josse thinks you should leave. - Leave.
- To go where? - You must leave, sir.
No
I must be with the prior when he departs.
They're already spreading the straw in the street beneath his window.
The sacrifice...
...the oblation we talked about...
There's to be no sacrifice. It matters little whether I live or die.
I want the Prior to live!
Leave, Zenon, after my death.
Jesus said to the Pharisees: I am the good shepherd
The hired hand who cares not for the flock...
...sees the wolf coming, abandons the sheep, and runs away.
The wolf seizes them and scatters the flock...
...because the hireling will not protect them.
Monsieur Economist...
I hope you will put a quick end to this folly of your friends
- Who do you mean? - I mean: brother Florian...
...who has gained access to the old galleries!
- I mean Francois de Bure! - And Cyprien, I suppose?
Yes, Cyprien and all the others! And you!
You are certainly not unaware of the games that your little Angels play...
...which are leading them directly to the stake.
I know nothing about all that.
- Because the end... - Justifies the means.
- What do you want? - Josse told me that I could cross here.
Josse. So you're the one bound for England?
Well, if you want to go there you'll have to pay the price.
- Josse told me 16 ducats. - Yes, when there are other people.
But you still go out tomorrow at dawn, don't you? - Only for fishing.
- On the other hand, if you have 50 ducats... - No, I only have 30.
Let's make it 45. You can eat with us on the "Dove". Give me your parcel.
No, these are delicate instruments. I prefer to keep them with me.
- I'm a surgeon. - A surgeon who carries a firearm.
A prudent man.
- Are you going on the boat? - It's very expensive.
Well, you have to discuss the price.
If you like them, I can sell you some: 10 soldi each.
I need the money for the boat.
Here take it all.
Above all, stay together, don't separate.
Witch! Witch! Dirty bitch!
It's a sad story.
The girl strangled her own baby, born premature.
The black servant went crazy...
...wandering in the streets, and she finished by telling everything.
Then they arrested Idelette, and Idelette confessed.
You can imagine how Cyprien reacted: he was beside himself.
Do you know where Cyprien is?
Nobody knows where he is. Personally, I think he's been arrested.
Shall I prepare your meal, sir?
Doctor, sir. They're asking for you. - Yes.
Sir, you are under arrest.
You are the doctor called Sebastian Theus?
No, my name is Zenon Ligre. - Ligre?
Would you kindly confirm that you are...
My name is Zenon Ligre.
Monsieur is of the Ligre family, I believe.
My wife will see to your food. She makes a good soup.
Yes.
If you want we can play at dice.
You can be assured that you will be kept well-informed.
You see, it's my job to clean the archive. To keep it dust-free
And I listen.
Monsieur should know that the arrested monks...
...have confessed, under torture...to everything.
Yes.
I'm very tired, I would like to sleep.
Certainly sir, knock if you need anything. Good night sir, and sleep well.
I have learned that this Cyprien...
...has attested that between you and him there existed an illegal liason.
You see, monsieur, I know everything.
Monsieur Ligre.
I am the procuror charged with the expedition of your case.
My name is Pierre le Cocq.
But what's wrong with the heating in here, why isn't it working?
I can't breathe! Would you like to smoke, Monsieur Ligre?
Fix it! Immediately! Permit me to sit down.
Bring blankets and furs, if you please.
First of all, let me assure you...
...that we have succeeded in discounting any question of your association...
...with the beatific sect of the Angels.
...because the accusations of the monk Cyprien....
...have been contradicted by his six accomplices.
You needn't write this down, if you please. There is no need for notes at this stage.
We haven't reached that stage.
First of all, I'd like us to be quite relaxed about what we say to each other.
We'll come to the official matters later.
Wait outside, and close the door!
Monsieur Ligre, I believe you received your doctorate in canon law...
...from the University of Louvain.
And?
The chancellor, who is a remarkable prelate...
...has decided to conduct this inquiry with an exceptional even-handedness...
...and Canon Campanus...
...has assigned two theologians from your own university...
...to be admitted as witnesses.
I consider that to be a very equitable decision, don't you think?
Yes, yes.
And now, tell us...
...how you are reduced to living like this?
The crime committed by Miss Idelette has been clearly proven...
...and the death penalty was the only possibility, but she made a good and pious exit.
They should really have burnt her for the crime of infanticide...
...but because she was of noble birth, it was decided that decapitation was more appropriate.
Have you heard anything about the trial of the Angels?
No, I know nothing. - It's continuing, you see.
But it's certain that some among them will go to the stake.
Can one do anything?
If certain conditions are met, they will not arrive at the stake alive.
- How much? - Three ducats per head.
Very well. When you hear of the outcome, let me know.
You will be the first to know, I swear it.
Sir! They have have been strangled before the fire touched them
...I mean Cyprien and one of the novices, but there was a disturbance
...and so for Francois and the other novices there wasn't time - Ah!
Han cried out for two quarter hours.
They were secured with longer chains, so that their agonies lasted longer.
- No! - The executioner has returned the money, sir.
- No! - The money! - No!
Your economist, Pierre de Hamaere...
You're aware, no doubt, that yesterday he died by his own hand...
...by poison, the most serious crime.
Ah, that hardly concerns me, Monsieur le Procurer.
Certainly, Monsieur Ligre, certainly.
Your half-sister, Martha Ligre?
Would you perhaps like to see her again, talk to her?
Or to meet other members of your family?
The Bishop has made a very generous offer.
They could perhaps help you.
Only if it was their suggestion....which I doubt.
Why?
The day of your return to Bruges with the prior of Cordeliers...
...you were recognized at the border by a monk.
Remember? A woman was burnt, and they were looking for two heretics.
What possible reason was there for you to conceal your true identity?
Well...why don't you ask him?
He was found guilty of complicity with heresy, and was burned at the stake last month.
Ah well, in that case...
Zénon Ligre,..
...during the last two years which you spent under the protection of the King of Sweden...
...that so-called reformist,
... have you lived in accordance with the Catholic faith?
Yes. - You have not abjured the faith?
I have never abjured, neither the Christian religion, nor the Catholic faith.
Do you deny that your two letters sent to the Swedish court...
...which we intercepted...
...conveyed important information about our Catholic province to the enemy?
Don't you think that if I had wanted to transmit such information...
...I would have established myself in a more important city than Bruges
If your natal city is so...negligible...
...why did you hide your true identity under the false name of Sebastian Theus?
I returned to Bruges at the age of 58, and I was tired...of travelling
I sought an obscure and modest life, as a doctor at the hospice.
However, for a man with many talents, like you...
...this secret existence permitted you to meet with dissidents...
...and to nurse heretics.
But the hospice needed me...
...as did the prior of Cordeliers who died nobly in my arms!
If you are accusing me of having turned the hospice...
...into a meeting-place for dissidents, then I deny that with all my force!
Rest assured, we have already eliminated the hospice as a source of disloyal acts.
The memory of the late prior Berlaimont...
...remains for us in a pure and unsullied state.
Far be it from us to tarnish the memory of this holy man...
However...
...his extraordinary infatuation with the accused is incomprehensible...
...without the evil as detailed in the eighth charge against the accused...
...diabolic invention, sacrilege, the practise of magic!
Is not everything magical...
...concerning the relations between man, and the secrets of the universe.
But to go from this to demean the greatness of soul of the prior of Cordeliers...
...and the exchange of views between two free spirits...
Ah! Free spirits! - Ad rem non pertinet!
What is the name of your father? - Alberico de' Numi.
Was he a subject of the king?
He was a Florentine, but he considered himself to be a most faithful servant of the King of Spain.
Exactly.
Did he not belong to a bastard branch of the Ligre family?
...who dedicated themselves to social rebellion?
No! - Towards rebellion and heresy? - No!
Ad rem non pertinet! All that has been common knowledge for more than 20 years!
Not crimes of impiety under an assumed name!
Non pertinet! The facts have been known for 20 years.
(Ah! Those glory days ot Dranoutre!)
(Do you remember how happy we were at Dranoutre?)
(Why did you ever leave home?)
(Do you remember those days and nights at Dranoutre?)
(We ran wild in the company of Henri-Maximilian...)
(...we disappeared for days on end.)
(We were like young dogs let off the leash.)
(How happy we were...at Dranoutre.)
Monsieur Ligre?
Monsieur Ligre? Monsieur Ligre? - Yes?
Do you admit the existence of the vegetable soul?
...or of the animal soul?
Rather, the immortality of an Entity...
...which is the unique foundation of all there is.
You have advanced the hypothesis of a certain corporeality of the soul.
Saint Bonaventure, in his teaching, has already suggested something similar.
But without drawing the necessary consequence.
Do you deny that consequence? - Yes.
Optime!
Do you admit to having poisoned the surgeon-barber Jean Myers?
No, false! False!
False! False!
I saw him standing there with the bottle! It was him who did it! Him!
With the bottle! This bottle! It was him! I did nothing!
- Calm yourself! Enough! - I didn't poison him! I helped him!
- Be calm! - It was him who wanted to kill the master!
I helped, but it was him who did it! The goat! The goat!
He came in to me like a a nail!
I helped, but it was him who made me! Mercy! Have mercy!
Do you admit to having carnal knowledge of the woman Catherine?
Yes.
The common folk in Bruges...
...are less concerned about events in the Brussels high court...
...than they are preoccupied with the case of this fellow Ligre.
Besides, the common folk at Bruges want to see this rascal burnt.
It's a dangerous to snatch a bone from a hungry dog after he has caught wind of it.
We've lost six weeks over this bundle of fripperies.
The Most Reverend Bishop has used his authority wisely.
But do you not think that the Reverend gentleman is exhibiting too many scruples...
...to be able to properly fulfill his role as a judge?
(Dear Philibert and Martha, your brother defends himself well...)
(...and refutes the accusations one after the other.)
(If the Bishop feels inclined to show mercy...)
It is also evident that the procurer seeks an exemplary punishment.
This same procurer Le Cocq...
...sems to have contracted heavy debts with you.
I wonder whether an intervention from the Ligre Bank...
...might bring about a more moderate attitude.
Forgive me, dear cousin, for having written you this personal letter.
Is it really necessary for you to nibble?
I need the good advice of my wife for other things.
You have already read this letter from our uncle, the Canon?
What a sorry story.
Anything to do with justice is a sorry story. If it wasn't so in the beginning then it ends up that way.
Campanus is perhaps of the opinion that two public executions...
...in a single family, a mother and now a brother, are too many.
Everybody knows that my mother died at Munster as a victim of the troubles there.
Let us rather talk of the son, the son of your irreproachable mother.
It is cetainly true that the procurer Le Cocq has a noteworthy sum outstanding on our books.
We might see our way through to writing off one or two of his debts...
...but money doesn't always solve everything.
Le Cocq perhaps has his own reasons to push things to the limit.
And you...you seem very concerned with all this. - I don't know this Zenon.
I have nothing against your brother. In fact I would quite like him here to cure my gout.
But what gave him the idea to get himself thrown into Bruges prison...
...and, moreover, under a false name?
What does he have to hide?
Silence is sometimes a heavy burden.
So it's "yes"? Very well.
We shall help this Zenon remove the hook.
But note well, that if Pierre le Cocq consents...
...then I become obliged to him, instead of the other way round.
- It's "no". - So much the better.
Bring me the escritoire so that I can write to Uncle...
...recommending that he say his holy prayers.
- Without mentioning...? - Without mentioning this Zenon.
Your uncle knows how to read between the lines, he will understand the omission.
After all, the important thing is that the postman doesn't walk away with empty hands...
I'm sure that among our provisions...
...there will be something good for Lent.
Compote of eels, for example.
It is among us, it is in us...
...that God prepares the fall into heresy.
Now, there are 10 signs: unnatural practices,
...of rebellion, of complicity.
And these 10 signs together lead to certainty!
You have written that the world is a living creature...
...inside of which we live...
...like worms in the belly.
You have written that the magic of nature is the only sacrament...
...is the only mystery.
And God? What of our Saviour?
And the certainties provided by the Virgin Mary, and the Catholic church?
You have written that all power derives from Knowledge...
...and all knowledge, from experience.
You deny, therefore, the authority of the Church, and of the Holy Scripture.
You, apostate, have denied God!
You, doctor, are yourself the sickness which has infected our society.
Parasite, rebel, you no longer belong in human society.
You are but a cancer cell which contaminates the healthy tissue.
In the same way will a mad swine infect the whole pigsty.
It needs only one rotten individual for the entire house to crumble.
One rotten house for the city to sicken...
...one rotten city for the country to be lost.
There's only one remedy.
...to cut out the abnormal tissue from normally-functioning society.
...to extirpate the sin in order to cure the malady.
Repress it! Expel it! Burn it!
Sir, I finally managed to talk to the Executioner...
These are tarot cards. They are very ancient.
They go with me everywhere.
But you can also play for fun. Now you keep them.
And...
Thank you for everything.
Monsignor the bishop has observed that you were judged equitably.
It is unfortunate that the crime of atheism remains so clearly evident in your writings.
Some facts harmed you greatly: your treatment of heretics...
...your practice of abortion against the innocent new-born...
And even the deposition of that unfortunate servant of Myers.
The Ligre family were not able to moderate the ardour of procurator Le Cocq...
...but my Lord does not despair.
He made the observation that your theories, when properly formulated....
...could actually serve as a new defense of the Church.
It would suffice that....
God Himself is the sole judge of the hypocrisy...
...that your recantation will contain tomorrow.
Zenon, you have the whole night in which to reflect.
Concerning corporal suffering, I can promise you...
We live in a time of stupidity and cruelty, Monsieur Canon.
English subs: Wootletootle