Enlightenment

"What do you plan to do?" Elizabeth asked, as she and Will road the carriage back home.

"About what?" Will asked.

"About those Bourgeoisie noblemen that idolize you. Already our manor in Gadreel is heralded as the architecture of our generation," Elizabeth chuckled.

"Oh, that's easy, I'll help them to understand a better way to make the change.

Let's invite everyone over. Why don't you send invitations to all the young adults our age, 15 to 20? Don't turn anyone away," Will said off the cuff.

Within the week, Will and Elizabeth's Yorkshire home was filled with hundreds of young nobles ages 13 to 25.

Elizabeth was the inspiriting host, and Will amused the crowd with his ideas and creative suggestions.

Poetry, painting, rhetoric, grammar, math, science, law, and religion were all discussed. Separate rooms were devoted to each discussion.

As more conversation took place, innovative new ideas and understanding were fleshed out and debated. The knowledge accumulated through conversations.

In bedrooms, drawing rooms, the hall, and the library, friends sat on chairs laid on beds conversing with one another.

In Elizabeth and Will's house, Fermion's first Age of Enlightenment was born. These young men and women created a renaissance of new ideas.

Will gave the jumbled ideas a name, humanism. Some even began to refer to themselves as a humanist. To them, a humanist meant to seek a better understanding of how to perceive life.

This was not the 21st Century of Earth's ideas of secular humanities, the ideas discussed were interwoven with religion and moral philosophy.

The young artist changed how they painted landscapes and portraits, experimenting with the boundaries of art. The same went for sculptors and poets.

To the artist, Elizabeth was their biggest benefactor. Elizabeth almost single-handedly bankrolled the renaissance in art.

Young artists, sculptures, musicians, and poets sought out Elizabeth's support, and Will's money.

New paintings appeared all over the house, some even with Elizabeth appearing as an angel. To Will's chagrin, Elizabeth did not show any reserve, she freely gave money to artists with few conditions attached.

Art was never Will's strongest subject. He appreciated the value of art, more than the aesthetic value of art.

Will felt most artists were lazy vagrants. Artists were leeches that sucked the coin purses from unsuspecting victims.

From Will's perspective, Elizabeth was being taken advantage of by these con artists. From Elizabeth's perspective, Will did not appreciate art.

After a discussion, Elizabeth acquiesced to Will's demand to set submission deadlines for the art, poem, and song.

This earn the ire of artists, who believed inspiration cannot be rushed or scheduled. From then on, some artists snubbed Will in his own home.

Slowly, Will Yorkshire's house looked like a disorganized museum. On occasion, Will had the household staff remove paintings he distastes. Only to return the next day, and find a new painting in its place.

Eventually, Will gave up and spent more time focused on the young Bourgeoisie noblemen.

The more Will spoke with these men, the newer ideas flourished.

Some scholarly noblemen even published new books on grammar, rhetoric, and history.

While not always, some of these books did not paint Fermion in the best light. However, more books wrote about a country striving to do better.

Crown Prince Roland Godwin on daily basis asked Will to send a report, or on occasion appear in person.

Older generations were upset about these upstart nobles with their new ideas and arts.

Humanism became a hotly debated topic, this was truly the Age of Enlightenment.

Even the rhythm and rhyme of poetry shifted, as writers debated the mechanics of poetry.

Humanism also affects the way young theologians questioned the church's orthodoxy. Young theologians began advocating for a return to the simplicity of religious offerings, and to move the church's teaching away from mysticism to scholasticism.

No one was spared from analysis or criticism, not even Will in his own home.

Some guests were bold enough to criticize Will's 'commoner's college,' as it was known colloquially, for not being ambitious enough.

These Humanists criticized Will because they believed all commoners should be educated.

To other Humanists, Will took the first and it was up to them to accomplish the rest. Surely, they argued, Will cannot be responsible for every achievement in the kingdom.

Funny enough the only thing Humanists could agree upon, was that they all disagreed with one another.

All this happened in less than half a week in Will's house. The first four days of the week saw dizzying progress.

However, in the latter part of the week, a giant chasm arose between the Humanists and the Bourgeoisie, as they began refereeing to themselves.

To strict Humanists, the Bourgeoisie members were uncultured merchants only interested in making money or politics.

To members of the Bourgeoisie, the humanists were eccentric, unproductive, professional scholars only looking for a wealthy patron.

'Money. It always comes down to money!' Will agreed in his heart.

The Bourgeoisie hated that most Humanists did not work, but lived off the money from their benefactors.

"Why should we give our money to these fools who only quote nonsensical ideas," a young member of the Bourgeoisie said.

"Humanist get on the floor and beg me, and I may sponsor you," said another Bourgeoisie member.

"You dog, you wouldn't know the difference between art and excrement," said a sculpture.

"Do you? I saw your last monument!" bullied a member of the Bourgeoisie laughing hysterically with his mates.

Quickly, in a matter of hours, the animosity between both sides grew. The household staff quarantined both parties.

Even worse, guests who used these labels attempted to pull Will and Elizabeth in different directions.

Due to Elizabeth's substantial spending on artists, musicians, poets, writers, and scholars she was labeled a Humanist. On the other hand, Will was labeled Bourgeoisie because of his businesses and fiefdom.

By the end of the week, the two groups had made up and both groups were extolling the virtues of liberalism, political rights, and civil liberties for their generation and the commoners.

After a week of hosting, the young adults expressed the desire to continue these conversations. However, Will was unwilling to continue hosting, so the nobles fought over the honor to host next.

Will could care less, where they went as long as they were gone.

By the last day of the week, it was decided that the daughter of an Earl would host next. The young woman was jealous of Elizabeth's standing among the artists and scholars. Once the Earl's daughter promised's bankroll the artists and scholars she easily won the contest to host.

"Finally they're gone," said Will after everyone had left.

It had cost him over 5,000 gold to feed and house those pesky pampered nobles.

"He-he, you didn't like the energy and passion of our guest," Elizabeth joked.

"That's because everyone loves you! Half our guests refused to speak to me for almost a week. I say, good riddance!" Will said.

"I must admit, I too am glad to be rid of certain guests," Elizabeth said.

"April told me, there were a few men following you around like lost puppies, should I be worried? You are not planning to break our engagement, I hope," Will laughed.

"You go too far! You know, how deeply I care for you. I love you more than anything!" Elizabeth said accepting Will's comment as a criticism of her loyalty and chastity.

In Fermion, to call a woman unchaste was the highest slander and could be used to shame a family. You question a woman's purity was the highest insult.

In the past, men questioned a woman's purity to break wedding engagements or force a woman's family into paying a higher dowry.

If word spread that Elizabeth's virginity had been taken by one of Will's house guests, she would be immediately defamed. Not only had Will put Elizabeth in an awkward position with sexual politics, but he also asserted his mistress's influence over his decision-making.

Immediately Elizabeth realized two things. First, Will was a jealous man. 'All men are jealous,' her mother had warned after she and Will became engaged. Moreover, her relationships with male artists, musicians, poets, and musicians could be easily mislabeled. Without realizing it, she had inadvertently put her reputation in jeopardy.

The second thing Elizabeth realized, was that April was a problem. She originally believed Will, when he said April was not a threat to her. Elizabeth did not know what April whispered to Will, but it was substantial enough for him to comment. Elizabeth had never had an enemy before, but now she considered April her enemy.

'I should have listened to Helen,' Elizabeth thought.

The Baroness had warned Elizabeth, April had her hooks in Will. Now, Elizabeth had to delicately approach removing April.

"I apologize Elizabeth for what I said. I should not have phrased my comment in that manner," Will apologized after seeing how distraught Elizabeth became.

"I believe you," Elizabeth said sadly. The comment still hurt her feelings, but she blamed April more than Will.

"Please let me know, how I can make up for my mistake," Will asked.

"William, I'm thinking about reorganizing the household staff, do you have any objections?" Elizabeth asked innocently.

"Except for Michael, none. I also hope you organize these paintings!" Will said.

"Why don't you go the study and work? I'll send Michael over with a fresh pot of tea," Elizabeth said sweetly already planning April's departure.

"Oh, before I go, does Gaia's Purse have anything planned for New Year? I'm not sure if I want to spend New Year in Yorkshire or Gadreel," Will said.

"Yes, we do have plans! I'll have Michael bring them to you as soon as I can find the report," Elizabeth said smiling disingenuously at Will.