Chapter 19: Journey Through the Middle Ages

Chapter 19: Journey Through the Middle Ages

Just as the profit estimates from the sugar trade were coming in, Louisa was a bit disappointed. Due to the limited planting area in the first year, the sugar output wasn’t substantial, which delayed the earnings! However, even so, the profits were considerable. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the trade volume for the first sugar season reached over £10,000.

This was astonishing, considering that Count Balzac, one of the wealthiest nobles in the Wasong Royal House due to the Brundo market, had an annual direct income from the market ranging between £6,000 and £8,000. The prosperity and wealth brought to Brundo by the market, from which the Count earned additional money, were not included and could not be quantified.

Previously, Count Balzac’s regular annual income was approximately between £25,000 and £30,000.

This was quite high. Among the twelve original nobles of the Wasong Kingdom, the Earl of Wauter to the north of Brundo had an annual income of only about £10,000. Similarly, the Duke of Rona, famous for his wealth and located to the south of Brundo, had a regular annual income just over £30,000.

In contrast, the royal income was significantly higher. Last year, the Wasong Royal House’s income (royal income) was £450,000. It can be said that as the Wasong Royal House overcame the initial constraints of a small royal domain and gradually strengthened its royal authority, the royal income also steadily increased. It was no longer the case where Brundo’s income could account for more than a third of the royal income.

However, despite the high royal income, the expenditures were also substantial. When there was no money, they still had to borrow from major merchants. Instances of defaulting on loans were not uncommon!

In any case, a trade volume of over £10,000 was indeed very high. Although costs needed to be deducted, what could the costs amount to? The seeds were almost free, and the land was owned by Count Brundo himself. Fertilizers required effort to barely supply, but the cost was minimal.

As for fuel and labor, the fuel was self-produced, and the labor was provided by hired farmers and serfs, so even if some wages had to be paid, they were very limited.

Honestly, estimating such a high profit was also a surprise to Louisa... but upon reflection, it seemed normal—at this time, the average yield per bonnier of sugar beets could exceed 16,000 pounds. One bonnier of land is equivalent to about 1 hectare or 15 acres in modern terms. Converting pounds to kilograms, the yield per acre was only about 370 kilograms.

This cannot be compared to the modern yield of sugar beets, which often exceeds 10 tons per acre, but considering the seeds and fertilization practices of the time, this was the best that could be achieved.

The lord’s reserved land in Swan Manor was 288 bonniers, of which 250 bonniers were planted with sugar beets in the first year, excluding those unsuitable for sugar beet cultivation. Additionally, the peasants in the manor, who needed to offset their rent and sell to the lord (who had promised to purchase their sugar beets at a good price), also planted a certain area of sugar beets.

The total planting area of sugar beets in Swan Manor reached about 420 bonniers, resulting in a total sugar beet production of over 6.72 million pounds!

With such a large quantity of sugar beets, even if the sugar extraction rate was only 3%, it was enough to produce 200,000 pounds of sugar—previously, the extraction rate was only 2%, but this time the average quality of the sugar beets was higher, and the sugar extraction and production techniques had improved, increasing the rate to 3%.

At 14 pence per pound, 200,000 pounds of sugar amounted to 2.8 million pence, which converted to pounds is exactly over £10,000—specifically, £11,667!

As for the actual monetary cost, it was almost negligible—even if the land and labor were converted into monetary terms, it wouldn’t amount to much. So it can be said that this sugar business increased Count Brundo’s annual income by 40% to 50%.

Overjoyed by this windfall, Count Balzac was increasingly satisfied with Louisa. Besides funding her to custom-make a batch of jewelry, he also found her a renowned scholar as a tutor, hoping she would gain better knowledge to assist in a more glorious future.

In the Middle Ages, education was primarily controlled by the church, but this was not because the church wanted to monopolize knowledge. In fact, after the fall of Rome, the new military aristocracy was not interested in 'knowledge,' and their upward mobility was not determined by knowledge. During this process, the quality of clergy also deteriorated overall. To ensure that future clergy could at least read religious texts, some visionaries established school-like institutions in churches and monasteries.

Initially, noble children rarely had the intention to become monks, so most students in church schools were commoners... From this perspective, the church could hardly be said to monopolize knowledge; what they wanted to monopolize was clearly the interpretation of knowledge (in the Middle Ages, any knowledge could be related to religion).

As the Middle Ages passed through its darkest times, culture also saw some recovery and development. By now, within the Wasong Kingdom, at least the royal family and major nobles provided Latin education for their children, and some minor nobles in the southern Wasong with educational traditions did the same—beyond that, many other nobles could read and write, but only in local vernacular, and such individuals were still considered 'illiterate' or 'semi-literate.'

Perhaps the least emphasis on education was in the eastern Wasong’s Mubuhan, where even princes and princesses in the king’s court might not be able to read or write Latin.

However, regardless, Count Balzac valued education and recognized its worth. In the Brundo court, there was a court school. Noble children who came to the Brundo court as pages generally received Latin lessons here. After returning to the Brundo court, Louisa had not attended school again... Count Balzac probably thought finding her a tutor would be beneficial, so he considered it a 'reward.'

To this, Louisa could only say: hmm…

"...Yes, I need the crown like this." Louisa showed the design she had personally 'drawn' to the goldsmith. Since the Count allowed her to buy jewelry freely and he would foot the bill, Louisa didn’t hold back. After all, she had been busy with the sugar business, and this was what she deserved.

The crown she was showing to the goldsmith was not the popular Gothic style of the time—Gothic architecture had already become the dominant architectural style, and its tall, sharp, solemn, and elegant features, though somewhat delayed, still influenced the field of goldsmithing.

Louisa had copied the design from a book left by her aunt, who studied jewelry design, in her Portable Space. This crown was very famous, a renowned piece of jewelry, the 'Victoria Emerald Tiara.' It was originally part of a set that included a crown, necklace, earrings, and a brooch, designed by Prince Albert for the Queen.

Whether he designed it himself or made requests that were then 'perfected' by a jewelry designer is unknown, but the final product was indeed very beautiful.

Louisa boldly drew the entire set and had it crafted, which was the most expensive part of her jewelry order this time. The top of the crown alone required 19 inverted teardrop-shaped emeralds, the largest of which was a whopping 15 carats! This doesn’t even count the various square and diamond-cut emeralds used around the waist and base of the crown.

In later times, emeralds were one of the four precious gems, and although the list of 'four precious gems' was different in this era, emeralds still held a place among them!

As the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius once said: Emeralds are not cheapened by lack of praise.

There is a common stereotype that jewelry was 'cheaper' in ancient times than it is now. This is actually incorrect. The perception that ancient jewelry was cheap might stem from the fact that ancient staples like grain and textiles, which were often used as standard commodities, were extremely expensive. Compared to these, modern people, who enjoy cheaper grain and textiles, naturally think jewelry is inexpensive.

Actually, with low productivity in ancient times, grain and textiles were quite expensive for the average person. Many people toiled hard, only to end up half-starved and in tattered clothes by the end of the year.

The cost of ancient jewelry varies depending on the context. In today's abundant society, luxuries like jewelry can be easily overvalued, so in absolute terms, ancient jewelry was cheaper. But if we consider the overall purchasing power of ancient societies and the proportion of jewelry within it, one cannot simply say that jewelry was cheap.

For example, in medieval times, a crown, especially a finely crafted one, would cost at least over 200 pounds. What was 200 pounds worth back then? At this time, the annual income of the vast majority of knights was less than 100 pounds.

Even a squire with a stable income of twenty to thirty pounds—mostly from land—could be knighted in a dubbing ceremony.

In the early to mid-Middle Ages, the knight class was not yet solidified. Any commoner with enough money for knightly gear could be knighted. Now, only knights' children, mainly the eldest son, could inherit the knightly title.

The biggest issue is that a knight's property is limited; after being inherited by the eldest son, there's nothing left to provide the basic material conditions for other sons to become knights.

As for commoners, they would need to be very wealthy, or not just wealthy but also well-connected, to achieve a class leap and become knights.

Take Count Balzac, who typically had an annual income of 25,000 to 30,000 pounds, and his 'neighbor' Duke of Rona might have a bit more. Another 'neighbor', Count Walter, also had an annual income of ten thousand pounds—but Count Balzac and Duke of Rona were famously wealthy. Count Walter was not far behind; his lands bordered the Low Countries, with similar conditions, particularly suitable for developing industry, commerce, and North Sea transportation.

Count Walter's lands processed Gordenland's high-quality wool into textiles, sold widely.

For a clearer comparison, consider 'castles'. As the fortresses of medieval lords, castles required significant investment to meet military and residential needs. The main castle of a baron would cost around 300 pounds to build! As for the castles of lesser knights, the cost was even lower.

"We have some emeralds here that we can bring for you to choose from. If you don't find them satisfactory, we can also source them from our peers," the jeweler was very excited; this was a big deal.

After seeing the extensive use of emeralds in the design, he was inwardly praising Louisa. In his mind, she was the god of wealth, surrounded by a golden aura.

Such an emerald crown was not just 'comparatively' exquisite; it would cost over two hundred pounds.

"But... there is a need for some colorless diamonds here, isn't there? Colorless diamonds are not rare, but you require faceted cutting, which is somewhat challenging," the jeweler looked carefully at the design again and gave an honest answer.

At this time, 'diamonds' were not considered the top-tier gemstones, unable to compare with emeralds, rubies (including red spinels), sapphires, and opals. This was mainly because, at the time, gemstones were valued for their color, and with the lack of technical skill in gem cutting, transparent diamonds appeared quite dull—of course, colored diamonds like yellow and blue diamonds were still very popular.

At this time, the faceted cutting technique for gemstones had just been introduced from India and Persia, and only the most skilled craftsmen had some understanding of it. For Louisa's crown, the faceted cutting of some emeralds was manageable, as the shapes were not too complex and could be roughly achieved. But the diamond part was a big problem!

Because diamonds are too hard...

"I just want to see a sufficiently good effect. If you can't achieve the technical level, I don't mind using design to cover it up..." Louisa said lightly.

Of course, the craftsman wouldn't take this statement at face value and could only think about how to better cut and polish the diamonds—serving the nobility is like this; a big order can earn a lot. But the nobility is always picky, and working for them means facing some challenges, which is something they already knew.