There is no such thing as an Inselwaldese commoner. The Prince-Abbacy of Inselwald is, by decree, an aristocratic principality.
THE BARONS AND BARONESSES OF INSELWALD (Hochwohlgeboren)
The Inselwaldese are aristocrats by virtue of their professions of loyalty as citizen-subjects of their Prince-Abbot. Upon becoming citizens, Inselwalders are granted noble titles at the rank of baron or baroness.
In formal instruments, you may see aristocrats at this rank styled "High Well-born."
THE COUNTS AND COUNTESSES OF INSELWALD (Hochgeboren)
The Inselwaldese aristocracy is two-tiered, however. Citizens initiated as canons or canonesses of the Noble Chapter of Ladies and Gentlemen of the Grand Hunt are furthermore created counts or countesses of Inselwald. Citizen canons and canonesses, therefore, enjoy both aristocratic ranks.
Canons and canonesses of the Chapter who are not Inselwaldese citizens also enjoy the rank of count/countess. Non-citizen canons or canonesses are not, however, created barons or baronesses. That rank is strictly reserved to the Inselwaldese.
Formal instruments will reference counts or countesses as "Most Illustrious."
PROTOCOL
When addressing a member of the Inselwaldese aristocracy, you must first determine his or her rank and title.
If the aristocrat in question is a count or countess, the correct spoken style is "Count/Countess (Title)."
If a baron or baroness, the correct spoken style is "Baron/Baroness (Title)."
Take, for example, an Inselwaldese aristocrat called "Simon James, Count Fultenbach von Isen." His spoken style would be "Count Fultenbach."
In the course of conversation, simply say "Count/Countess" or "Baron/Baroness."
For example: "Thank you for inviting me, Countess; your villa is charming."
We do not make use of the spoken styles "Lord" or "Lady," or of "Lordship/Ladyship." Those forms reflect British habits and are not suited to the Inselwaldese culture.
THE WISDOM OF ARISTOCRACY
An essay by Prince Wellandberg
Aristocracy is a benificent manager of change, arranging it sensibly, if at a somewhat glacial pace, never permitting of a complete break with the past. She is the instinctive guardian of provenance, having for her programme continuity.
Aristocracy is a reservoir which conserves experience and transmits wisdom to the present as well as to the future. To conserve is a necessary and a positive thing, and conservatism is aristocracy's native province.
Aristocracy is a reservoir which conserves experience and transmits wisdom to the present as well as to the future. To conserve is a necessary and a positive thing, and conservatism is aristocracy's native province.
Aristocracy's conservatism, however, is not that deformed thing men speak of today, nor is it that antagonizing word falsely clung to by modern day barbarians. When they deploy their favorite word they do so oblivious to its meaning. Destruction is rather their metier, and so they ought to style themselves "destructives" rather than "conservatives."
The aristocrat, on the other hand, knows what it is to be truly conservative and what it supposes. For all his patrician bearing, he is duly humbled by his obligation to conscientiously participate in the careful orchestration of progress such that the golden link to the best of the past is never broken.
Leaping suddenly from a cliff will get you more quickly to the bottom than any other method of travel, but with disastrous results. Aristocracy knows a slower but better way that will allow the traveller to arrive intact, while absorbing a multitude of splendid views along the way.
"Moderation" was, for Montesqieue, the chief principle of Aristocracy. Those who promiscuously bandy about the word "revolution" in their lust for instant change are quite as destructive as those who abuse the term "conservative."
What is a "revolution," after all, but the completion of a 360° turn? Give the earth her chance to revolve about her star and she will do just that in due course. In her aristocratic pace, the pageant of seasons adorns her year.
The 180° turn forever demanded by "revolutionaries" is no revolution at all, however; it is but a failure to complete progress. Aristocracy admits of the complete turn, but in its time...in its time.
An address by Prince Wellandberg on the eve of the creation of the first counts of Inselwald
Any beast may bear the title of an aristocrat. Only a lady or a gentleman, however, may be noble.
Tomorrow, the first novices of the Noble Chapter will become its first canons. Thereafter, they will become Inselwald's first counts.
As the monarch's ink is scrawled upon their patents of nobility and as his great seal is affixed to it, the new canons will be elevated and titled and ensconsed in the upper ranks of the aristocracy of Inselwald.
None of that, however, can make these men noble. They, alone, have the power to invest themselves of that high dignity. They, alone, are competent to purple their hearts in virtue, in honour, in magnanimity, and to blue their own blood with dignity and with the cultivation of all those finer pursuits which transform a man from a "guy" into a nobleman.
Each of the men to be advanced tomorrow is a Christian gentleman; to that much the evidence points. Nobility takes a man yet a step further, however...not to perfection of character or spirit, for no man is perfected in this life...but to the courage to have the humility to admit that he cannot save himself.
In that humility, he is humble before others, and tolerant of their flaws. His sense of noblesse oblige bids him be gracious and ascending without condescending.
Yet, withal, he is conscious of the maintenance of his bearing as a man and as a gentleman. He walks the earth humbly, but erect; not proud, but confident.
He knows the difference between authentic kindness and tenderness, and insipid "niceness" which sacrifices integrity and the right for the sake of quiet at any cost. He is never a hand-wringer, crying "can we not all just get along?" Though it may pain him (and should) he knows the answer to that question is "no, not always."
The nobleman always hopes to be a kind man, but bristles at the idea of being an appeaser. The nobleman gives dereliction no quarter and the scoundrel no comfort, saving the invitation to repent of his destructive programme.
The aristocrat who is also noble is a pillar of the community of which he is a part, a brother to his peers, and an example to everyone. He models for his fellows the fine and venerable attributes which men have admired in other men since antiquity, and beyond.
The small brotherhood who will, this week, become, together, a college as the first counts of Inselwald may aspire to something much greater than aristocracy or status or title...they may individually and together aspire to become noblemen.
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