It’s hard to imagine now, but not too long ago, doubting religious orthodoxy could get you killed. In 1697, a 20-year-old Scottish student named Thomas Aikenhead was executed—for blasphemy. His crime? Allegedly mocking the Trinity and suggesting that religion might be… less than infallible. He’d been reading a few too many forbidden books. Today, we’d probably send him to a philosophy lecture—or at least a vigorous debate in a university café. But back then, saying the wrong thing could be fatal.

This chilling episode reveals the world the Enlightenment would upend. Thomas Aikenhead was the last person in Great Britain to be executed for blasphemy.

At that time, religious institutions still held enormous power, even in post-Reformation England. As early as 1215, the Magna Carta introduced the concept of habeas corpus, a legal principle that protects individuals from being detained without due process of law. (Habeas corpus: “you shall have the body” in Latin. It requires that anyone arrested be brought before a judge and informed of the reason for their detention. It stops governments from imprisoning people arbitrarily or indefinitely.)

 

Henry VIII’s Divorce Didn’t End the Control of the Church

When Henry VIII severed ties with the Roman Catholic Church, the monarch became the head of the Church of England, replacing the Pope with the Crown. But Divine authority stayed firmly in charge, just in new hands. But for most people, daily life still revolved around religious doctrine. Question it at your peril.

Enter the Enlightenment—a bold reimagining of how humans might live, think, and govern themselves. It was a revolution not fought with muskets and bayonets (though some would follow), but with quills, printing presses, and copious cups of coffee.

 

Reason Over Revelation

The Enlightenment championed the radical notion that human reason—not divine command or inherited tradition—should be the starting point for knowledge. Philosophers such as Voltaire, Diderot, Rousseau, and Montesquieu in France; Kant in Prussia; Hume and Smith in Scotland; and Jefferson and Franklin in the nascent United States, argued for logic, inquiry, and a healthy skepticism.

Key Ideas That Changed the World

• Empirical Science: Building on Newton and Galileo, thinkers embraced observation, experimentation, and the idea that natural laws could explain both apples falling from trees and the orbit of planets.
• Secular Government: Out with the divine right of kings, in with social contracts and the consent of the governed.
• Human Rights: The idea that individuals had inherent dignity and rights—life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness—began to catch on.
• Education & the Public Sphere: Knowledge wasn’t just for monks and monarchs. Encyclopedias, salons, coffeehouses, and newspapers turned learning into a group project.

The Enlightenment at Home

The ideas of the Enlightenment weren’t confined to treatises and university halls. They showed up in floor plans, upholstery, and garden paths:

• Architecture: Symmetry, clarity, and classical restraint replaced the showy exuberance of the Baroque. Think straight lines, balanced wings, and columns that looked like they belonged to Cicero.
• Gardens: Nature got a makeover. Wildness was shaped into rational, geometric patterns—an idealized vision of order and control (Villandry’s gardens are a case in point).

 

 

• Private Life: Interiors began to emphasize intimacy, comfort, and refinement. Drawing rooms replaced vast, echoing halls; bedrooms became more private. The home became a sanctuary for ideas and conversation (see Cheverny).

 

 

These weren’t just houses—they were manifestos in stone and silk.

A Living Legacy

The Enlightenment didn’t solve every problem—it had blind spots you could drive a coach and six through. Many of its greatest thinkers espoused liberty—for the chosen few—and ignored slavery (for the time being). But the core ideals—reason, inquiry, education, and personal dignity—continue to shape our world.

At places like Villandry and Cheverny, you can still see those values etched into architecture and landscape. They are tangible echoes of a time when people believed the world could be remade—not by force, but by thinking.