Later Middle Ages

Later Middle Ages

The later Middle Ages were a much different time than the earlier years. The earlier years experienced the fall of Rome and now at the end of the Middle Ages there is a growth economically and a new system came forward. "feudalism" will be come very influential on the culture. People began buying protection and birthing into rights instead of using the democratic system Rome was known for. The legal and political structure became more of an outgrowth of what already exists. Traditions and hereditary status were among the things stemming from what already exists. The rural populated areas were bringing their product into the urban settings and the urban inhibitors were creating the business but also running the rural merchants as well. Feudalism is very city based with it comes to its economic trends.

Intellectual Currents of the Later Middle Ages
The intellectual Currents had an interesting twist later in the Middle Ages. There was also some allegorical criticism and scholasticism both of which are Aristotelisanism influenced with an Islamic influence blended into the mix. A closer look at grammar became apart of the seven liberal arts to study when critiquing a piece. In the new schools that were being developed philosophy became very important in the curriculums. The document most influential from this period is the Scholia Vindobonesia. The author explains that poetry is fed by grammar, rhetoric and logic. The poems content is to be ethics and discipline. Poetry is to delight, offer moral instruction and arouse patriotism (pg. 172). This is much different than that of Aristotle who disowned poetry because they were the true danger. The scholastic phase of medieval criticism and was influenced by Islamic writes. They tended to view poetry as a branch of logic rather than of grammar or rhetoric (173).

The Transcendentals

The Transcendentals dealt with different philosophies of the term "being". This was shown by their peculiar predicates. They also hold the theory that truth is found within a being. Being as in physical instead of finding it in nature. The Medieval Allegory and Aquinas is based upon a very complex theory. "Everything points beyond itself, beyond its immediate worldly significance, toward a higher level of significance in a more comprehensive pattern of events and divine purpose (pg. 208)".