Reply #9: also the Victorian era

[Lisa]

English artists and writers (like William Morris) started another wave of medieval nostalgia, as a backlash to industrialization. King Arthur got mixed up in all that, so both the post-Roman legend and the medieval revival were recycled. And arguably, this happened again in the late 20th century (popularity of Tolkien's books, the Society for Creative Anachronism, etc.).

Another figure who gets revived repeatedly is Robin Hood. It's kind of fun, to see the many incarnations he's been through, reflecting different time periods (most recently as a subversive anarchist-type, with a band that includes women and minorities).