The printing press definitely played a huge role. The earliest equivalents of modern mass market paperbacks were fueled by existing legends like King Arthur an

The printing press definitely played a huge role. The earliest equivalents of modern mass market paperbacks were fueled by existing legends like King Arthur and the Knights of the Roundtable which invented the whole medieval romanticism genre. I don't think it's a coincidence that a lot of the cosplay gear at renfaires reflects that 12-13th century era rather than the changes that amassed versus gun powder (although that might just be the ones I've been to). Sadly not much of that literature survived because it was bottom of the market and it's hard for scholars to really study.