The wiki page to the Eglinton Festival notes succinctly: "Medieval culture was widely admired [in the 18th and 19th centuries] as an antidote to the modern enli

The wiki page to the Eglinton Festival notes succinctly: "Medieval culture was widely admired [in the 18th and 19th centuries] as an antidote to the modern enlightenment and industrial age." This kicked into overdrive in the 20th, with the nascent genre of literary fantasy (and, later, video games,) showing people alternate worlds that are potent medicine against the enlightenment and industrial age -- for they contain little or nothing of the more dour aspects of 9th-17th century life. If anything, it seems to me that most fantasy books and games like Dungeons and Dragons only make sense if you imagine they take place in the distant post-industrial future. They're too cozy; there is far too much healing magic and other tech; their economies are in many cases post-scarcity...