The superimposition of epochs question. The medieval period represents in the cultural imaginary a certain realm of "romance," of idealized beauty. We can see this already in Shakespeare: "When in the chronicles of wasted time / I see descriptions of the fairest wights, / And beauty making beautiful old rhyme / In praise of ladies dead and lovely knights." The word romance itself is of medieval origin. So any other period we want to idealize, must be "medievalized." "Thou swell, thou witty." Or else placed in a ambience of comparable resonance (Heian Japan, Ancient Greece).