I wonder if the romanticization of the medieval era has anything to do with a steady decline of purpose and fairness in human endeavor since the beginning of the colonial period.
There’s nothing romantic in traveling to far away places to slay Kings and subdue people. There were romanticization of piracy could have to do with the English quest to overtake the Spanish empire, but also with the realization that empire is rich and looting native lands anyway. What harm is then to steal from the robber?
After the widespread global military deployment of the colonial period we got was firearm combat— even less romantic than the face-to-face fighting of the Middle Ages. In firearm combat, the most cowardly survive, and the bigger gun wins. Is this why in spite of the many errors that have followed, we still default to the Middle Ages when telling stories of brave and just warriors in battle?
Tangentially it’s no surprise that movies depicting brave gun warriors, like those of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone, come off as tacky and unrealistic. One can marry the reality of gun fighting in the modern era, With the bravery of fearlessly charging head on against the enemy. One cannot admire someone who subdues an opponent, face-to-face through strength and wit, in the same way one perceives a man who just presses a trigger.