Writing this for my own purposes, trying to figure out WHY historians suddenly started looking at medieval times. WHEN is clear, around 1995. Googlebooks has abundant books after 2000, almost zero before.
Sherri Olson’s first book was published in 1996. She does historiography along with history, discussing the timeline of people studying medieval times. She notes the sharp departure from previous arrogant ignorance. Before the divide, historians simply dismissed the whole period as a meaningless void, undeserving of elite attention. It didn’t exist except for a few trite insults, pretty much the same insults used against modern peasants. But Olson doesn’t offer a clear why.
Changing fashions in academia are usually driven by changes in government interests, or changes in billionaire interests. Academia follows the money. Historians are less tightly connected to foundation and government pumps, but again I’m not sure why.
Polistra's Mill 