Now, this isn't a question about any historical events involving actual knights, or actual royals, but more of a question about the history of folklore. I'm sure that many (if not most) of you, while growing up, heard stories involving heroic knights and princesses as damsels-in-distress, or stories about witches (e.g., Hansel and Gretel) or other magical stories involving royals somehow (e.g., Rumpelstiltskin). Additionally, this kind of setting is also found in nursery rhymes, etc.
My question: how did this romanticized (because it obviously isn't a historically accurate description of anything) magical world develop over time? I know this may not be a question that most historians are familiar with, as it's more of a folklore thing, but hopefully some of you guys know, since I've been researching it a bit today and have turned up blanks.
Thanks!
The European folk told a number of genres of oral tradition, but relevant here are the folktales and legends. Legends tended to be shorter and they were told to be believed. Folktales (which are often called fairytales) were longer and were intended as fiction - the novels of the folk. Legends were typically told of contemporary events: "I just saw a [fill in the blank]." The exception to this were legends that explained the origins of things.
Folktales were typically projected into a past, fanciful time and they often featured what the folk considered to be the most glamorous of possibilities. This often translated into a setting several centuries earlier - in other words a medieval setting featuring royalty and castles. The storyteller purposefully romanticized many of these stories because they wanted to capture a sense of an extremely opulent world as a means of making the stories as exciting as possible.
Interestingly, legends often described supernatural beings of nature (referred to with different terms, but including fairies, elves, huldrefolk, or piskies) in a contemporary setting, but these creatures often wore clothes that were antique, so even in this realistic genre, the realm of the supernatural looked backward to a former time. Some of this is addressed nicely by George Denis Zimmermann, The Irish Storyteller (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2001) - a monumental work.
I hope this helps; if you have additional questions or if I have not been clear, let me know.