At what point in Jewish history did waiting 6 hours between milk and meat become the uniform approach in most communities (or in some places 1 hour or 3 hours)? Prior to communities adopting uniform rules, it appears the Rabbis had quite varied opinions on when it was acceptable to consume milk after meat.
Rabbeinu Tam's tradition, for example, would be considered not kosher by the frum community today (see, for example: Tosfot Chullin 104b quoting Rabbeinu Tam and Bahag, holding that there’s no minimum amount of time -- one only needs to wash one’s hands and wash out one’s mouth. The Taz (89:2) cites an explanation of the practice of some to wait one hour between meat and milk as a "compromise" (suggesting a big enough divide if acknowledged like this) between the opinion of Tosafists who holds that Birkat Hamazon is the only boundary needed between the two meals and the Rambam who believes that we must wait approximately six hours. Indeed, if someone ate meat and forgot, and within the 6 hours he picked up a glass of milk, and he made ‘Shehakol Nehiye Bidvaro’ Ovadia Yosef discusses this question in Yichave Da’at and says as follows if a person made this mistake, he definitely should taste from the milk, because the other option of not tasting brings a bigger problem of Beracha Livatala. He is lenient on the law of 6 hours because opinions of those in the camp of the Tosafot that hold that the law of 6 hours does not even apply and that you are not allowed to eat milk and meat in the same Seuda but outside the same Seuda, it’s OK.
Was there a point in time or major event that led to such conformity on a topic that had such diversity in opinion amongst early halachic leaders?
