History of Valentines Day

What does any of this have to do with February 14? You may well ask.

The first known association of Valentine’s Day with romantic love and the source of this confusion is English poet Geoffrey Chaucer (1340?-1400).

I might have know it would be him, I always found him very confusing in school. In May each year, Chaucer published a "Valentine" love poem such as the lines below from ‘Parlement of Foules’.

“For this was sent on Valentine’s day
When every bird comes there to choose his mate”

These lines come from a poem which was written to honor the first anniversary of the engagement of King Richard II of England to Anne of Bohemia. (They were married in 1382, only 14 years old.) Also he wrote it with f’s for s’s and lots of th’s and y’s which I have removed because otherwise Chaucer continues to confuse us all!

Other poets picked up on this poetic connection between flowers and  St. Valentine (that we assume Chaucer connected with Valentine, first Bishop of Genoa in Italy, who had his day on May 3rd). May 3rd was the last day of the Roman Flower festival celebrating the goddess Flora who was goddess of fertility in the fields, who gives honey by calling birds and insects to the flowers, and who also looks after budding teenagers.

But in northern Europe, the most well known St. Valentine's Day was on Feb 14th. So Chaucer's readers assumed that Chaucer referred to February 14th as Valentine’s Day, without logically questioning that mid-February is a little early for birds to mate in England.What is logic worth to a poet?

Courtly love was becoming an established tradition at this time. A “High Court of Love” was established in Paris on Valentine’s Day in 1400 by using the language of the law courts to deal with love contracts, betrayals, and violence against women.The judges were selected by women on the basis of a poetry reading. Now there’s a plot for a good film script!

In the last century Hallmark fully established Valentine Day Cards, and red roses and chocolates became traditional gifts to give to a loved one (or diamonds if you could afford them).Then some people also began to include friends, family and children when they celebrate this day, giving small gifts to express their love and affection.

So I hope you are now as confused as I’ve become about the origin of Saint Valentine. I guess all we really need to know is that if we want to remain on good terms (and, if we’re in a relationship, to sleep in the same bed) with our loved one, we’d better remember to buy them a very special gift on Valentine’s day and tell them how much we love them.

That's not so hard...