The History of St. Valentine's Day

The day is thought to be named after two Christian Martyrs named Valentine who died on February 14th. These two Valentines are valentine of Rome who was martyrdom and buried on the Via Flaminia and was noted for curing the blindness of a young girl. Also there was Valentine of Terni who became a Bishop of Intermna in about AD 197 and was killed during the persecution of Emperor Aurelian. There is talk that the first "Valentine's note" sent was from his jailers daughter where it is alleged to have said "From your Valentine" which could have been because that during the ban of Roman soldiers marrying by Emperor Claudius II St. Valentine secretly helped arrange their marriages.

The actual Valentine that has a day named after him is still not clear. However, some say the two Valentines are in actual the same person.

The day started to become an event in the Middle Ages when the Courts became popular and the name Valentine comes from the word "valor" which means "worthy".

There is, however, another individual that could be the focus of the annual celebrations and that is valentine's of Alexandria (c. 100 - c. 153) who was an influential Gnostic leader and was close to becoming the Bishop of Rome. valentine's preached a version of Christianity where the marriage bed played an important role. Perhaps Valetinius is the source of this festival?

The association between love and February may also come from the historic link between the month and fertility. In ancient Athens the period between our mid-January and mid-February was known as Gameliion and was dedicated to the marriage of Zeus and Hera.

However, the first recorded link between St. Valentine's Day and romantic love, as opposed to solely for sexual union was in 1382 in "parliament of Foules" by Geoffrey Chaucer. Where he remarked that on this day people choose their mates (romantic and sexual partner rather than someone to go down the pub with). However, Chaucer used the context of birds mating and it was unlikely that in the Middle Ages birds would be doing this in mid-Febuary, he could have meant the Saint's day for Valentine of Genoa which as May 2nd.

The oldest surviving Valentine's note was written in 1415 and was from Charles, Duke of Orleans to his wife and was written from the Tower of London.