History of February 14 as a Celebration of Love

Original Celebration on Record

The earliest description of February 14 as an Annual Celebration of Love appears in the Charter of the Court of Love. The charter, allegedly issued by Charles VI of France at Mantes-la-Jolie in 1400, describes lavish festivities to be attended by several members of the royal court, including a feast, amorous song and poetry competitions, jousting and dancing.

Amid these festivities, the attending ladies would hear and rule on disputes from lovers. No other record of the court exists, and none of those named in the charter were present at Mantes except Charles’s queen, Isabeau of Bavaria, who may well have imagined it all while waiting out a plague.

Celebration and Status Worldwide

Valentine’s Day customs such as sending greeting cards (known as “valentines”), offering confectionery and presenting flowers developed in early modern England and spread throughout the English-speaking world in the 19th century. In the later 20th and early 21st centuries, these customs spread to other countries, like those of Halloween, or than aspects of Christmas.

15th Century Valentine Poetry

The earliest surviving Valentine is a 15th-century rondeau written by Charles, Duke of Orléans to his wife after he was captured at the Battle of Agincourt and imprisoned into the Tower of London.

This oldest known surviving valentine was composed in French in 1415 and is held in the British Library still today.

After a loss, the body releases hormones and chemicals reminiscent of a “fight, flight or freeze” response. Each day, reminders of the loss trigger this stress response and ultimately remodel the brain’s circuitry.

Charles, Duke of Orléans must have written this poem to describe his feelings towards love – ‘I am already sick of love‘, as his coping mechanism as he stays locked in prison away from the love of his wife, Bonne of Armagnac.

He is now remembered as an accomplished medieval poet, owing to the more than five hundred extant poems he produced, written in both French and English, during his 25 years spent as a prisoner of war and after his return to France.

Un Adieu à L’amourJe suis desja d’amour tanné,
Ma tres doulce Valentinée,
Car pour moi fustes trop tart née,
Et moy pour vous fus trop tost né.
Dieu lui pardoint qui estrené
M’a de vous, pour toute l’année.
Je suis desja d’amour tanné,
Ma tres doulce Valentinée.

Bien m’estoye suspeconné,
Qu’auroye telle destinée,
Ains que passast ceste journée,
Combien qu’Amours l’eust ordonné.
Je suis desja d’amour tanné,
Ma tres doulce Valentinée.

Original English: A Farewell to LoveI am already sick of love,
My very gentle Valentine,
Since for me you were born too late,
And I for you was born too soon.
God forgives him who has estranged
Me from you for the whole year.
I am already sick of love,
My very gentle Valentine.

Well might I have suspected
That such a destiny,
Thus would have happened this day,
How much that Love would have commanded.
I am already sick of love,
My very gentle Valentine.

Love lost still to this day seems to be a serious encourager for all to speak or write the words that may hide inside their hearts.

Love is not a feeling (though we certainly do feel love); it’s an intimate emotional bond that strengthens over time through a series of vulnerable and supportive actions. We take actions that build love. We take actions that strengthen love. And over time, the intimate emotional bond that is love will happen.

 

“To love someone fiercely, to believe in something with your whole heart, to celebrate a fleeting moment in time, to fully engage in a life that doesn’t come with guarantees – these are risks that involve vulnerability and often pain. But, I’m learning that recognizing and leaning into the discomfort of vulnerability teaches us how to live with joy, gratitude and grace.”

― Brené Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection

NOTE: What was the first Valentine Poem?

But his 700-line poem “Parlement of Foules” has the special distinction of being the first surviving record of a connection between Valentine’s Day and romantic love. Chaucer probably composed the poem in (1343?–1400). The poem is in the form of a dream vision in rhyme royal stanza and contains one of the earliest references to the idea that St. Valentine’s Day is a special day for lovers.