You will find below posts on Valentine’s Day. These include information on Candlemas, the Lupercalia, Februus, and Februarius. The month of February has one important Christian feast we have already discussed: Candlemas or laChandeleur. I have updated some of these posts because my sources have been edited or rewritten. New information may have come to light. Charles d’Orléans is discussed in at least two of these posts. Charles d’Orléans is a famous poet, but he was a Prince of the Blood. He was captured at the Battle of Agincourt (25 October 1415) and was a prisoner in England for some 25 years.
Historiated (see above) first letters are quite common in illuminated manuscripts and incunables. Incunables are printed books containing spaces for enluminures. They are also called fifteeners (fifteenth century).
I attempted to copy these posts, but I do not know the Block Editor sufficiently.
This post was published in 2012 and has been revised. When I first published it, I had very few readers.
Charles, Duke of Orléans (24 November 1394, Paris – 5 January 1465), was among the victims of the Hundred Years’ War (1337 to 1453). Had Charles reigned, he would have been a Valois king, a cadet branch of the Bourbon kings. The Salic Law ended the Valois line as women could not accede to the throne of France. Charles’s son,Louis XII, orphaned at the age of three, would be King of France.
Charles d’Orléans is associated with the lore about St Valentine’s Day or Valentine’s Day. He circulated in French courtly circles the Valentine stories told by Chaucer and Othon de Grandson‘s (FR, Wikipedia): birds, martyrs and a note signed “From your Valentine.” Coincidentally, his mother was named Valentina, Valentina Visconti. Her picture is featured below, mourning Louis.
Charles d’Orléans is a fascinating and intriguing figure. He became Duke of Orléans at the early age of 13, when his father, Louis d’Orléans, was assassinated by men acting on behalf of the Duke of Burgundy, the opposing faction. Charles was an Armagnac and, therefore, a supporter of the House of Valois. Joan of Arc was burned at the stake on 30 May 1431, during Charles’ imprisonment in England. Because of her, a legitimate French king, Charles VII (22 February 1403 – 22 July 1461) ascended to the throne. He was crowned at Reims Cathedral.
Valentine of Milan, Charles’ mother, mourning her husband’s death, François-Fleury Richard(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Jeanne d’Arc, painting, c. 1485. (Centre Historique des Archives Nationales, Paris, AE II 2490) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Charles was wounded at the Battle of Agincourt (25 October 1415) and was taken prisoner by Sir Richard Waller. Because he was a “prince du sang,” literally a “prince of the blood,” i.e. a possible heir to the throne of France, Henry V, did not want him to return to France. In fact, Henry V of England also claimed he was heir to the throne of France. So Charles spent nearly 25 years detained in England. It is said that, upon his return to France, in 1440, he spoke English better than French. (See Charles d’Orléans, Wikipedia.)
the Beginning of a Lasting Friendship
During his imprisonment, Charles was seldom behind bars, but housed quite comfortably in various castles. One of these was Wallingford Castle, a castle that belonged to Sir Richard Waller, who had captured him at the Battle of Agincourt (now Azincourt), an English victory and a key moment in the Hundred Years’ War (1337 to 1453).
A very sincere and long-lasting friendship grew between Sir Waller and the Duke, who, upon his release, was very generous to his friend and jailor. In fact, Sir Richard Waller added the fleur-de-lis to the Waller Coat of Arms. Moreover, Charles was a relatively free prisoner, who frequently travelled to London, but never on his own. Yet, he was separated from his family and away from his native country for a very long time. Besides, he must have worried about the future. How could he tell whether or not he would one day return to France?
So Charles whiled away the years of his lengthy captivity writing poems and songs, which, I would suspect, helped him cope in his « Forêt delongue attente », to use his own words (The Forest of Long Awaiting, my very mediocre translation). It could be said, therefore, that he created for himself a “literary homeland,” and never left it. When he returned to France, he stayed at his castle in Blois and entertained poets.
I would also suspect our prisoner was not only rescued by art but that art, poetry in particular, was his true calling. Charles d’Orléans is an important figure in the history of French literature. Britannica describes him as:
“one of the greatest, of the courtly poets of France, who during exile in England also earned a reputation for his poems in English.”[1]
Charles d’Orléans & Marie de Clèves (a tapestry) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Charles’ Son: a Future King
After he was freed, in 1440, Charles lived at Château de Blois and befriended poets. But his poems are not his only legacy. At the age of 46, he married 14-year-old Marie de Clèves:
« Car pour moi fustes trop tart née, Et moy pour vous fus trop tost né. »
“You for me were born too late.
And I for you was born too soon.”
Marie de Clèves, whom he loved dearly, bore him three children, one of whom would be Louis XII, King of France. Charles was 68 when his son was born. He had turned to poetry, but he was a “prince du sang” (a Prince of the Blood, i.e. a possible heir to the throne of France). So was his son.
Charles reçoit l’hommage d’un vassal(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Hella Haasse
In England, Charles wrote ballades(ballads). In France, he wrote rondeaux and rondels.Therondeau however is also a musical form.[2] At the end of En la forêt de longue attente, we find un envoi, a few lines of praise or homage, or a short conclusion. Charles d’Orléans’ Le Printemps, the most famous rondel in the French language, uses a refrain, repeated lines.
Charles d’Orléans’ En la forêt de longue attente[3] is a ballade, written in England and containing an envoi. It was translated in 1949, as Het Woud der verwachting, by Hella Haasse (2 February 1918 – 29 septembre 2011). Hella Haasse’s translations of Charles d’Orléans poetry created a revival of Charles’ poetry in France. But Debussy had already set some of Charles’s poems to music he composed. Edward Elgar set to music “Is she not passing fair.”
“Le Printemps,” the Best-Known Rondel
Charles d’Orléans’ “Le Printemps” (spring time) is the best-known rondel in the French language. A rondelconsists of 13 octosyllabic verses (8 syllables). The translation, not mine, is literal. There are more lyrical translations.
1)
Le-temps-a-lais-sé-son-man-teau (8 syllables)
De-vent,-de-froi-dure-et-de-pluie
Et s’est vêtu de broderie,
De soleil luisant, clair et beau.
The season removed his coat Of wind, cold and rain,
And put on embroidery,
Gleaming sunshine, bright and beautiful.
2)
Il n’y a bête ni oiseau,
Qu’en son jargon ne chante ou crie:
“Le temps a laissé son manteau!
De vent, de froidure et de pluie.”
There is neither animal nor bird
That doesn’t tell in it’s own tongue:
“The season removed his coat. Of wind, cold and rain.”
3)
Rivière, fontaine et ruisseau
Portent en livrée jolie,
Gouttes d’argent, d’orfèvrerie,
Chacun s’habille de nouveau
Le temps a laissé son manteau.
Rivers, fountains and brooks
Wear, as handsome garments,
Silver drops of goldsmith’s work;
Everyone puts on new clothing:
The season removed his coat.
So the story of Charles d’Orléans is a story of survival. During his years of exile, he found a refuge in poetry. He wrote Ballades, rondeaux mainly, but also composed songs and wrote lays (lais) and complaints (complaintes). His poetry is characterized by melancholy, yet it reveals a sense of humour.
Consider Charles’ legacy. Yes, his son would be King of France, Louis XII. But I am thinking of Charles d’Orléans’ poems and songs. Charles d’Orléans lived five hundred years ago, but we still read his poems. He is therefore alive and linked to the lore of St Valentine’s Day.
[2] Together with the ballade and the virelai, it [the rondeau] was considered one of the three formes fixes, and one of the verse forms in France most commonly set to music between the late 13th and the 15th centuries. It is structured around a fixed pattern of repetition of material involving a refrain.
[3]En la forêt de longue attente is a Wikisource publication. It is Ballade V.
—ooo—
(please click on the titles to hear the music)Charles d’Orléans: “Le temps a laissé son manteau,” Michel Polnareff
poet: Charles d’Orléans
piece: “Le temps a laissé son manteau” (Le Printemps)
performer: Ernst van Altena
Love has long been celebrated. In ancient Greece, the marriage of Jupiter to Hera was commemorated between mid-January and mid-February. As for the Romans, in mid-February, they held the festival of the Lupercalia. According to Britannica, the Lupercalia was
[t]he festival, which celebrated the coming of spring, included fertility rites and the pairing off of women with men by lottery.[i]
At the end of the 5th century, Pope Gelasius I replaced the Lupercalia with a Christian feast, the “Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary,” to be celebrated on the 2nd of February. It is said that, in 496, the Pope issued a decree that made the 14th of February the feast of at least one saint named Valentine. However, according to Britannica, “Valentine’s Day did not come to be celebrated as a day of romance from about the 14th century.”[ii]
At any rate, the Lupercalia was eventually replaced by Saint Valentine’s Day, celebrated on the 14th of February. The 14th of February is no longer a feast day in the Catholic Church. But it is a feast day in the Anglican Church. Moreover, Ireland and France have relics of St Valentine, Valentine of Terni in Dublin and an anonymous St Valentine in France.
Saints and Martyrs
There is conflicting information concerning saints named Valentine. It would be my opinion that the only st Valentine we can associate with Valentine’s Day is the saint who slipped his jailor’s daughter a note worded “from your Valentine.”
In French, Valentine’s Day is still called la Saint-Valentin, which suggests that there is a saint and martyr named Valentin. In fact, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, there may be three saints named Valentine:
Valentine of Terni, the bishop of Interrama, now Terni, also a 3rd-century martyr buried on the Via Flaminia,
a Valentine who suffered in Africa with several companions, and
the Valentine who restored his jail keeper’s daughter’s sight and slipped her a note that read “From your Valentine,” the night before his martyrdom. If this Valentine is associated with Valentine’s Day, it is because of the note he slipped to his jail keeper’s daughter which read: “From your Valentine.” He would be our Valentine or St Valentine.
Valentine’s Day Cards: The Origin
St Valentine, the third Valentine is mentioned, albeit inconspicuously, in Jacobus de Voragine’s The Golden Legend. Moreover, the Roman Martyrology, “the Catholic Church‘s official list of recognized saints,” gives only one Saint Valentine, the martyr who was executed and buried on the Via Flaminia and whose feast day is 14th February. (Saint Valentine, Wikipedia.) This saint’s only link with St Valentine’s day is the note he slipped to his jailer’s daughter: “From your Valentine.” This note would be the origin of Valentine’s Day cards.
St Valentine was martyred about c. 270 CE, probably 269, by Roman emperor Claudius II Gothicus.[iii]According to the emperor, married men were lesser soldiers. This St Valentine could be Valentine of Rome. But it could also be that this Valentine, Valentine of Rome, is the same person as Valentine of Terni, a priest and bishop also martyred in the 3rd century CE and buried on the Via Flaminia. This view is not supported by the Encyclopædia Britannica.[iv]
If this saint is associated with Valentine’s Day, the note signed “From your Valentine” is the only link between a saint named Valentine and Valentine’s Day. The note constitutes the required romantic element.
The Romantic Element
Chaucer: the day birds mate
Le Roman de la Rose
tHE lADY AND THE uNICORN
As mentioned above, Saint Valentine’s Day was not the feast of lovers (i.e. people in love) until a myth was born according to which birds mated on February the 14th. This myth is probably quite ancient but it finds its relatively recent roots is Geoffrey Chaucer‘s (14th century) Parliament of Foules. Othon III de Grandson (1340 and 1350 – 7 August 1397) (Fr Wikipedia), a poet and captain at the court of England spread the legend to the Latin world in the 14th century. This legend is associated with the famous mille-fleurs, (thousand flowers) tapestry called La Dame à la Licorne(The Lady and the Unicorn), housed in the Cluny Museum in Paris. Finally, Chaucer translated part of Le Roman de la Rose.
N.B. The first version of the Canterbury Tales to be published in print was William Caxton’s 1478 edition. Caxton translated and printed The Golden Legend in 1483.
Dissemination
the Legend about birds mating
Othon III de Grandson
Charles d’Orléans
Chaucer: Roman de la rose
It would appear that Othon III de Grandson, our poet and captain, wrote a third of his poetry in praise of that tradition. Othon III de Grandson wrote:
La Complainte de Saint Valentin (I & II), or Valentine’s Lament,
La Complaincte amoureuse de Sainct Valentin Gransson (The Love Lament of St Valentine Gransson),
Le Souhait de Saint Valentin (St Valentine’s Wish),
and LeSonge Saint Valentin (St Valentine’s Dream). (See Othon III de Grandson [in French], Wikipedia.)
Knowledge of these texts was disseminated in courtly circles, the French court in particular, at the beginning of the 15th century, by Charles d’Orléans. At some point, Othon’s Laments were forgotten, but St Valentine’s Day was revived in the 19th century.
In short, St Valentine’s Day is about
a martyr who, the night before his martyrdom, slipped a note to the lady he had befriended, his jailor’s blind daughter, signing it “From your Valentine.”
It is about a legend, found in Chaucer‘s Parliament of Foules, according to which birds mate on the 14th of February.
It is associated with an allegorical tapestry: La Dame à la licorne.
It is about Othon III de Grandson (FR, Wikipedia), a poet and a captain who devoted thirty percent of his poetry to the traditions surrounding St Valentine’s Day.
It is also about courtly love and, specifically, Le Roman de la Rose, part of which was translated into English by Geoffrey Chaucer.
Finally, it is about Charles d’Orléans who circulated the lore about St Valentine in courtly circles in France.
There is considerable information in Wikipedia’s entry of St Valentine’s Day. It was or has become a trans-cultural tradition.
Vases with Red Poppies, by Van Gogh (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I have been doing maintenance work on my posts and ended up reinserting images that had disappeared and revising certain blogs. I also discovered a missing blog on Chaucer & Valentine’s Day and rediscovered Charles d’Orléans.
Charles d’Orléans (24 November 1394, Paris – 5 January 1465, Amboise) was a French Duke who was taken prisoner at the Battle of Agincourt, on the 25th of October 1415, and spent nearly 25 years in England, as a “prisoner.” Because he was a possible heir to the throne of France, the English king, Henry V, would not allow him to leave England.
Charles’ first wife died in childbirth, but their daughter Joan survived. His second wife died while he was a prisoner in England. But when he returned to France, he married 14-year-old Marie de Clèves (19 September 1426 – 23 August 1487). He was then 46. She gave birth to the first of their three children, Marie d’Orléans, in 1457. Their second child, born in 1462, would be Louis XII, king of France. Their third child, Anne of Orleans, was born in 1464.
When Charles was released, in 1440, “speaking better English than French,” according to the English chronicler Raphael Holinshed (Charles d’Orléans, Wikipedia), he had become not only a poet, but an excellent poet. One of his poems is exquisite. It’s about winter: Le temps a laissé son manteau… (The weather left its coat…). It is included in my now relatively old, but updated post. However, for this post, I have chosen a frivolous song.
Claude Debussy (22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) wrote music based on this poem, but we also have a Dutch song, mixing French and Dutch. Moreover, there is a site that features Charles singing a St Valentine’s song. When he returned to France, Charles d’Orléans made Valentine’s Day known in courtly circles.
It seems Geoffrey Chaucer is the father of Valentine’s day. He wrote that Valentine’s Day was the day on which birds mated. This myth probably existed long before Chaucer, but he made it official, so to speak. It is included in his Parlement of Fowles, 1382.
Painting, c. 1485. An artist’s interpretation, since the only known direct portrait has not survived. (Centre Historique des Archives Nationales, Paris, AE II 2490) (Photo and caption credit: Wikipedia)
—ooo—
Allow me to reflect on the One Hundred Years’ War (1337-1353) that opposed France and England and their various allies and, at the same time, also to reflect on the Black Death, a pandemics that occurred eleven years after the war began.
The One Hundred Years’ War was a series of wars. There were periods of peace. Still, between 1337 and 1453, men were killing one another as France fought to oust the English.
The French did oust the English, despite England’s victory at Agincourt, the victory out of which emerged a poet, Charles, Duke of Orléans, and other English victories. But consider the price.
A Pyrrhic Victory
It was a Pyrrhic victory. During part of the years Charles d’Orléans was detained in England, a brave young woman, named Joan of Arc (ca. 1412 – 30 May 1431), without whom Charles VII (22 February 1403 – 22 July 1461) would not have been crowned King of France, in 1429, was betrayed, sold to England by the Burgundians and burned at the stake on May 30, 1431. She has been pronounced a martyr, beatified (1909), and canonized. But recognition did not give her back her most precious possession: her life. Life, short as it is and harsh as it may be.
The Triumph of Death, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, ca. 1562 (Museo del Prado) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The Black Death: The Plage
The French did oust the English. However, during the One Hundred Years’ War, half the population of France died. Between 1348 and 1350, the Black Death ravaged a large part of Europe. But, if one combines war, famine and the plague, France’s losses were enormous.
Pandemics can be more devastating than wars as they are likely to resurface as epidemics. If you have read my post on the Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry, you may remember that, in 1416, the Limbourg brothers died of the plague, as did Jean de France who had commissioned his extraordinary Book of Hours in 1410. When they died, the brothers had nearly but not completely carried out their assignment. The Très Riches Heures were completed by Barthélemy van Eyck and Jean Colombe.
The plague killed mercilessly. In some regions of Europe, it snuffed two out of three lives in the space of four days, and the only possible salvation was immediate flight before contamination. There were epidemics of the plague from about the time of the Crusades until the late eighteenth century.
But we need not look back that far, i.e. as far as 1348-1350. The so-called “Spanish Flu” of 1918 killed more individuals than all the battles of World War I combined. I was told that a woman lost three grown sons in the space of twenty-four hours.
Conclusion
We are at the mercy of Lady Fortune who is not always generous. Yet, we lend her a hand. People are still killing one another, regardless of the cost: loss of life, trauma, impoverishment. In fact, let us turn the other cheek, so to speak.
Gustav Mahler (7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911)
« Symphony No. 5 in C-Sharp Minor: IV. Adagietto (Sehr langsam) »
Kermis / The Peasant Dance, ca. 1568 Pieter Bruegel the Elder (Netherlandish, ca. 1525/30–1569)
In a blog entitled “Valentine’s Day: Martyrs and Birds,” I mentioned Charles d’Orléans who helped spread Othon de Grandson‘s FR stories about St Valentine’s Day at the court of France. I put a link to information concerning Charles d’Orléans, as there was no time or space to tell his story.
Charles d’Orléans & the Battle of Agincourt (1415)
Charles d’Orléans (24 November 1394, Paris – 5 January 1465) is a fascinating and intriguing figure. He became Duke of Orléans at the early age 13, when his father, Louis X, was assassinated by men acting on behalf of the Duke of Burgundy, the opposing faction.
Charles was wounded at the Battle of Agincourt (25 October 1415) and was taken prisoner by Sir Richard Waller. Because he was a “prince du sang,” a prince of the blood, and, therefore, a possible heir to the throne of France, the King of England, Henri V, did not want him to return to France. Charles would spend nearly 25 years detained in England.
Charles as Prisoner: the Beginning of a Lasting Friendship
During his imprisonment, he was not behind bars but housed quite comfortably in various castles. One of these was Wallingford Castle, a castle that belonged to Sir Richard Waller who had captured him at the Battle of Agincourt, a key moment in the Hundred Years War (1337 to 1453).
Fortunately, a very sincere and long-lasting friendship grew between Sir Waller and the Duke, who, upon his release, was very generous to his friend and jailor. In fact, Sir Richard Waller added the fleur-de-lis to the Waller Coat of Arms. Moreover, Charles was a relatively free ‘prisoner,’ who frequently travelled to London, though never on his own. Yet, he was separated from his family and homeland for a very long time. Besides, he must have wondered whether France would survive and whether he would one day return to his homeland?
The Tower of London(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
A poet is born
So, Charles whiled away the years of his lengthy captivity writing poems and songs, which, I would suspect, helped him cope with his “longue attente,” to use his own words. One could suggest, therefore, that he created for himself a “literary homeland,” which he never left. When he returned to France, he lived at the castle of Blois, where he entertained poets. One could suspect our prisoner was rescued by art and that art was his true calling. Charles d’Orléans is an important figure in the history of French literature.
A Son & Future King
But his poems are not his only legacy. At the age of 46, he married Marie de Clèves who was 14 years old. She bore him three children, one of whom would be Louis XII, King of France. Charles was 68 when his son was born. He had turned to poetry, but he was a “prince du sang” (a Prince of the Blood; possible heir to the throne of France), and so was his son.
Charles reçoit l’hommage d’un vassal (click to enlarge)
Hella Haasse
Charles’ best-known poem is En la forêt de longue attente, translated in 1949, as Het Woud der Verwachting, Hella Haasse (2 February 1918 – 29 September 2011). Hella Haasse’s translations of Charles d’Orléans poetry created a revival of Charles’s poetry in France. But Debussy had already set some of Charles’s poems to the music he composed.
However, the following poem is the one that lingers in my mind:
Le temps a laissé son manteau
De vent, de froidure et de pluie
Et s’est vêtu de broderie,
De soleil luisant, clair et beau.
The season removed its coat
Of wind, cold and rain,
And put on embroidery,
Gleaming sunshine, bright and beautiful.
Il n’y a bête ni oiseau,
Qu’en son jargon ne chante ou crie:
“Le temps a laissé son manteau!
De vent, de froidure et de pluie.”
There is neither animal nor bird
That doesn’t tell in its own tongue:
The season removed his coat
of wind, cold and rain
Rivière, fontaine et ruisseau
Portent en livrée jolie,
Gouttes d’argent, d’orfèvrerie,
Chacun s’habille de nouveau
Le temps a laissé son manteau.
Rivers, fountains and brooks
Wear, as handsome garments,
Silver drops of goldsmith’s work;
Everyone puts on new clothing:
The season removed his coat.
So, the story of Charles d’Orléans is a story of survival. During his years of exile, he found a refuge in poetry, an above-mentioned “literary homeland.”
Let us consider his legacy. Yes, his son would be the King of France, as Louis XII. However, I am thinking of Charles d’Orléans’ poems and his songs. Charles d’Orléans died five hundred years ago, yet Charles d’Orléans lives in his poetry and songs, and he is forever linked to the lore of St Valentine’s Day.
(please click on the titles to hear the music)Charles d’Orléans: “Le temps a laissé son manteau,” Michel Polnareff
poet: Charles d’Orléans
piece: “Le temps a laissé son manteau”
performer: Ernst van Altena
Love has long been celebrated. In ancient Greece, the marriage of Jupiter to Hera was commemorated between mid-January and mid-February. As for the Romans, in mid-February, they held the festival of the Lupercalia. According to Britannica, the Lupercalia was
[t]he festival, which celebrated the coming of spring, included fertility rites and the pairing off of women with men by lottery.[i]
At the end of the 5th century, Pope Gelasius I attempted to replace the Lupercalia with a Christian feast, the “Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary,” and a commemoration of the “Presentation of Jesus at the Temple” be celebrated on the 2nd of February. Simeon recognized the Messiah in Jesus. Having seen Jesus, Simeon said that now he could leave: the Nunc Dimittis ued a decree that made the 14th of .February the feast of at least one saint named Valentine. Britannica differs: “Valentine’s Day came to be celebrated as a day of romance from about the 14th century.”[ii]
Lupercalia was eventually overshadowed by Saint Valentine’s Day, celebrated on the 14th of February. The 14th of February is no longer a feast day in the Catholic Church. But it is a feast day in the Anglican Church. Moreover, Ireland and France have relics of St Valentine, Valentine of Terni in Dublin and an anonymous St Valentine in France.
Saints and Martyrs
There is conflicting information concerning saints named Valentine. It would be my opinion that the only St Valentine we can associate with Valentine’s Day is the saint who slipped his jailor’s daughter a note worded “From your Valentine.”
In French, Valentine’s Day is still called la Saint-Valentin, which suggests that there is a saint and martyr named Valentin. In fact, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, there may be three saints named Valentine:
Valentine of Terni, the bishop of Interrama, now Terni, also a 3rd-century martyr buried on the Via Flaminia,
a Valentine who suffered in Africa with several companions and the
Valentine who restored his jail keeper’s daughter’s sight and slipped her a note that read “From your Valentine,” the night before his martyrdom.
If this Valentine is associated with Valentine’s Day, it is because of the note he slipped to his daughter. This saint would be Valentine of Rome, our St Valentine
Valentine Day’s Cards: Origin
Valentine of Rome is mentioned, albeit inconspicuously, in Jacobus de Voragine’s The Golden Legend. Moreover, the Roman Martyrology, “the Catholic Church‘s official list of recognized saints,” gives only one Saint Valentine, the martyr who was executed and buried on the Via Flaminia and whose feast day is the 14th of February. (Saint Valentine, Wikipedia.) This saint’s only link with St Valentine’s day is the note he slipped to his jailer’s daughter. This note would be the origin of Valentine’s Day cards.
The Emperor was of the opinion that married men were lesser soldiers…
St Valentine was martyred about c. 270 CE, probably 269, by the Roman Emperor Claudius II Gothicus.[iii]The Emperor was of the opinion that married men were lesser soldiers. This St Valentine could be Valentine of Rome. But it could also be that this Valentine, Valentine of Rome, is the same person as Valentine of Terni, a priest and bishop also martyred in the 3rd century CE and buried on the Via Flaminia. This view is not supported by the Encyclopædia Britannica.[iv]
However, as I mentioned above, if this saint is associated with Valentine’s Day, the note signed “From your Valentine” is the only link between a saint named Valentine and Valentine’s Day. The note constitutes the required romantic element.
The Romantic Element
The Lady and the Unicorn
Chaucer: the day birds mate
As mentioned above, Saint Valentine’s Day was not the feast of lovers (i.e. people in love) until a myth was born according to which birds mated on February the 14th. This myth is probably quite ancient but it finds its relatively recent roots is Geoffrey Chaucer‘s (14th century) Parliament of Foules. Othon III de Grandson (1340 and 1350 – 7 August 1397) [in French], a poet and captain at the court of England, spread the legend to the Latin world in the 14th century. This legend is associated with the famous mille-fleurs (thousand flowers) tapestry called La Dame à la Licorne(The Lady and the Unicorn), housed in the Cluny Museum in Paris.
N.B. The first version of the Canterbury Tales to be published in print was William Caxton’s 1478 edition. Caxton translated and printed The Golden Legend in 1483.
Dissemination
Birds mating on 14th February
Othon III de Granson
Charles d’Orléans
It would appear that Othon III de Grandson, our poet and captain, wrote a third of his poetry in praise of that tradition. He wrote:
La Complainte de Saint Valentin (I & II), or Valentine’s Lament,
La Complaincte amoureuse de Sainct Valentin Gransson (The Love Lament of St Valentine Gransson),
Le souhait de Saint Valentin (St Valentine’s Wish),
and LeSonge Saint Valentin (St Valentine’s Dream). (See Othon III de Grandson [in French], Wikipedia)
Knowledge of these texts was disseminated in courtly circles, the French court in particular, at the beginning of the 15th century, by Charles d’Orléans. At some point, Othon’s Laments were forgotten, but St Valentine’s Day was revived in the 19th century.
In short, St Valentine’s Day is about
a martyr who, the night before his martyrdom, slipped a note to the lady he had befriended, his jailor’s blind daughter, signing it “From your Valentine.”
It is about a legend, found in Chaucer‘s Parliament of Foules, according to which birds mate on the 14th of February.
It is associated with an allegorical tapestry: La Dame à la licorne.
It is about Othon III de Grandson (FR, Wikipedia), a poet and a captain who devoted thirty percent of his poetry to the traditions surrounding St Valentine’s Day.
It is also about courtly love and, specifically, Le Roman de la Rose, part of which was translated into English by Geoffrey Chaucer.
Finally, it is about Charles d’Orléans who circulated the lore about St Valentine in courtly circles in France.
There is considerable information in Wikipedia’s entry of St Valentine’s Day. It was or has become a transcultural tradition. It cannot be celebrated in countries where marriages are arranged.
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