That time of year has come again. February– a time of love, bad weather, and a hope that spring is just around the corner. Don’t the silvery, frosty days just make you want to cuddle up next to your crush and sip hot chocolate? I know, some of you are rolling your eyes and imitating a gag. You may ask, why is February so closely affiliated with Valentine’s day? Why do we even have a holiday celebrating love in the form of red hearts and candy chocolates? Valentine’s day was turned into such a commercial holiday that you might wonder if it has always been that way, or is there something more to it? Well, you all can thank Chaucer for this one. Interestingly enough, Chaucer wrote the first Valentine’s day love poem entitled, Parlement of Foules. This nearly 700 line-poem is what helped give Valentine’s day the association of romantic love and human bonding.

Chaucer and his fourteenth-century friends John Gower, Sir John Clanvowe, and Oton de Grandson all wrote poems to celebrate St. Valentine, the patron saint of birds and human lovers. Of all the poems that were written, Chaucer’s Parlement of Foules is the most popular.  Many popular accounts of the holiday assert that his poem is but one of many medieval Valentine’s Day poems; however, contrary to that popular belief, there is no evidence indicating that there was ever a “Valentine” tradition prior to Chaucer. While some scholars, such as John M. Manly, claim that a “cult of St. Valentine appears to have existed as a folk custom from very remote antiquity,” others are not so sure. Not enough evidence has been uncovered to prove one way or the other. However, most scholars agree that Chaucer’s Parlement of Foules was not influenced by any contemporaries before or during his time.

Not only are the origins of the poem mysterious, but the origins of Valentine’s day’s association with birds and lovers alike is in itself a mystery. In Chaucer’s time St. Valentine, like saints, was seen as another miracle worker. A miracle worker is definitely different from being someone who is linked to birds and lovers. The first challenge is that there were many Valentines in the Roman empire, including several emperors and popes. About thirty Valentines and Valentinas gained sainthood after they were martyred. To complicate matters further, some of the saints’ remains were exhumed and given a name after the fact. Because so much time had passed between when the saint died to when the remains were named, it is practically impossible to know who was the St. Valentine that has the holiday named after him. So, one must find the correct St. Valentine. One can look back at church papers and indexes of saints to find the life story of St. Valentine, but they tend to be more fictional rather than historically accurate. Records from the time of the Roman empire that would provide the most help have almost certainly been destroyed during the Great Persecution of the fourth century. The most popular belief today is that St. Valentine performed illegal marriages in the Roman empire between Christians, which might explain why he is closely associated with the ideas of love and courtship. A second challenge is accounting for the date of the holiday.  Most think that February 14th was chosen because that was when St. Valentine was martyred. Like with other saints, a cult worship developed around his story. Around Europe, churches, shrines, and basilicas we dedicated to him. His relics were dispersed to various Catholic churches to be viewed (If you’re ever in Rome, look for his flower crowned skull, which can be seen today in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin). 

The shift from seeing St. Valentine as a stoic martyr to viewing him as a saint of love is seen in Chaucer’s poem. Chaucer writes, “For this was on seynt Valentynes day,/ Whan every foul cometh there to chese his make.” He compares birds and humans as they come and decide who they will mate with. He goes on to link the saint with springtime and floral rebirth as well. Considering that Valentine’s day is in February, a month notorious for wintery weather, this is an odd choice on Chaucer’s part! 

Some think that these connections of love, spring, and birds to St. Valentine are surprisingly innovative. But the motive behind it remains unclear. Medievalist Henry Ansgar Kelly went as far as to say that Chaucer was referring to a entirely different Valentine! Another Valentine, a local saint in Genoa, was celebrated in early May and was linked to Maytime festivals and the coming of spring. Kelly goes on to suggest that Chaucer may have known the Genoese saint through Italian connections. In his creativity, Chaucer may have been combining this Valentine with springtime in May. It could be that his contemporaries read his poem, and with no knowledge of Genoa’s own St. Valentine, and wrote their own love poems in association with February 14th’s saint. Others, in a less complicated theory, attribute the spring imagery to the medieval dating of the seasons– putting spring in February. Regardless of the true root of the poem, most scholars agree that it was Parlement of Foules that helped to transform St. Valentine’s day into a holiday of love and matchmaking.

In Britain, Valentine’s day gained popularity in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Aristocrats would have drawings of “valentines” made to create favorable omens. Men and women alike would put their names into a pouch and pick a name out. Whoever’s name they picked would become their valentine, and it was said that the likelihood of their marriage was favorable. Young women in particular turned to these drawings in hopes of securing a good marriage in their future. 

As the holiday became more associated with lovers, other poets, such as Robert Herrick, followed Chaucer’s tradition of comparing human lovers to birds: “Oft have heard both youths and virgins say,/ Birds choose their mates, and couples too, this day.” Even in America, poets were drawing from the same imagery. A poem from 1811 used the springtime coupling of robins, blackbirds, wrens, hedge-sparrows, starlings, and jays. Why was the imagery of mating birds so popular? Migrating birds, which return in spring, might well become associated with the revitalization of spring. February 14th, in ancient calendars, was not too long after the first day of spring, when birds start to sing and mate.Also, terms such as “love birds” instantly conjures the image of two birds nesting together, something that humans can relate to. Though we don’t build literal nests, we form loving connections with one another and share our living spaces. Maybe we aren’t so different from birds afterall! 

While there are centuries of tradition surrounding St Valentine going back to antiquity, it may be that Chaucer’s Parlement of Foules is where it all began. Are we ourselves “foules” who rush in to believe that Valentine’s day has always been about birds, spring, and love? Well, I suggest you think about what kind of love bird you are — a majestic hawk, a graceful swan, a quick swallow, a wise owl — and find the love bird in your life to help you celebrate this age-old holiday with cards, chocolate, and Chaucer. 

Sources

Catholic Online. “St. Valentine.” Accessed February 6, 2020. https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=159. 

Oruch, Jack B. “St. Valentine, Chaucer, and Spring in February.” Speculum 56, no. 3 (July, 1981): 534-565.

Schmidt, Leigh Eric. “The Fashioning of a Modern Holiday: St. Valentine’s Day, 1840-1870.” Winterthur Portfolio 28, no. 4 (Winter, 1993): 209-245.