St. Valentine, we hardly
knew you. Considering there were two different St. Valentines during the Roman
era, no wonder there is confusion about who he really was and why he became
associated with love.
Geoffrey Chaucer was one
of the first to recognize in writing the connection between the Roman mystery
man and romance. In his poem, Parliament of Foules, written in 1382, he
writes
For this was Saint
Valentine’s Day
When every bird cometh
there to choose his mate.
It’s not exactly
greeting card material, but it is one of the first written records of the day
being associated with love.
After Chaucer waxed
poetic about the day, others got in the game, creating little poems and cards
to give to their sweethearts. The oldest surviving example is in the British
Museum. It is a love poem from 1477 and you can see and read about it here http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/642175.stm
Later, in the 15th century,
Charles, Duke of Orleans would offer a little ditty to his wife and further
cement the connection between love and Valentine’s Day
I am already sick of
love,
My very gentle Valentine
You can practically see
Charles coming home from a hard day of oppressing peasants with a box of
chocolates tucked under his arm to give to the little wife. However, the only
chocolate available at the time was a bitter version of hot chocolate introduced
to Europe from South America by the Conquistadors.
Romantic men all over
the western world would have to wait another three hundred years before the
little heart-shaped boxes went on sale. In the mid-1800’s, Richard Cadbury
invented a way to mix chocolate and cocoa butter to make a sweeter, more edible
chocolate. To sell his new creation, he offered them in fancy boxes and the
Victorians snapped them up. Whether chocolate shops put them out the day after
Christmas is still open to historical debate.
Along with these
new-fangled chocolates, Victorians exchanged homemade Valentine’s Day cards. It
wasn’t until an enterprising American woman, Esther Howland came on the scene
that mass produced cards became available. Esther had started making cards by
hand, but when demand for her designs outpaced her production abilities, she
began manufacturing them in bulk. Now, husbands all across America and Britain
could panic and rush to the store to buy a mass produced sentiment to go along
with their heart shaped boxes.
So, as you write your
cards to your loved ones, give a little thought to those who paved the way, and
have a very happy Valentine's Day.
If you love love then you will love my romance novels www.Georgie-Lee,com
If you love love then you will love my romance novels www.Georgie-Lee,com
8 comments:
How interesting to learn some of the back story to Valentine's Day! Visiting from Inspire Me Monday. Have a lovely Valentine's.
What a lovely history! I had no idea that Chaucer had such a role to play in our modern interpretation of the holiday.
Thanks for posting this to British Isles Friday!
Joy's Book Blog
What a great post, Valentine's Day isn't really a huge deal in Australia, there's some marketing for it, but we wouldn't write cards, it's more used for just one's significant other.
Thanks for sharing the history. Thanks for sharing at the Home Matters LInky Party this week!
What wonderful history! It was very enjoyable to read!
What a lovely history! I really enjoyed reading this.
Great history of Valentines Day. Thanks for sharing on Literacy Musing Mondays.
This was so interesting! Thanks for sharing it with us.
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