The weather outside may be chilly, but on St Valentine’s Day the heart is warm and passions run hot. Since we could do with a lot more love in today’s ever fractious world, I thought I’d delve into the medieval Valentine’s celebrations and see if I can find some inspiration for a different take on the occasion. It wasn’t long before I discovered that from the late Middle Ages, folk really went to town to make romantic merry. So why not take a glass of something bubbly, and join me for a wander back in time to discover some of the customs enjoyed by lovers long ago.
The true origins of St Valentine’s Day are as shrouded in mystery as love itself. Before Christian saints got a foothold in the door, the Romans celebrated the festival of Lupercalia, held in mid-February, with fertility rites and pairing traditions. But as the Romans began to convert to the new faith their established pagan customs began to intertwine with Christian martyrs and their feast days.
There seem to have been at least three St Valentine’s, all from the the third century, so exactly who we’re celebrating isn’t clear. There was St Valentine of Rome, who was martyred and buried in the city during the persecution of the early Christians around 270 AD. Then there was St Valentine of Terni, in central Italy, who had his head lopped off in Rome around the same time but whose relics were returned to Terni.
St Valentine of Rome
The third candidate is a black St Valentine believed to have been martyred in Africa. It’s possible that the first two were the same person, but with only a few vague scraps of information surviving to tell their stories it’s impossible to know. Either way, the saint was celebrated on 14th February, but aside from a few legends, there was no real association between St Valentine and romantic love until the later Middle Ages, when a famous writer made the eternal link.
St Valentine of Terni overseeing the construction of the Terni basilica
In the fourteenth century, Geoffrey Chaucer penned his dream vision poem, The Parliament of Fowls, believed to have been written to commemorate the marriage of King Richard II and Anne of Bohemia in 1382. The story concerns a great gathering of birds who meet to choose their mates on ‘seynt valentynes day’. Chaucer’s poem set the stage for a romantic tradition that has lasted to this day. So how did medieval people celebrate this festival of love?
Deck the Halls
Guests at the Valentine’s feast enjoyed a multisensory experience designed to set the scene for love. The decorated great hall positively wafted and glowed with spiced candles, fragrant herbs and scents of crushed rosemary, basil and yarrow floating on delicate bowls of rosewater, and incense smouldering above the high table. Medieval mood lighting was provided by Love Lanterns, candle holders much like Halloween jack-o-lanterns, but presumably with much softer expressions. These were carved from large turnips or firm fruits with a candle set inside to throw a gentle light on the romantic proceedings.
Rosemary, along with other herbs such as basil, yarrow and bay were crushed and floated on rosewater to produce a potpourri of romantic fragrance in the great hall
Music was, even then, the food of love, and a rousing tune was another central element of the celebrations. Revellers entered the hall to the melodious strains of the Chivaree, special Valentine’s Day music with rhythms and tempos designed to create an ambience of love and joy. Adding yet more to the amorous atmosphere, recitals were given of romance poetry, the heady tales of passion, devotion and unrequited love that had become inextricably bound up with the culture of chivalry and courtly love. It would have been enough to stir anyone’s appetite…
Musicians welcomed the romantic revellers with the Chivaree
The food, also designed to set the pulse racing, included fish, eggs, various meat dishes such as roast beef in golden pastry and birds often presented at table in feather. Fruits, roasted chestnuts and cream indulged the sweet tooth, while small heart-shaped cakes made with red fruits and spices were eaten to signify ‘heartfelt’ affection. But the celebrations involved more than the main meal, and there were other delights to enjoy on Valentine’s Day.
Medieval Speed Dating
A popular dining custom was Lovers by Lot, a kind of whimsical matchmaking game. At most feasts, a trencher (a flat piece of stale bread used as a plate) was shared between two people, so Valentine’s Day was an obvious occasion to make some couples. A specially appointed scribe would write everyone’s names on small parchment squares, fold them up and place them all in a bowl, which was then passed around the guests. Each person would select a name until everyone was paired up, just for the duration of the meal, and each ‘couple’ would get to know one another over a golden-tinted trencher specially adorned for the occasion with spices and saffron.
There were other Valentine’s larks to be enjoyed, such as a guessing game called Lady Anne. Participants would sit in a circle facing the centre, where one Lover would stand, holding a glove. With hands behind their backs, a small ball or token would be surreptitiously passed around the circle from one guest to another so the Lover cannot tell who has it, but the holder would become his or her beloved Valentine. The Lover had to guess who held the ball – presumably picking the person he fancied the most – then hand the glove to them. If he chose incorrectly, he had to change places with the ‘wrong’ Valentine, who then became the Lover. However, if he got it right, the chosen lady would reply:
The ball is yours and none of mine
I choose you as my Valentine!
The couple would then leave the circle and the game continued until everyone had a partner.
But what if you were already in love? There were several ways to show your devotion and gain the favour of your beloved on Valentine’s day.
Say it Without Flowers
Flowers and the giving of red roses weren’t a feature of medieval Valentine’s Day celebrations. But people had other imaginative ways of declaring their devotion, such as costume decorations, and one popular custom was the Love Sleeve. Medieval garments had detachable sleeves, made to order, which made them easier to remove and clean, and on Valentine’s Day a lover would show his ardour by wearing the sleeve of his beloved. Love tokens were also popular, such as a red heart of cloth or enamelled metal, and these would be sewn or attached to the garment or sleeve, showing the wearer’s commitment to love. It was these rather romantic gestures that gave rise to the saying: he wears his heart on his sleeve.
A couple embrace, wearing the signs of love. He sports a Love Sleeve, while she wears a jewelled necklace.
The Gift of Love
In a time before chocolate, people gave other edible gifts – albeit more healthy ones – to their lovers on the 14th February. Apples, pears or other seeded fruits symbolised fertility and temptation. Similarly, if a suitor really wanted to impress, he’d present his lady with a quail’s egg – gilded if he could afford it – in a nod to Chaucer’s birds and the mating season. Jewellery was another popular gift, and examples of medieval rings and brooches have been found inscribed with personal messages, giving us some charmingly intimate insights to the feelings of lovers in the age of Chivalry.
And all because the lady loves… quails’ eggs.
This stunning 15th century heart-shaped gold brooch, doubtless a gift of love, carries the inscription ‘Je suy vostre sans de partier’ (I am yours forever). British Museum.
Last but by no means least, no Valentine’s Day would be complete without a greeting card. But again, in medieval times these were still a few centuries in the future. Instead, people began to write their deepest feelings in love notes, little billets-doux to their sweethearts. The British Library holds the earliest surviving example of such a letter, dated February 1477 and penned by a gentlewoman called Margery Brews to her betrothed, a Norfolk aristocrat called John Paston. The two were deeply in love, and she addresses John, who later became an MP, as her ‘right wurshypffull and welebelovyd Volentyne’, and signs off with ‘Be your Voluntyne, Mergery Brews’.
The earliest surviving Valentine’s love note, from Margery Brews to her intended, John Paston. British Library.
So it seems they were quite a romantic lot back in the Middle Ages, and I’ve been somewhat inspired to try out one or two of the old ways. To show my ‘heartfelt’ affection, I baked some heart-shaped biscuits, incorporating a mix of popular medieval spices – cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and carraway – into a basic biscuit dough, producing, I’m told, a delicious Valentine’s treat fit for a medieval banquet.
My attempt at ‘heartfelt’ biscuits
I may give the quails’ eggs a miss and stick with chocolates, and I probably wouldn’t appreciate Stuart ripping the sleeve off my favourite purple jumper to adorn his black Viking hoodie, but I do like the idea of fashioning and wearing a heart token. And maybe I’ll have a glass of mead and read some romantic poetry beside a roaring fire. So, if you fancy a taste of a Valentine’s Day long gone, you could write your own beloved this sweet medieval love poem:
Have all my hert and be in peace
And think I love you fervently
For in good faith, it is no lese
I would thee wyst (know) as well as I,
That my love will not cease
Have mercy on me as thee best may
Have all my hert and be in peace.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
