A Medieval Valentine’s Message

By the late 14th century, the feast day of a martyred Roman saint named Valentine was strongly enough associated with lovers that Geoffrey Chaucer could write that the holiday was when ‘every bird cometh there to choose his mate’. Yet the first Valentine greeting in English that is preserved dates from 1477. It is a letter from the teenage Margery Brews to her neighbour and suitor John Paston. It discussed the negotiations for Margery’s hand in marriage between John and her father, Sir Thomas Brews, which had come to a standstill over the matter of Margery’s dowry. She addressed John as ‘my right well-beloved Valentine’ and promised to love him ‘truly over all earthly things’ even if he had a far smaller estate. The letter has charmed generations of historians, with Sarah Peverley describing it as a ‘testament to the power of love’. Every February the letter is unearthed by enterprising journalists keen to pad out articles on the history of England’s most romantic day.