as well as to the Roman founders Romulus and Remus. Roman maidens placed their names into an urn set up in the public squares and young single men drew from it to get a ‘blind date’ for the coming year. More often than not, these annual matches often ended in marriage.
St. Valentine’s Day was first set at February 14th by Pope Gelasius, around 500 AD. By this time, the ‘lottery’ system for romantic dating had deemed un-Christian and had been outlawed. During the Middle Ages, the practice of love lotteries carried on as ‘Chance Boxes’. In France, drawings from the boxes gave young couples one year to get married or part company. In England, it was a common practice for men to wear the name of the girl they drew from the chance boxes on their sleeve, enclosed within a heart.
Also during this period, it was commonly believed in parts of England and France that February 14 marked the beginning of birds’ mating season, which increased the notion that Valentine’s Day should be a day for romance.
Valentines messages started to appear around the beginning of the Fifteenth century, and even in these formative times they were often given anonymously.
The oldest known valentine in the world still in existence today was a romantic ode written by Charles, Duke of Orleans to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London after his capture during the Battle of Agincourt. The greeting, was written in 1415, and is part of the manuscript collection of the British Library in London.
In the UK, St. Valentine’s Day became a popular celebration around the 1600’s. It continued to take hold, with the familiar “roses are red, violets are blue…” verses making their debut