In fact, its origins are uncertain. The Romans celebrated Lupercalia, the fertility festival, on 15th February, and some believe that altering the date and dedicating the day to a saint was a way of Christianising – and therefore keeping – the popular pagan celebration, which was outlawed at the end of the 5th century.
Others have suggested, however, that it was more to do with commemorating the death and burial of St Valentine, which was said to have taken place in February, although he himself is a somewhat mysterious figure. There were in fact three different saints called Valentine, all of whom were martyred, and it is unclear which of these three Valentine’s Day is based on. The most popular theory is that Valentine was a priest who served during the third century in Rome, when Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers and so outlawed marriage for young men. Valentine defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When Valentine’s actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to death.
Other stories suggest that Valentine may have been killed for attempting to help Christians escape harsh Roman prisons, where they were often beaten and tortured. Yet another states that Valentine was a prisoner and sent the first “valentine” greeting himself after he fell in love with a young girl–possibly his jailor’s daughter–who visited him during his confinement. Before his death, it is alleged that he wrote her a letter signed “From your Valentine,” an expression hence its use today. All the stories emphasize his appeal as a sympathetic, heroic
and–most importantly–romantic figure.
However, whatever its origins, it was not until the Middle Ages that St Valentines Day came to be associated definitively with love, and only in the 17th century were celebrations widespread. By the middle of the 18th, it was common for friends and lovers of all social classes to exchange small tokens of affection or handwritten notes, and by 1900 printed cards began to replace written letters due to improvements in printing technology. The oldest known valentine still in existence today was a poem written in 1415 by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London following his capture at the Battle of Agincourt. Spoken Valentines greetings, however, have been used since the Middle Ages.
Sources: History.com
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