14 Things about Valentine's Day, No. 2: Medieval Romances and a Popular Name

The name Valentine is derived from Latin valere, to be strong, and was popular in the late Roman empire. Several emperors and a pope were so named, and more than 30 Valentines (and a few Valentinas) were made saints, having been martyred for their faith, although the two mentioned in yesterday’s post were the most prominent, and the only ones to have made it into the Dictionary of Saints. The name was also popular in the middle ages, and members of the nobility would often name their sons and daughters Valentine or Valentina simply because they thought it to be a beautiful name.

Surviving stories about the lives of our two Saints Valentine were written in the 6th or 7th centuries, explained Professor Jack B. Oruch in a meticulously researched article published in the journal Speculum in 1981.* And the scribes who wrote them down were not so concerned about historical accuracy as they were about telling good stories that illuminated the great sacrifices made by the Christian founders, and to uphold the mythic traditions that had formed around this relatively new religion.

It’s not that they were trying to deceive anybody, it’s just that they didn’t want to spoil a good story for want a few facts. If there were any court records of the trials and punishments of these saints, they were long lost, so the scribes tapped oral tradition and took some liberties regarding who did what to whom, mixing it all up into a tantalizing literary stew that illustrated the greater truths they were most concerned with—that the saints performed miracles of healing, effected conversions, suffered martyrdom for their faith, and were rewarded by God. None of which had anything to do with love, romance, or marriage.

But there was a whole genre of medieval literature emerging from the courtly love tradition that was all about love and romance —and heroism. You know the sort: knights in shining armor going on daring quests and rescuing hapless high-born damsels from fiery dragons, and all that. These are collectively referred to as romances, because they were thought to have stemmed from Roman storytelling traditions.

And in a collection of these romances associated with the Carolingian era in France (9th–10th centuries) were stories about a hero named Valentine. Professor Oruch summarizes the story like this:

“In the romance story, Valentine is of noble birth and grows up to perform deeds of valor, falls in love, wins his lady Clerimonde, and after many adventures kills his father in battle by mistake. For his unintentional crime, Valentine does an extremely long and difficult penance, living away from his beloved wife in utter poverty and humility; as a result, he dies a holy man, causes the sick who visit his tomb to be healed, and is soon made a saint.”

In describing the grief Valentine’s widow expresses upon learning of his death, the story emphasizes his virtues as a lover and husband. But, says Oruch, the part about him being made a saint wasn’t in the original story; it was added much later.

And nowhere is this romance associated with a particular date in February. But it does offer a glimpse into an association between the name Valentine and traditions of romantic love eventually connected to it.

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* Oruch, Jack. B. "St. Valentine, Chaucer, and Spring in February." Speculum,Vol. 56, No. 3 (July 1981), pp. 534–565. (Accessed from JSTOR database via Hennepin County Library.)

14 Things about Valentine's Day, No. 1: Who was this St. Valentine anyway?

I'll confess I'm rather fascinated with Valentine's Day, and not because I am a hopeless romantic. I'm actually not much for romance at all (with apologies to my husband, who already knows this). Rather, Valentine's day is packed with so much folklore, mythology, history, custom, and, best of all, misinformation, to make my trivia-loving, myth-busting self positively gleeful.

Since I've gathered too much information about the annual love-sodden observance for a single blog post, I thought I'd offer a bit of a countdown — 14 things about Valentine's Day that you might not already know. One curious bit each day, in no particular order, for your amusement and edification.

Let's begin with the saint himself. Or themselves, perhaps. But first, the popular myth, a version of which goes something like this:

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During the late Roman empire, the emperor had become so frustrated by the reluctance of married soldiers to leave their wives and children behind to serve on the far flung perimeters of the empire, that he banned marriage altogether.  The kindhearted priest Valentine performed secret, illegal marriages anyway, and so was imprisoned and then executed for his defiance of the law. While in prison, he wrote sweet epistles to the jail-keeper's daughter, signing them "Your Valentine."

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I rather like this myth, because it points to the day as an occasion to champion legal marriage for all, and to work for fairness and equality for those to whom legal marriage is denied. Even though that's no longer an issue in Minnesota, one need not look far to find plenty of evidence that the cause has a long way to go. Too bad there's no basis for it.

The marriage-hating emperor is usually identified as Claudius. But fans of I Claudius will be relieved to know that historians have determined that no persecutions occurred during the reign of that Claudius, and so it has been assumed that these incidents must have taken place under the rule of Claudius II, or Claudius the Goth, who ruled much later, in the third century CE.

According to the New Catholic Encyclopedia, there are two martyrs named Valentine who are both commemorated on the 14th of February. Both were beheaded, one at Terni, which is about 60 miles from Rome (he is thought to have been the bishop of Terni), the other at Rome, where he was a priest. The Roman Valentine was said to have died in about 269 CE, apparently for having converted an entire household to Christianity after miraculously restoring the eyesight of the once blind daughter of his host. (The father's joy at this miracle would have been short lived, as he was executed also.)

Another account has the bishop of Terni curing a crippled child, which led to the saint being regarded as the patron of those afflicted with the "falling sickness," or epilepsy. (An entertaining overview of the various causes the saint is associated with, along with an accounting of his various scattered remains—that is, relics—is offered here.)

As with the first story, the miracle led to the conversion of an entire family of the Roman nobility to Christianity, and thus the offending bishop was beheaded. Or this may have been one and the same Valentine: "Whether there were actually one or two Valentines is disputed," says the editor.

The problem with that account, according to University of Kansas professor Jack. B. Oruch, is that Claudius II, who only ruled from March 268 to April 270 (hence the date given for the saint's martyrdom), spent nearly the entire time away from Italy on military campaigns. And there is no evidence, other than the saints' legends written much later, to suggest that this Claudius had reversed the policy of toleration established by his predecessor.

There's also nothing in the historical record about marriage having been banned. That story arose many centuries later. Indeed, none of the legends about the saint had anything to do with love or romance. That association came much later, and will be the topic for another day.

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Sources

Day, E. “Valentine, St.” New Catholic Encyclopedia, 2nd ed., Vol. 14. Detroit: Gale, 2003. 371–372. Gale Virtual Reference Library. (Accessed via Hennepin County Library.)

Delany, John J. Dictionary of Saints. Doubleday, 1980.

Oruch, Jack. B. "St. Valentine, Chaucer, and Spring in February." Speculum, Vol. 56, No. 3 (July 1981), pp. 534–565. (Accessed from JSTOR database via Hennepin County Library.)