[MR] St. Valentine article

[Alianora Munro]

 --- EoganOg at aol.com wrote in response to me:

> > Although I'd point out that in the Middle Ages,
> > Valentine's Day seems to have been celebrated in
> > May, not in February as this page suggests.
> > 
> 
> What is your source for this information?  What
> evidence suggests this?  The 
> feast day of St. Valentine has always been set at
> February 14, since the 
> earliest martyrologies of the Church, from what I
> can tell.  What sources 
> indicate a march date, and why?

NOT March, but MAY, Eogan. ;-) A good source is
Chaucer's _Parlement of Foulys_ (or Parliament of
Birds, if you prefer), where, after a long
description of a blossoming garden, where ladies dance
and all is pleasance and bliss, he says:

309  For this was on seynt Valentynes day,
310  Whan every foul cometh ther to chese his make,
311  Of every kinde, that men thenke may;
312  And that so huge a noyse gan they make,
313  That erthe and see, and tree, and every lake
314  So ful was, that unnethe was ther space
315  For me to stonde, so ful was al the place.
 
You can read the whole text at
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/OMACL/Parliament/
 
Anyone who has been in England in February knows right
well that the weather is scarcely pleasant, much less
conducive to gardens of flowers and pretty ladies. 
Nor do birds usually mate in England in February.  In
MAY, on the other hand, the weather is much better,
the gardens are out and the birds are actually
nesting.

There are other literary sources which indicate a
May date as well.  Also, if you pay much attention to
mediaeval art, and particularly depictions of the
cycles of the months, May is usually the one chosen
for depictions of happy couples at play.  

Furthermore, as Rosine posted, there was a St
Valentine whose feast falls in May.  OK, not the
SAME St Valentine, but mediaeval people had a splendid
knack for conflating saints, especially when there
were multiple saints with the same name.  Mary
Magdalene, Mary of Martha-and-Mary and the woman
from whom Jesus cast out devils, for instance, were
all conflated into the same person in the late Middle
Ages.  Saint Valentine the patron of lovers likewise
was conflated with the St Valentine whose feast was
in May.

regards,
Alianora Munro

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