Valentimely - Unusual and Romantic Events for the Love Holiday

Thank Geoffrey Chaucer for making everyone celebrate Valentine's Day. The 14th Century author, famous for The Canterbury Tales, wrote a poem called "Parlement of Foules," in which he shares his somewhat critical opinion about the then-common concept of 'courtly love.'

This was the time of fairytale romance stories, when knights were expected to ride around on white horses, be handsome, and perform grand gestures to win the favor of their ladies.

Chaucer questioned if this was really a realistic ideal of 'romance. To give the concept an extra twist of tough love, he set the poem on the date that celebrated the tragic death of Saint Valentine, who performed illegal marriages for Christians persecuted in the Roman Empire.