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who created valentines

There isn’t a single inventor of Valentine’s Day; it grew out of several overlapping stories, saints, and traditions over many centuries.

Quick Scoop

  • The name “Valentine” comes from early Christian martyrs named Valentine (at least two are recorded, possibly the same person).
  • The most common legend: a priest (often said to be St. Valentine of Rome) secretly married couples after Emperor Claudius II banned marriages for young men, and was executed around 270 CE.
  • Another version credits St. Valentine of Terni, a bishop, and some historians think the two Valentines might actually be one person.
  • The date and some customs seem to blend with the older Roman mid‑February festival of Lupercalia, a fertility celebration that involved pairing men and women by lottery.
  • The romantic idea of Valentine’s Day wasn’t “created” until the Middle Ages, when writers like Geoffrey Chaucer and later Shakespeare linked St. Valentine’s Day with courtly love.
  • Modern commercial traditions (cards, chocolates, flowers) were shaped much later by 19th‑century businesses, including Esther Howland in the U.S., known as the “Mother of the American Valentine,” and chocolate makers like Richard Cadbury with his heart‑shaped boxes.

So, who created Valentines?

If you’re asking “who created Valentine’s Day” in the sense of the loving, romantic holiday we know now:

  • The name and saint : early Christian church traditions around one (or more) St. Valentines.
  • The romantic spin : medieval poets, especially Geoffrey Chaucer , who first clearly tied St. Valentine’s Day to romantic love in his 14th‑century poetry.
  • The modern, gift‑heavy holiday : 18th–19th‑century European and American culture, card‑makers like Esther Howland, and confectioners like Cadbury.

A quick way to put it: no single person “created” Valentines; saints, emperors, poets, popes, and later businesses all added layers until it became today’s global day of romance.

TL;DR: Valentine’s Day doesn’t have one creator. It’s named after early Christian martyrs called Valentine, took over some of the timing/feel of the Roman festival Lupercalia, was turned romantic by medieval poets like Chaucer, and was commercialized by 19th‑century card and chocolate makers.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.