who wrote the oldest valentine's day message

The oldest known Valentine’s Day message was written by Charles (or Charles d’Orléans), Duke of Orléans, in 1415 while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London after the Battle of Agincourt, in the form of a love poem to his wife.

Quick Scoop

• Charles, Duke of Orléans, is widely credited with the earliest surviving Valentine’s Day message.

• He wrote it in 1415 during his captivity in England, turning to poetry to express longing and affection.

• The message was a handwritten poem (a kind of valentine) addressed to his wife, Bonne d’Armagnac.

• The original manuscript is preserved in the British Library in London.

Why it matters today

• This early “valentine” shows that romantic messages tied to February 14 go back more than 600 years.

• Modern cards, texts, and memes all trace their tradition, in part, to gestures like Charles’s poem from a prison cell.

In short: when people ask “who wrote the oldest Valentine’s Day message,” the answer most historians give is Charles, Duke of Orléans, in 1415.

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