Ten random things: February 14

Ten works by Geoffrey Chaucer:

1. Treatise on the Astrolabe
2. Troilus and Criseyde
3. The House of Fame
4. Anelida and Arcite
5. Lenvoy de Chaucer a Scogan
6. The Legend of Good Women
7. The Canterbury Tales
8. Parlement of Foules
9. The Complaint of Mars
10. The Book of the Duchess

Geoffrey Chaucer is best remembered for writing The Canterbury Tales, but it's more appropriate today to focus on one of his other notable contributions to popular culture: the association of romantic love with Valentine's Day. In his 1382 work Parlement of Foules, he wrote, "For this was on seynt Volantynys day / Whan euery bryd comyth there to chese [choose] his make [mate]." Now, Chaucer was actually writing about St. Valentine of Genoa, whose feast day is celebrated on May 2. Why people came to associate it with the two Saints Valentine whose feasts are celebrated on February 14 is a puzzle. Nevertheless, this is the earliest recorded association of St. Valentine with romance.