28. Englishman Geoffrey Chaucer was the first poet to mention Valentine’s Day, way back in 1375
Some 40 years before the Duke of Orleans mailed the first known Valentine’s Day card in history, the poet Geoffrey Chaucer alluded to the most romantic day of the year. In his 1375 poem Parliament of Foules Chaucer wrote, “For this was sent on Seynt Valentyne’s day / Whan every foul cometh ther to choose his mate.” This was possibly the most romantic thing the English wordsmith ever wrote. His most famous work, The Canterbury Tales, is far less sensitive and shocked readers with its lewdness and allusions to sex and prostitution.
