Who wrote the earliest known written Valentine's Day message in 1415?

Charles, Duke of Orléans wrote the earliest known surviving written Valentine's Day message in 1415.

The message was a love poem, specifically a rondeau, addressed to his wife, Bonne of Armagnac. Charles composed it while imprisoned in the Tower of London after his capture at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. His long captivity helps explain why this famous Valentine survives in written form.

The wording “earliest known” matters: historians mean the earliest surviving example identified as a valentine, not necessarily the first love message ever written. The poem is also sometimes confused with the romantic traditions associated with Geoffrey Chaucer, whose 14th-century poetry helped connect Saint Valentine’s Day with courtly love and the pairing of birds.

English examples came later. The Paston Letters contain an early English Valentine from 1477, when Margery Brews wrote to her future husband, John Paston, calling him her “right well-beloved Valentine.”