On Saint Valentine’s Day our minds turn to thoughts of love, but why? When I went to the On This Day webpage, I was expecting to find the Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre. I’d already asked ChatGBT to paint a picture of it for me. I don’t recognize Al Capone in there, or even Chicago, but it definitely looks like a massacre. The first massacre listed for Valentine’s Day was in 1349 when 900 Jews were burned alive in Strasbourg, having been blamed for spreading the Black Death.
The Battle of Cape St. Vincent was fought on St. Valentine’s Day in 1797. The English fleet were commanded by Admiral Sir John Jervis, and their fleet of fifteen ships defeated the Spanish fleet of twenty-five ships. This victory was in no small way thanks to Commodore Horatio Nelson, who interpreted his admiral’s orders with a degree of imagination and flair. This was the battle that became famous for “Nelson’s patent bridge for boarding enemy vessels.” I think the last time I posted about Nelson I was in Fowey.
The St. Valentine’s Day massacre took place in 1929, when six members of Capone’s rival gang of bootleggers, run by George “Bugs” Moran, were lined up outside a restaurant and executed by Capone’s men with machine guns and shotguns. Two of these were dressed as policemen, and a garage attendant was also killed. Valentine’s Day marked the second day of the bombing of Dresden in 1945, and in 1951 Sugar Ray Robinson defeated Jake La Motta (Raging Bull) for the world middleweight title.
I’ve really struggled to find any association with love for Valentine’s Day. It appears that the first association of Saint Valentine’s Day with romantic love is thanks to Geoffrey Chaucer’s Parlement of Foules, written in the 14th century. Valentine’s Day is represented as the day when birds pair up before the spring. I shall have to write a post on Chaucer, watch this space.