Landscape of Romance and Love

Beauty Beheld

Love's Playful Game

Courtly Love and Medieval Romance

Poet's Song of Romance and Love

Geoffrey Chaucer: Architect of Saint Valentine's Day

John Gower and the Synthesis of Valentine Tradition

John Lydgate: Be My Valentine

Christine de Pizan: Equalizing Love in the City of Women

Charles d'Orléans: A Farewell to Love

Troubadour Songs of Love

“Je suis desja d'amour tanné
Ma tres doulce Valentinée…”
(Charles d'Orléans, Rondeau VI, lines 1–2)

Charles d'Orléans' ballade, composed in French and English, hearkens back to Chaucer's Parliament of Fowles. Charles, Duke of Orléans (1394–1464/5) was a poet and musician, among many other accomplishments. During his 25-year captivity in England after the battle of Agincourt in 1415 he wrote poetry about love, with several references to Saint Valentine. “Le beau souleil, le jour St. Valentin” and “Whan fresshe Phebus, day of Seynt Valentine” express the sad contrast between the happy mating of birds on the Saint's Day and Charles' solitary state “en ma chambre fermée.”

Charles d'Orléans as a Prisoner in the Tower of London

Circa 1500. Illumination. England. By permission of The British Library. Royal 16 F. II f.73.

Audio performance of Charles d'Orléans's Valentine Ballade,

« Le beau souleil, le jour saint Valentin » (sung in French 2 Mb).

“Whan fresse Phebus, day of Seynt Valentine” (sung in Middle English 1.04 Mb).

Paul Jenkins, voice and harp; Colin Savage, recorder. Words by Duc Charles d'Orléans. Music by John Bedyngham (1422-1460). Recorded at Doon Heritage Crossroads, 2003.