Written in Norfolk by a Margery Brews to her fiancé, John Paston, she tells Paston that she has asked her mother to put pressure on her father to increase her dowry, adding that if he loves her he should be prepared to marry her anyway: “But if you love me, as I trust that verily you do, you will not leave me therefore.”
Factfile
The oldest-known Valentine’s Day message in the English language is in the British Library and dates to 1477.