TODAY IN HISTORY

In AD 270 (traditional), Valentine, a priest in Rome during the reign of Claudius II, was beheaded. A reason for his later relationship to the romantic holiday: Claudius, seeking to more easily recruit troops, nixed family ties by forbidding marriage. Valentine ignored the order and performed secret marriages — an act that led to his arrest and execution.

Also on this date:

In 1349, about 2,000 Jews were burned at the stake in Strasbourg, France.

In 1477, Margery Brews sent a letter to John Paston in Norfolk, England, addressed “To my right welbelovyd Voluntyne,” thought to be the world’s first Valentine.

In 1779, British explorer Capt. James Cook, apparently embroiled in an argument over a stolen boat, was clubbed and stabbed to death by Hawaiian natives who had seemed to trust him. Cook was 50.

In 1803, twins Eli and John Phipps were born in Virginia and lived for more than 108 years. The odds against both twins living that long are more than 700 million to 1.

In 1835, Joseph Smith chose the 12 apostles of the Mormon Church.

In 1876, inventors Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray applied separately for American patents related to the telephone. The U.S. Supreme Court eventually ruled that Bell — who moved to Canada from his native Scotland — was the rightful inventor.

In 1918, the first “Tarzan of the Apes” movies was released.

In 1929, the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre took place in a Chicago garage as seven rivals of Al Capone’s gang were gunned down.

In 1974, Buffalo Sabres defenceman Tim Horton died in a single-vehicle highway accident in St. Catharines, Ont. Horton was returning home from a game in Toronto. The future Hockey Hall of Famer was 44.