In the Middle Ages, love letters weren’t private whispers but sometimes dictated by professional scribes, who would help lovers craft poetry to woo noble partners.

A closer look

We think of love letters as sacred, personal whispers scribbled by trembling hands—but in the Middle Ages, many weren’t so private. Young nobles often hired scribes, the poetic professionals of their day, to translate passion into perfect ink. Picture an apprentice of love, crafting honeyed lines for someone else’s beating heart. Romance, it turns out, has always been a marketplace, long before swipes and dating apps. Even centuries ago, intimacy sometimes came prepackaged, reminding us that the struggle to ‘sound right’ in love is as old as romance itself.