1240s in England
Events from the 1240s in England.
Incumbents
Events
1240- *Dafydd ap Llywelyn, Prince of Wales, pays homage to King Henry III and agrees to arbitration over the right to rule Wales.
- * Old St Paul's Cathedral in London is consecrated.
- * First perambulation of Dartmoor.1241
- * 1 February – Boniface of Savoy, the Queen's uncle, is enthroned as Archbishop of Canterbury.
- * 10 August – Eleanor, Fair Maid of Brittany dies captive at Bristol, ending the senior line of Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany.
- * October – After defeat in a military campaign, Dafydd ap Llywelyn makes Henry his heir.1242
- * May – English army supports rebels in Poitou against French rule.
- * 12 May – Assize of Arms: A royal ordnance requires appointment of constables to summon men to arms, quell breaches of the peace, and to deliver offenders to the sheriff.
- * Royal troops seize the island of Lundy, occupied by the fugitive William de Marisco.1243
- * September – England signs a truce with France.1244
- * Dafydd ap Llywelyn forms alliance of minor Welsh rulers in Wales and begins revolt against English rule.
- * August – Henry blockades Scotland and musters an army at Newcastle upon Tyne after Scots threaten the border.
- * November – Bishops and barons refuse to pay taxes demanded by King Henry, and insist on administrative reforms.1245
- * English army campaigns in north Wales to subdue Dafydd ap Llywelyn. A truce is agreed in the autumn, and Henry returns to England.
- * Crutched Friars established in England.
- * The rebuilding of Westminster Abbey in Gothic style begins.1246
- *Cistercians, together with the King's brother, Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall, found Hailes Abbey in Gloucestershire.
- * Dafydd ap Llywelyn, who had lately claimed the title of prince of Wales, dies and the resistance of the Welsh against English forces in Wales collapses.1247
- * April – Treaty of Woodstock: Dafydd ap Llywelyn's successors, the Welsh princes Llywelyn ap Gruffudd and Owain ap Gruffudd acknowledge Henry as their overlord.
- * 13 June – Coinage reform introduces a new silver coin and establishes seventeen local mints.
- * Romford established as a market town.
- * The Bethlem Royal Hospital founded in London.1248
- * 11 March – Richard of Cornwall presides at the first Trial of the Pyx to determine the purity of coinage.
- * Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester appointed as governor of Gascony, but soon proves unpopular.1249
- * Spring – Bequest of William of Durham for the support of scholars in the University of Oxford, considered as the establishment of University College there.
Births
- 1240
- * 29 September – Margaret of England, daughter of Henry III of England and consort of Alexander III of Scotland
- 1241
- *Eleanor of Castile, queen of Edward I of England
- 1243
- * 2 September – Gilbert de Clare, 6th Earl of Hertford, politician
- 1245
- * 16 January – Edmund Crouchback, 1st Earl of Lancaster, son of Henry III of England
- 1246
- * 14 September – John FitzAlan, 7th Earl of Arundel
- 1247
- *Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln
- 1249
- *Humphrey de Bohun, 3rd Earl of Hereford
Deaths
- 1240
- * 27 May – William de Warenne, 5th Earl of Surrey
- * 16 November – Edmund of Abingdon, Archbishop of Canterbury, sanctified, dies in France on pilgrimage
- 1241
- * 10 August – Eleanor, Fair Maid of Brittany, daughter of Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany
- * 1 December – Isabella of England, princess
- 1242
- * 26 March – William de Forz, 3rd Earl of Albemarle
- 1243
- * 12 May – Hubert de Burgh, 1st Earl of Kent
- 1245
- * c. June – Elias of Dereham, canon and building designer
- * 21 August – Alexander of Hales, theologian
- 1246
- * 31 May – Isabella of Angoulême, queen of John of England
- * June – Richard Fitz Roy, illegitimate son of King John
- * Thomas De Melsonby, last hermit of the Farne Islands
- 1247
- * William de Ferrers, 4th Earl of Derby