1240s in England

Incumbents

• Monarch – Henry III

Events

• *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