1440s in England

Incumbents

• Monarch – Henry VI

Events

• * 7 July – Hundred Years' War: John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury recaptures Harfleur from the French.
• * 12 September – King Henry VI founds Eton College.1441
• * 2 April – King Henry VI founds King's College, Cambridge.
• * 19 September – Hundred Years' War: French capture Pontoise and Île-de-France.1442
• * 19 January – Eleanor Cobham, wife of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, convicted of treason and witchcraft.
• * 11 June – Hundred Years' War: France invades Gascony.1443
• * 23 April – perpetual truce signed with Burgundy.
• * 13 May – John Stafford enthroned as Archbishop of Canterbury.
• * August – Hundred Years' War: 8,000 strong expeditionary force under John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset lands at Cherbourg.1444
• * 22 May – the Treaty of Tours, signed between England and France, secures a truce in the Hundred Years' War for 5 years and includes an arrangement for Henry VI to marry Margaret of Anjou.
• * A serious fire occurs at Old St Paul's Cathedral in London.1445
• * 23 April – Henry VI marries Margaret of Anjou at Titchfield Abbey.
• * 14 July – Hundred Years' War: negotiations for a peace treaty begin in London.1446
• * 26 June – Hundred Years' War: Henry re-asserts his claim over Brittany.
• * 25 July – Henry lays the foundation stone of King's College Chapel, Cambridge.1447
• * 18 February – Duke of Gloucester arrested for treason. He dies five days later.
• * 9 December – Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York appointed as the King's representative in Ireland.1448
• * 11 March – Hundred Years' War: England cedes Maine to France.
• * 16 March – Hundred Years' War: peace negotiations break down over the issue of English control over Brittany.
• * 15 April – Queen Margaret of Anjou founds Queens' College, Cambridge.
• * May – Earliest known reference to Morris dance in England.
• * 23 October – Scottish victory over the English at the Battle of Sark.1449
• * 24 March – Hundred Years' War: English capture Fougères in Brittany.
• * May – An English privateering fleet led by Robert Wennington challenges ships of the Hanseatic League.
• * July – Hundred Years' War: French invade Normandy.
• * 29 October – Hundred Years' War: Rouen surrenders to the French.
• * Earliest known grant of a patent in England, by Henry VI to John of Utynam for the introduction of coloured glass manufacture.

Births

• 1440
• *approximate Henry Deane, Archbishop of Canterbury
• 1442
• * 28 April – King Edward IV of England
• * 27 September – John de la Pole, 2nd Duke of Suffolk
• * Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers
• 1443
• * 17 May – Edmund, Earl of Rutland, brother of Kings Edward IV of England and Richard III of England
• * 31 May – Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII of England
• * John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford, Lancastrian leader
• * Anne Beauchamp, 15th Countess of Warwick
• 1444
• *John de Mowbray, 4th Duke of Norfolk
• 1446
• *Edmund de Ros, 10th Baron de Ros, politician
• * William Grocyn, scholar
• 1449
• * 21 October – George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence, brother of Edward IV and Richard III

Deaths

• 1440
• * 30 September – Reginald Grey, 3rd Baron Grey de Ruthyn, soldier and politician
• * 13 November – Joan Beaufort, Countess of Westmoreland
• 1441
• * 27 October – Margery Jourdemayne, "the witch of Eye", burned at the stake
• 1443
• * 12 April – Henry Chichele, Archbishop of Canterbury, having served since 1414, the longest ever in this office
• 1444
• * 27 May – John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset, military leader
• 1445
• * 5 June – Leonel Power, composer
• * 11 June – Henry de Beauchamp, 1st Duke of Warwick
• 1447
• * 23 February – Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester
• * 11 April – Henry Beaufort, Cardinal, Lord Chancellor
• * John Holland, 2nd Duke of Exeter
• 1449
• * Anne Beauchamp, 15th Countess of Warwick