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 â Boniface of Savoy, the Queen's uncle, is enthroned as Archbishop of Canterbury.
- 10 August â Eleanor, Fair Maid of Brittany dies captive at Bristol, ending the senior line of Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany.
- October â After defeat in a military campaign, Dafydd ap Llywelyn makes Henry his heir.
- 1242
- May â English army supports rebels in Poitou against French rule.
- 12 May â 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 â 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 â Henry blockades Scotland and musters an army at Newcastle upon Tyne after Scots threaten the border.
- November â 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 â 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 â 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 â 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 â Bequest of William of Durham for the support of scholars in the University of Oxford, considered as the establishment of University College there.
Births
Deaths
- 1240
- 27 May â William de Warenne, 5th Earl of Surrey (born 1166)
- 16 November â Edmund of Abingdon, Archbishop of Canterbury, sanctified, dies in France on pilgrimage (born 1175)
- 1241
- 10 August â Eleanor, Fair Maid of Brittany, daughter of Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany (born 1184)
- 1 December â Isabella of England, princess (born 1214)
- 1242
- 26 March â William de Forz, 3rd Earl of Albemarle (year of birth unknown)
- 1243
- 12 May â Hubert de Burgh, 1st Earl of Kent (born c. 1165)
- 1245
- c. June â Elias of Dereham, canon and building designer
- 21 August â Alexander of Hales, theologian
- 1246
- 31 May â Isabella of Angoulême, queen of John of England (born c. 1187)
- June â Richard Fitz Roy, illegitimate son of King John (born c. 1190)
- Thomas De Melsonby, last hermit of the Farne Islands
- 1247
- William de Ferrers, 4th Earl of Derby (born c. 1168)
References