# 1440s in England

Events from the 1440s in England.

## Incumbents

* Monarch – Henry VI

## Events

* 1440
** 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 (died 1503)
* 1442
** 28 April – King Edward IV of England (died 1483)
** 27 September – John de la Pole, 2nd Duke of Suffolk (died 1491)
** Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers (died 1483)
* 1443
** 17 May – Edmund, Earl of Rutland, brother of Kings Edward IV of England and Richard III of England (died 1460)
** 31 May – Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII of England (died 1509)
** John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford, Lancastrian leader (died 1513)
** Anne Beauchamp, 15th Countess of Warwick (died 1449)
* 1444
** John de Mowbray, 4th Duke of Norfolk (died 1476)
* 1446
** Edmund de Ros, 10th Baron de Ros, politician (died 1508)
** William Grocyn, scholar (died 1519)
* 1449
** 21 October – George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence, brother of Edward IV and Richard III (died 1478)

## Deaths

* 1440
** 30 September – Reginald Grey, 3rd Baron Grey de Ruthyn, soldier and politician (born c. 1362)
** 13 November – Joan Beaufort, Countess of Westmoreland (born c. 1379)
* 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 (born c. 1364)
* 1444
** 27 May – John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset, military leader (born 1404)
* 1445
** 5 June – Leonel Power, composer (year of birth unknown, between 1370–1385)
** 11 June – Henry de Beauchamp, 1st Duke of Warwick (born 1424)
* 1447
** 23 February – Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester (born 1390)
** 11 April – Henry Beaufort, Cardinal, Lord Chancellor (born 1377)
** John Holland, 2nd Duke of Exeter (born 1395)
* 1449
** Anne Beauchamp, 15th Countess of Warwick (born 1443)