# 1240s in England

Events from the 1240s in England.

## Incumbents

* Monarch – Henry III

## 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 (died 1275)
* 1241
** Eleanor of Castile, queen of Edward I of England (died 1290)
* 1243
** 2 September – Gilbert de Clare, 6th Earl of Hertford, politician (died 1295)
* 1245
** 16 January – Edmund Crouchback, 1st Earl of Lancaster, son of Henry III of England (died 1296)
* 1246
** 14 September – John FitzAlan, 7th Earl of Arundel (died 1272)
* 1247
** Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln (died 1255)
* 1249
** Humphrey de Bohun, 3rd Earl of Hereford (died 1297)

## Deaths

* 1240
** 27 May – William de Warenne, 5th Earl of Surrey (born 1166)
** 16 November – Edmund of Abingdon, Archbishop of Canterbury, sanctified, dies in France on pilgrimage (born 1175)
* 1241
** 10 August – Eleanor, Fair Maid of Brittany, daughter of Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany (born 1184)
** 1 December – Isabella of England, princess (born 1214)
* 1242
** 26 March – William de Forz, 3rd Earl of Albemarle (year of birth unknown)
* 1243
** 12 May – Hubert de Burgh, 1st Earl of Kent (born c. 1165)
* 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 (born c. 1187)
** June – 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)