1240s in England

Updated on Dec 07, 2024

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Events from the 1240s in England.

Incumbents

Monarch - Henry III

Events

1240

Dafydd ap Llywelyn, Prince of Wales, pays homage to King Henry, and agrees to arbitration over the right to rule Wales.

Old St Paul's Cathedral in London is consecrated.

1241

1 February - Boniface of Savoy, the Queen's uncle, enthrones 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.

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.

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.