1240

1240 in various calendars
Gregorian calendar	1240; MCCXL
Ab urbe condita	1993
Armenian calendar	689; ԹՎ ՈՁԹ
Assyrian calendar	5990
Balinese saka calendar	1161–1162
Bengali calendar	647
Berber calendar	2190
English Regnal year	24 Hen. 3 – 25 Hen. 3
Buddhist calendar	1784
Burmese calendar	602
Byzantine calendar	6748–6749
Chinese calendar	己亥年 (Earth Pig); 3937 or 3730; — to —; 庚子年 (Metal Rat); 3938 or 3731
Coptic calendar	956–957
Discordian calendar	2406
Ethiopian calendar	1232–1233
Hebrew calendar	5000–5001
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	1296–1297
- Shaka Samvat	1161–1162
- Kali Yuga	4340–4341
Holocene calendar	11240
Igbo calendar	240–241
Iranian calendar	618–619
Islamic calendar	637–638
Japanese calendar	En'ō 2 / Ninji 1; (仁治元年)
Javanese calendar	1149–1150
Julian calendar	1240; MCCXL
Korean calendar	3573
Minguo calendar	672 before ROC; 民前672年
Nanakshahi calendar	−228
Thai solar calendar	1782–1783
Tibetan calendar	阴土猪年; (female Earth-Pig); 1366 or 985 or 213; — to —; 阳金鼠年; (male Iron-Rat); 1367 or 986 or 214

Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	12th century; 13th century ; 14th century;
Decades:	1220s; 1230s; 1240s ; 1250s; 1260s;
Years:	1237; 1238; 1239; 1240 ; 1241; 1242; 1243;

Year 1240 (MCCXL) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.

Events

By place

Europe

May 24 – Duke Skule Bårdsson, claimant to the Norwegian throne, is defeated by King Haakon IV (the Old) and his supporters. He seeks refuge in Elgeseter Priory in Trondheim, and Haakon burns down the monastery, in which Skule is burned alive. Haakon becomes the undisputed ruler; this ends the civil war era in Norway, after 110 years.
July 15 – Battle of the Neva: A Swedish army under Bishop Thomas sails up the Gulf of Finland in their longboats. They proceed into the Neva River with the aim of seizing control over Lake Ladoga and from there, striking at the city of Novgorod. Prince Alexander rallies his druzhina comparable to the 'household' of western European countries, and decisively routs the Swedish forces, saving the Novgorod Republic from a full-scale enemy invasion from the North. As a result, Alexander wins his first military victory at the age of 19 and receives the title of Nevsky.^[1]
August – Siege of Faenza: Frederick II lays siege to the town of Faenza during the war of the Guelphs and Ghibellines. Meanwhile, Frederick makes an alliance with Pisa to support his campaign against the Papal States.
Winter – Alexander Nevsky quarrels with the Kievan nobles (boyars) and merchants of Novgorod, probably about peaceful trade with the westerners. He is banished, along with his mother, wife, and his druzhina to take up residence in the region around Moscow, a minor town on the western border of the Principality of Vladimir-Suzdal.^[2]
Reconquista: King Sancho II (the Pious) conquers the city of Ayamonte from the Almoravids, securing the Portuguese position in Al-Andalus.^[3]

Africa

Summer – As-Salih Ayyub becomes ruler of Egypt, after deposing his half-brother Al-Adil II. Meanwhile, other members of the Ayyubid Dynasty are conspiring to depose him and replace him with his uncle, As-Salih Ismail. During his reign, As-Salih begins buying large numbers of Kipchak slaves, to form an elite core in the Egyptian army, known as Mamluks.^[4]

Levant

October 10 – Richard of Cornwall, brother of King Henry III, arrives at Acre for a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. His pilgrimage has the approval of Emperor Frederick II, who is married to his younger sister, Isabella of England, and gives him the task to make arrangements with the Military Orders. On his arrival, Richard travels to Ascalon, where he is met by ambassadors from As-Salih Ayyub. As a negotiator, he is successful in the release of prisoners captured at Gaza (see 1239), and he also assists with the building of the citadel in Ascalon.^[5]

Mongol Empire

Winter – The Mongols under Batu Khan cross the frozen Dnieper River and lay siege to the city of Kiev. On December 6, the walls are rendered rubble by Chinese catapults and the Mongols pour into the city. Brutal hand-to-hand street fighting occurs, the Kievans are eventually forced to fall back to the central parts of the city. Many people take refuge in the Church of the Blessed Virgin. As scores of terrified Kievans climb onto the Church's upper balcony to shield themselves from Mongol arrows, their collective weight strain its infrastructure, causing the roof to collapse and crush countless citizens under its weight. Of a total population of 50,000, all but 2,000 are massacred.^[6]

By topic

Religion

June 12 – The Disputation of Paris begins at the court of King Louis IX (the Saint), where four rabbis defend the Talmud against Nicholas Donin's accusations of blasphemy.
Pope Gregory IX authorizes a Crusade against Novgorod, hoping that the Kievan Rus' will be too preoccupied dealing with the raiding Mongols to the east to defend.

Births

May 2 – Du Zong (or Zhao Qi), Chinese emperor (d. 1274)
September 29 – Margaret, queen of Scotland (d. 1275)
Abraham Abulafia, Moorish Jewish philosopher (d. 1292)
Afonso Mendes de Melo, Portuguese nobleman (d. 1280)
Agostino Novello, Italian priest and prior general (d. 1309)
Albert II (the Degenerate), German nobleman (d. 1314)
Andrea dei Conti, Italian nobleman and priest (d. 1302)
Arnaldus de Villa Nova, Spanish physician (d. 1311)
Balian of Ibelin, Cypriot nobleman and knight (d. 1302)
Beka I Jaqeli, Georgian prince (mtavari) (d. 1306)
Benedict XI, pope of the Catholic Church (d. 1304)
Conrad I, German nobleman and regent (d. 1304)
Conrad of Lichtenberg, German bishop (d. 1299)
Daumantas of Pskov, Lithuanian prince (d. 1299)
Frederick III, German nobleman and knight (d. 1302)
Giovanni Pelingotto, Italian hermit and monk (d. 1304)
Henry VI, count of Luxembourg and Arlon (d. 1288)
Jean d'Eppe, French nobleman and knight (d. 1293)
Magnus III (Birgersson), king of Sweden (d. 1290)
Peter III, king of Aragon and Valencia (d. 1285)
Siger of Brabant, French philosopher (d. 1284)
Simon VI, English nobleman and knight (d. 1271)
Simone Ballachi, Italian monk and friar (d. 1319)

Deaths

January 23 – Albert of Pisa, Italian Franciscan friar
February 24 – Egidia de Lacy, Norman noblewoman
March 6 – Sylvester of Assisi, Italian priest (b. 1175)
April 11 – Llywelyn the Great, king of Gwynedd
May 24 – Skule Bårdsson, Norwegian nobleman
May 27 – William de Warenne, English nobleman
July 22 – John de Lacy, English nobleman (b.1192)
July 24 – Conrad of Thuringia, German Grand Master
August 14 – Ludmilla of Bohemia, duchess of Bavaria
August 31 – Raymond Nonnatus, Spanish cardinal
October 13 – Malik Altunia, Indian governor and ruler
November 16
- Edmund of Abingdon, English archbishop (b. 1174)
- Ibn Arabi, Andalusian philosopher and poet (b. 1165)
December 6 – Constance, queen of Bohemia (b. 1180)
Alan of Beccles, English clergyman and secretary (b. 1195)
Alexander of Villedieu, French teacher and poet (b. 1175)
Anastasia of Greater Poland, Polish noblewoman (b. 1164)
Branca of Portugal, Portuguese princess (infanta) (b. 1198)
Caesarius of Heisterbach, German hagiographer (b. 1180)
Conrad of Lichtenau, German nobleman and chronicler
Fujiwara no Hideyoshi, Japanese waka poet (b. 1184)
Germanus II (Nauplius), patriarch of Constantinople
Guilhabert de Castres, French bishop and theologian
Hartmann I, German nobleman and knight (b. 1160)
Hōjō Tokifusa, Japanese nobleman and regent (b. 1175)
John FitzRobert, English nobleman and knight (b. 1190)
Tbeli Abuserisdze, Georgian scholar and writer (b. 1190)
Thomas Moulton, English nobleman and knight

References

^ David Nicolle (2005). Osprey: Lake Peipus 1242 – Battle on the Ice, pp. 51–53. ISBN 1-85532-553-5.
^ David Nicolle (2005). Osprey: Lake Peipus 1242 – Battle on the Ice, p. 53. ISBN 1-85532-553-5.
^ Picard, Christophe (2000). Le Portugal musulman (VIIIe-XIIIe siècle. L'Occident d'al-Andalus sous domination islamique. Paris: Maisonneuve & Larose. p. 110. ISBN 2-7068-1398-9.
^ Humphreys, R. Stephen (1977). From Saladin to the Mongols: The Ayyubids of Damascus, 1193–1260, p. 268. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press. ISBN 0-87395-263-4.
^ Steven Runciman (1952). A History of The Crusades. Vol III: The Kingdom of Acre, pp. 182–183. ISBN 978-0-241-29877-0.
^ Perfecky, George (1973). The Hypatian Codex, pp. 43–49. Munich, Germany: Wilhelm Fink Publishing House.