1140s in England

none Events from the 1140s in England. Incumbents Monarch – Stephen (to 8 April 1141), Matilda (8 April to 1 November 1141), then Stephen Events 1140 December – The Anarchy: Earl Ranulf of Chester, an opponent of King Stephen, captures Lincoln. 1141 2 February – The Anarchy: At the First Battle of Lincoln, Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester and his half-sister Empress Matilda wrest control of the throne from King Stephen, who is captured and imprisoned. 8 April – The Anarchy: Matilda is proclaimed "Lady of the English". 24 June – The Anarchy: Matilda is forced to flee Westminster during a royal banquet, and flees to Oxford. July – The Anarchy: Matilda of Boulogne, wife of Stephen, recaptures London. 14 September – The Anarchy: Rout of Winchester: Robert of Gloucester is captured by forces loyal to Stephen during fighting at Winchester. 1 November – The Anarchy: Stephen and Robert are exchanged as prisoners ending the reign of Matilda. 1142 Queen Matilda grants the church of Oakley, Buckinghamshire, with its chapels of Brill, Boarstall and Addingrove, to the monks of the Priory of St Frideswide, Oxford. c. Summer – A group of Anglo-Norman independent crusaders led by William and Ralph Vitalus help King Afonso I Henriques of Portugal in a failed Siege of Lisbon before continuing on their way to the Holy Land.Lucas Villegas-Aristizábal (2013), "Revisiting the Anglo-Norman Crusaders’ Failed Attempt to Conquer Lisbon c. 1142," Portuguese Studies 29:1 (2013), pp. 7-20. Autumn – The Anarchy: 9-year-old Henry of Anjou, a son of Empress Matilda, lands in England for the first time, on the south coast, with his uncle, Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester, and several knights. He travels to Bristol, centre of Angevin opposition to King Stephen, where he is educated by Master Matthew. Meanwhile, Robert captures Lulworth Castle, Rufus Castle ("Bow and Arrow Castle") on the Isle of Portland and Wareham Castle. 26 September – The Anarchy: Stephen captures Oxford, and besieges Matilda inside the castle. December – The Anarchy: Matilda escapes from Oxford Castle across the snow in a white cape for camouflageHenry of Huntingdon Historia Anglorum and safely reaches Abingdon. The next day Oxford Castle surrenders to Stephen and Matilda rides with an escort to Wallingford Castle where she seeks refuge.https://books.google.com/books?id=ychyAQ1JTVAC The Anarchy of King Stephen's Reign Edmund King 5 2007-12-18 1143 1 July – The Anarchy: Battle of Wilton – Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester, defeats Stephen at Wilton. The Anarchy: Geoffrey de Mandeville, a supporter of Matilda, is deprived of his castles in Essex, but subsequently captures Ely and campaigns in Cambridgeshire. Robert of Ketton makes the first European translation of the Qur'an into Latin.Williams Hywel Cassell's Chronology of World History https://archive.org/details/cassellschronolo0000will/page/122 registration London Weidenfeld & Nicolson 2005 0-304-35730-8 122–123 1144 11 February – Robert of Chester completes the translation of Book on the Composition of Alchemy from Arabic to Latin. It is the first book in Europe to describe alchemy.https://books.google.com/books?id=svvrC-5-G8UC Alchemy Eric John Holmyard 106 2007-12-18 22 March – A young apprentice, William of Norwich, is murdered, a crime attributed to the Jews by the Norwich mob, the first known medieval accusation of blood libel against Jews. Matilda's husband Geoffrey of Anjou completes the conquest of Normandy. 1145 The Anarchy: Stephen captures Faringdon Castle. Woburn Abbey founded.http://www.woburnabbey.co.uk/the_abbey/building_the_abbey.php Woburn Abbey website 2007-12-18 https://web.archive.org/web/20071022013414/http://www.woburnabbey.co.uk/the_abbey/building_the_abbey.php 2007-10-22 dead Robert of Chester makes the first translation of an algebra text from Arabic into Latin. 1146 The Anarchy: Ranulf of Chester is captured, but released after surrendering his castles. 1147 The Anarchy: 14-year-old Henry arrives in England with a small force to fight for his mother Matilda and penetrates as far as Wiltshire, but is defeated in skirmishes, and, with intervention by Stephen, returns to Normandy. The Anarchy: Ranulf of Chester lays waste to the land around Coventry, but fails to capture the city itself. Late Spring – An expedition of Crusaders leaves from Dartmouth, Devon, for the Second Crusade to the Holy Land, Englishmen together with forces from Flanders, Frisia, Scotland and some German polities. Leadership is provided by Hervey de Glanvill, a Norman nobleman and constable of Suffolk, who leads a fleet of some 200 ships. Bad weather forces them to take refuge at the mouth of the Douro in Portugal on 16 June. 25 October – Reconquista: Siege of Lisbon – King Afonso I of Portugal conquers Lisbon from the Moorish Taifa of Badajoz after a four-month siege, with support of English, Flemish and German Crusaders, and the defenders are bloodily massacred. 1148 February – The Anarchy: Empress Matilda is forced to return to Normandy. 1149 22 May – King David I of Scotland knights his great-nephew Henry (who has returned from Normandy), and cedes northern Lancashire to Ranulf of Chester, in return for control of Carlisle.Palmer Alan Palmer Veronica 1992 The Chronology of British History Century Ltd London 63–65 0-7126-5616-2 King David I of Scotland attempts to wrest control of the Bishopric of Durham and the Archbishopric of York from Stephen, but fails. Births 1140 William FitzRalph, future Sheriff of Nottingham and seneschal of Normandy 1146 William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke, soldier and statesman (died 1219) 1147 Hugh de Kevelioc, 3rd Earl of Chester (died 1181) Deaths 1140 6 February – Thurstan, Archbishop of York (born c. 1070 in Normandy) 1141 May – Aubrey de Vere, Lord Great Chamberlain (born 1062) 1142 Approximate date – Orderic Vitalis, chronicler (born 1075) 1143 Approximate date – William of Malmesbury, historian (born 1080) 1144 September – Geoffrey de Mandeville, 1st Earl of Essex, rebel and outlaw, killed in battle 1147 31 October – Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester, politician (born c. 1090) 1148 3 January – Anselm of St Saba, abbot of Bury St Edmunds (born 1136 in Italy) 6 January Gilbert de Clare, 1st Earl of Pembroke (born c. 1100) William de Warenne, 3rd Earl of Surrey, killed on crusade (born 1119) 30 January (approximate date) – Serlo (abbot of Cirencester) References