1040s in England

Events from the 1040s in England.

Incumbents

 * Monarch – Harold I (to 17 March 1040), Harthacanute (17 March 1040 to 8 June 1042), then Edward the Confessor

Events

 * 1040
 * 17 March – Harold Harefoot dies.
 * June – Harthacnut lands at Sandwich, Kent, and becomes King of England.
 * 1041
 * Rebellion in Worcester against Harthacnut's naval taxes.
 * Siward, Earl of Northumbria, kills Eadwulf IV of Bamburgh with the connivance of Harthacnut, possibly incorporating Bernicia into his Earldom of Northumbria thereafter.
 * Edward the Confessor returns from exile to become the heir of Harthacnut.
 * 1042
 * 8 June – Harthacnut collapses and soon after dies during the wedding celebrations of Tovi the Proud at Lambeth and is succeeded by his half-brother Edward the Confessor as King.
 * Encomium Emmae Reginae, a biography of the dowager Emma of Normandy, twice queen consort of England, is completed.
 * 1043
 * 3 April – coronation of Edward the Confessor at Winchester Cathedral.
 * 16 November – Queen Emma accused of treason and her ally Stigand, Bishop of East Anglia, is dismissed.
 * Earl Leofric of Mercia founds Coventry Abbey; according to legend, his wife Godiva rides naked through the town in protest at taxes to fund the abbey.
 * 1044
 * King Edward pardons Emma and Stigand.
 * 1045
 * Marriage of King Edward and Edith of Wessex.
 * 1046
 * 10 April – Leofric appointed Bishop of Crediton and Bishop of Cornwall.
 * Earl Sweyn Godwinson is exiled after kidnapping the Abbess of Leominster during an invasion of south Wales.
 * Ealdred, Bishop of Worcester, leads troops on an unsuccessful punitive raid against Welsh leaders Gruffydd ap Rhydderch, Rhys ap Rhydderch and Gruffydd ap Llywelyn.
 * Exeter Book of poetic riddles completed.
 * 1048
 * Last Viking raid on England; unsuccessful raiders flee to Flanders.
 * King Edward goes to war against Flanders, blockading the English Channel with a fleet based at Sandwich.
 * 1049
 * Sweyn Godwinson returns from exile, murders his cousin, and is exiled again.

Births

 * Cristina, daughter of Edward the Exile
 * 1045
 * Saint Margaret of Scotland daughter of Edgar Ætheling (died 1093)

Deaths

 * 1040
 * 17 March – King Harold Harefoot (born c. 1015)
 * 14 August – King Duncan I of Scotland (born ca. 1001)
 * 1042
 * 8 June – King Harthacanute (born 1018)