1440s

Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	14th century – 15th century – 16th century
Decades:	1410s 1420s 1430s – 1440s – 1450s 1460s 1470s
Years:	1440 1441 1442 1443 1444 1445 1446 1447 1448 1449
Categories:	Births – Deaths – Architecture Establishments – Disestablishments

1440s: events by year

Contents: 1440 1441 1442 1443 1444 1445 1446 1447 1448 1449

January–December

• February 21 – The Prussian Confederation is formed.
• September 13 – Gilles de Rais is taken into custody upon an accusation brought against him by the Bishop of Nantes.
• October 22 – Gilles de Rais confesses and is sentenced to death.

Date unknown

• Itzcóatl, Aztec ruler of Tenochtitlan, dies and is succeeded by Moctezuma I (Moctezuma Ilhuicamina).
• The term of Regent of Sweden Karl Knutsson Bonde ends.
• Murad II lays siege to Belgrade. The city is heavily damaged, but the defenders' use of artillery prevents the Turks from capturing the city.
• Eton College is founded by Henry VI.
• Sir Richard Molyneux is appointed constable of Liverpool Castle.
• The Ming Dynasty government of China begins a decade-long series of issuing harsh edicts towards those who illegally mine silver, the latter known as 'miner bandits' (kuangzei), a trend begun in 1438. The government wants to cap the amount of silver circulating into the market as more grain taxes are converted into silver taxes. The government establishes community night watches known as 'watches and tithings' (baojia) who ensure that illegal mining activities are brought to a halt. However, these are desperate measures, as illegal silver mining continues to thrive as a dangerous but lucrative venture.

January–December

• June 12 – Alfonso of Aragon is crowned at Naples.

Date unknown

• The community of Rauma, Finland is granted its town rights.
• The municipality of Juva, Finland was founded.
• Vlad II Dracul is temporarily replaced as ruler of Wallachia by his son Mircea.
• A fourth tower is added to Liverpool Castle.
• Battle of Sibiu: John Hunyadi defeats an Ottoman army of 80,000 strong, led by Mezid the Bey of Vidin, near Sibiu.

January–December

• July 22 – Battle of St. Jakob an der Sihl: Zürich is barely defeated.
• November 3 – Battle of Niš: John Hunyadi and crusader army, defeated the Ottoman Turks and captured city of Niš; Skanderbeg left the Turkish camp and went to Albania.
• November 28 – Skanderbeg and his forces, rebelling against the Ottoman Empire, liberated Kruja, in Middle Albania, and raised the Albanian flag.

Date unknown

• Nuno Tristão penetrates the Arguim Gulf.
• King Sejong the Great establishes Hangul as the native alphabet of the Korean language.
• Vlad II Dracul begins his second term as ruler of Wallachia, succeeding Basarab II.
• The Zhihua Si Buddhist Temple (智化寺) is built in Beijing, China at the order of Wang Zhen, the chief eunuch at the court of the Zhengtong Emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

January–December

• March 2 – The Albanian League is established in Lezha; George Kastrioti Skanderbeg is proclaimed commander of the Albanian resistance.
• April 16 – The Truce of Tours is signed between England and France (it lasts 5 years).
• June 15 – Cosimo de' Medici founds the Laurentian Library.
• June 29 – Skanderbeg defeats an Ottoman army at the battle of Torvioll.
• August 15 – Treaty of Szeged between Ottoman (Turkish) Empire and Kingdom of Hungary.
• August – After making peace with Karamanids, Murad II abdicated in favor of his son Mehmed II.
• August 26 – Old Zürich War – Battle of St. Jakob an der Birs: Charles VII of France, seeking to send away troublesome troops made idle by the truce with England, sends his son the Dauphin with a large army into Switzerland to support the claims of Emperor Frederick III. The massively outnumbered Swiss force is destroyed in this battle, but inflict such casualties on the French that they withdraw.
• November 10 – Battle of Varna: The crusading forces of King Ladislas of Poland and Hungary are crushed by the Turks under Sultan Murad II. Ladislas is killed.

Date unknown

• Forces of the Sultan of Egypt fail to take Rhodes from the Knights of Rhodes.
• The Iguvine Tables are discovered at Gubbio, Italy.
• Portuguese explorers reach the mouth of the rivers Senegal and Gambia.
• The first European slave market for the sale of African slaves, the Mercado de Escravos, opens in Lagos, Portugal.
• Portuguese caravel lands 235 slaves at Algarve, Portugal.
• A serious fire occurs at St Paul's Cathedral in London.
• Constantine XI, as despotate of the Morea, invades the Latin Duchy of Athens and forces them to pay tribute, and return Thebes to Byzantium.

January–December

• October 10 – Battle of Mokra: The Albanian forces under Skanderbeg defeated the Ottoman forces. (Pope Eugene IV raised a hymn as a praise that Christendom has been provided with a new defender after he heard of the battle.)

Date unknown

• Senegal and Cape Verde are discovered by Dinas Diaz.
• Battle of Gomit: Emperor Zara Yaqob of Ethiopia defeats and kills Sultan Arwe Badlay of Adal.

January–December

• September 27 – The Battle of Otonetë. Scanderbeg defeats the Ottomans.
• Before October – Sultan Mehmed II of the Ottoman Empire is forced to abdicate in favor of his father Murad II by the Janissaries.
• October – Murad II invades Attica, forcing Constantine XI to return Thebes to the duchy of Athens and remove the tribute imposed in 1444. Murad II imposes his own tribute.
• October 9 – The hangul alphabet is created in Korea by King Sejong the Great of Joseon. The Hunmin Jeongeum published during the year is considered the start of this brand new scientific writing system.
• December 10 – After hesitating for several weeks, Murad II, sultan of the Ottoman Empire, destroys the Hexamilion wall in an assault that includes cannons. Murad and the Ottoman governor of Thessaly, Turakhan Beg ravage the Peloponnese peninsula at will, with the Sultan devastating the northern shore until Glarentza and Turakhan raiding in the interior. The Despotate of the Morea is turned into an Ottoman vassal state.

Date unknown

• Portuguese navigator Álvaro Fernandes reaches the mouth of the Geba River in Guinea-Bissau.
• The Precious Belt Bridge in China is fully reconstructed.
• In Italy, the siege of Cremona by the condottieri troops of Francesco Piccinino and Luigi dal Verme is raised after the arrival of Scaramuccia da Forlì.
• The Blarney Stone is set into a tower of Blarney Castle in Blarney, County Cork in Ireland.

January–December

• March 6 – Pope Nicholas V succeeds Pope Eugene IV as the 208th pope.
• July 15 – The Inquisition is revived in Spain.
• December – Vlad II Dracul, ruler of Wallachia, and his eldest son Mircea are assassinated. Vladislav II succeeds him with the assistance of John Hunyadi.

Date unknown

• The Albanian-Venetian War of 1447-1448.
• The Siege of Soest in the course of the Soester Fehde
• According to Ryū's own sources, Iizasa Ienao founds Tenshin Shoden Katori Shinto-ryu, the earliest historically verifiable Japanese koryū martial art that is still extant today.

January–December

• January 6 – Christopher of Bavaria, King of Denmark, Norway and Sweden dies with no designated heir, leaving all three kingdoms with vacant thrones. Brothers Bengt Jönsson Oxenstierna and Nils Jönsson Oxenstierna are selected to serve as co-regents of Sweden.
• June 20 – The Regency period of Sweden ends with the election of Karl Knutsson Bonde as King Charles VIII of Sweden.
• June 28 – Charles VIII of Sweden is publicly hailed as king at Mora Stones.
• September 28 – Christian of Oldenburg, betrothed to Queen Dowager Dorothea of Brandenburg, becomes King Christian I of Denmark.
• October 17 – Battle of Kosovo: Hungarian forces under John Hunyadi are defeated by the Turks due to the treachery of Prince Dan of Wallachia and George Brankovic of Serbia.

Date unknown

• The Battle of Oronichea: Peace between Albania and Venice is established.
• Queens' College, Cambridge is founded by Margaret of Anjou.
• The Vatican Library is founded by Pope Nicholas V.
• Vlad III the Impaler becomes reigning Prince of Wallachia for two months before being deposed by Vladislav II.
• After a long episode of drought, flood, locust infestation, and famine in Ming Dynasty China since the year 1434, these natural afflictions finally wane and agriculture and commerce return to a state of normality.

January–December

• January 6 – Constantine XI is crowned Byzantine Emperor at Mistra. He will be the last in a line of rulers that can be traced to the founding of Rome.
• April 7 – The last Antipope, Felix V, abdicates.
• April 19 – Pope Nicholas V is elected by the Council of Basel.
• April 25 – The Council of Basel dissolves itself.
• May 14 – Second Siege of Sfetigrad (1449): Garrison surrenders and Ottomans seize the fortress.
• August 13 – First Margrave War: Brandenburg Margrave Albrecht Achilles takes Lichtenau Fortress from Nuremberg.
• September 8 – Battle of Tumu Fortress: The Oirat Mongols defeat the Ming Dynasty army and capture the Zhengtong Emperor of China; the latter is officially deposed while his brother ascends as the Jingtai Emperor the next year.
• October 29 – The French recapture Rouen from the English.