Major Events
- Jul 15 A Novgorodian army led by Alexander Nevsky defeats the Swedes in the Battle of the Neva
- Oct 18 Ukrainian city of Chernigov surrenders, despite this still sacked and pillaged by Mongolian army of Batu
- Nov 28 Batu Khan's Mongol army lays siege to Kyiv and begins assaulting its city walls with catapults, city falls 8 days later
- Dec 6 Mongols led by Batu Khan occupy and destroy Kyiv after an 8 day siege; out of 50,000 people in the city only 2,000 survive
Who Died in 1240
- Jan 30 Pelagio Galvani, Leonese ecclesiastical lawyer, and Cardinal-Bishop of Albano (b. va. 1165)
- Apr 11 Llywelyn ab Iorwerth the Great, monarch of Wales (1194-1240), dies
- May 1 Jacques de Vitry, Cardinal-Bishop of Frascati and dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals
- Jul 24 Konrad von Thüringen, German fifth Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights
- Nov 16 Ibn al-'Arabi, Muslim mystic and philosopher (The Meccan Revelations), dies at 75
More 1240 Deaths
Gregory I
Gregory XIII
Julius II
Julius III
Leo X
Pius V