Richard Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, was defeated by knights loyal to King Henry III of England at the Battle of the Curragh in County Kildare, Ireland.

Richard Marshal, 3rd Earl of Pembroke, was the son of William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke and brother of William Marshal, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, whom he succeeded to the Earldom of Pembroke and Lord Marshal of England upon his brother's death on 6 April 1231.

Henry III, also known as Henry of Winchester, was King of England, Lord of Ireland and Duke of Aquitaine from 1216 until his death in 1272. The son of John, King of England, and Isabella of Angoulême, Henry acceded to the throne when he was only nine in the middle of the First Barons' War. Cardinal Guala Bicchieri declared the war against the rebel barons to be a religious crusade and Henry's forces, led by William Marshal, defeated the rebels at the battles of Lincoln and Sandwich in 1217. Henry promised to abide by the Great Charter of 1225, a later version of Magna Carta (1215), which limited royal power and protected the rights of the major barons. Henry's early reign was dominated first by William Marshal, and after his death in 1219 by the magnate Hubert de Burgh, Earl of Kent. In 1230 the King attempted to reconquer the provinces of France that had once belonged to his father, but the invasion was a debacle. A revolt led by William Marshal's son Richard broke out in 1232, ending in a peace settlement negotiated by the Catholic Church.

The Battle of the Curragh was fought on 1 April 1234 on the Curragh plain in County Kildare, Ireland. The adversaries were men loyal to King Henry III of England on one side, and on the other side Richard Marshal, Earl of Pembroke and Lord of Leinster, who lost the battle and later died from the wounds he suffered. The battle was a small affair in the number of knights involved, but was still significant because it ended the career of the popular Richard Marshal.

County Kildare is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It is named after the town of Kildare. Kildare County Council is the local authority for the county, which had a population of 246,977 at the 2022 census.