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The Battle of the Curragh (Irish: Cath an Churraigh) is a battle fought on April 1, 1234, on the Curragh plain in County Kildare. The adversaries are men loyal to King Henry III of England on one side, and on the other side Richard Marshal, 3rd Earl of Pembroke and Lord of Leinster, who loses the battle and later dies from the wounds he suffers. The battle is a small affair in the number of knights involved but is still significant because it ends the career of the popular Richard Marshal.
The conflict between Richard Marshal and Henry III goes back several years, and centres particularly on the earl’s discontent with the influence that certain foreigners hold over the king. Most prominent among these is the Poitevin Peter des Roches, bishop of Winchester. In March 1234, a truce is reached between the king and Marshal, the condition of which is the removal of Peter des Roches from court. In the meanwhile, however, conflict has broken out in Ireland between Marshal’s brothers and some of the king’s supporters. These include Maurice FitzGerald, Justiciar of Ireland, Walter de Lacy, Lord of Meath, and Hugh de Lacy, 1st Earl of Ulster. Richard Marshal crosses the Irish Sea to Ireland to assist his brothers, where he meets with the enemies at the Curragh on April 1. Here he is defeated and captured. He is taken to Kilkenny Castle, where he dies from his injuries on April 16.
Richard Marshal had become highly popular in England because of his fight against foreign influence at court, and for this reason the accounts of the battle are idealised and not necessarily reliable. According to contemporary accounts, he is tricked into meeting his enemies at the Curragh and then deserted by his own forces. Rather than flee, he remains to fight against the odds, allegedly with only fifteen knights against 140. His popularity also means that his death is mourned in England, while the Poitevins, who are rumoured to have instigated the Irish war, fall further into disregard. Henry III nevertheless rewards Marshal’s Irish opponents richly.
The Curragh plains are later used as a location to recreate the Battle of Stirling Bridge in Mel Gibson‘s 1995 film Braveheart.
(Pictured: The Curragh plains in County Kildare)