SCHOMBERG, FRIEDRICH HERMANN (or FREDERIC ARMAND), DUKE OF (c. 1615-1690), marshal of France and Eng lish general, was born in Dec. 1615 or Jan. 1616, at Heidelberg, the son of Hans Meinard von Schonberg (1582-1616) and Anne Sutton, daughter of the 9th Lord Dudley. He was educated by various friends, among whom was the "Winter King," Frederick V. of the Palatinate, in whose service his father had been. He began his military career under Frederick Henry, prince of Orange, and passed about 1634 into the Swedish service, whence he entered that of France in 1635. After a time he retired to his family estate at Geisenheim on the Rhine, but in 1639 he re-entered the Dutch army, in which he remained until about 165o. He then re joined the French army as a general officer (marechal de camp), served under Turenne in the campaigns against Conde, and be came a lieutenant-general in 1665.
After the peace of the Pyrenees (1659) the independence of Portugal being again menaced by Spain, Schomberg was sent as military adviser to Lisbon with the secret approval of Charles II. of England and Louis XIV., who in order not to infringe the treaty just made with Spain, deprived Schomberg of his French offices. Schomberg won the victory of Montes Claros on June 17, 1665 over the Spaniards under the prince of Parma. He helped to depose the reigning king in favour of his brother Dom Pedro, and then returned to France, became a naturalized Frenchman and bought the lordship of Coubert near Paris. In 1673 he was invited by Charles to England to command the army, but senti ment was so strong against the appointment, as savouring of French influence, that it was not carried into effect. He again entered the service of France. His first operations in Catalonia were unsuccessful owing to the disobedience of subordinates and the rawness of his troops, but he retrieved the failure of 1674 by retaking Bellegarde in 1675. For this he was made a marshal, being included in the promotion that followed the death of Turenne.
The tide had now set against the Huguenots, and Schomberg's merits had been long ignored on account of his Protestantism.
The revocation of the edict of Nantes (1685) compelled him to quit France, and he became general-in-chief of the forces of the elector of Brandenburg; at Berlin he was the acknowledged leader of the Huguenot refugees.
Soon afterwards, with the elector's consent, he joined the prince of Orange on his expedition to England in 1688, as second in command to the prince. The following year he was made a knight of the Garter, was created successively baron, marquis and duke, was appointed master-general of the ordnance, and received com pensation for the loss of his French estates, of which Louis had deprived him. In August he commanded the expedition to Ireland against James II. After capturing Carrickfergus he marched unopposed through a country desolated before him to Dundalk, but decided not to risk a battle with his undisciplined troops, and entrenching himself at Dundalk declined to be drawn beyond the of his defences. Shortly afterwards pestilence broke out, and when he retired to winter quarters in Ulster his forces were severely shattered. His conduct was criticized in ill-informed quarters, but the facts justified his inactivity. In the spring he began the campaign with the capture of Charlemont, but no advance southward was made until the arrival of William. At the Boyne (July I, 1690) Schomberg gave his opinion against the de termination of William to cross the river in face of the opposing army. In the battle he commanded the centre, and while riding through the river without his cuirass to rally his men, was sur rounded by Irish horsemen and instantly killed. He was buried in St. Patrick's cathedral, Dublin.
His eldest son Charles, the second duke in the English peerage, died in 1693 of wounds received at the battle of Marsaglia.
The most important work on Schomberg's life and career is Kazner's Leben Friedrichs von Schomberg oder Schonberg (Mannheim, 1789). The military histories and memoirs of the time should also be consulted.