Frederick Schomberg , 1st Duke of Schomberg Friedrich Hermann ( or Frédéric - Armand ) , 1st Duke of Schomberg , 1st Count of Mertola ( originally von Schönberg ) , KG ( December 1615 or January 1616 – 11 July 1690 ) , was a marshal of France and a General in the English and Portuguese Army . Biography . Descended from an old family of the Electorate of the Palatinate , he was born at Heidelberg , the son of Hans Meinard von Schönberg ( 1582 – 1616 ) and Anne , daughter of Edward Sutton , 5th Baron Dudley . An orphan within a few months of his birth , he was educated by various friends , among whom was Frederick V , Elector Palatine , in whose service his father had been . He began his military career under Frederick Henry , Prince of Orange , and passed ( 1634 ) into the service of Sweden , entering that of France in 1635 . His family , and the allied house of the Saxon Schönbergs had already attained eminence in France . 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 , apparently , apart from a few intervals at Geisenheim , he remained until about 1650 . He then rejoined the French army as a general officer ( " maréchal de camp " ) , served under Turenne in the campaigns against Condé , and became a lieutenant - general in 1665 , receiving this rapid promotion perhaps partly owing to his relationship with Charles de Schomberg , duc d ' Halluin . After the peace of the Pyrenees ( 1659 ) , the independence of Portugal was threatened by Spain , and Schomberg was sent as military adviser to Lisbon with the secret approval of Charles II of England . Louis XIV of France , in order not to infringe the treaty just made with Spain , deprived Schomberg of his French officers . After many difficulties in the three first campaigns resulting from the insubordination of Portuguese officers , Schomberg won the victory of Montes Claros on 17 June 1665 over the Spaniards under Luis de Benavides Carrillo , Marquis of Caracena . After participating with his army in the revolution which deposed the reigning king Afonso VI of Portugal in favour of his brother Dom Pedro , and ending the war with Spain , Schomberg returned to France , became a naturalised Frenchman and bought the lordship of Coubert near Paris . He had been rewarded by the king of Portugal , in 1663 , with the rank of Grandee , the title of count of Mértola and a pension of f 5000 a year . In 1673 he was invited by Charles to England , with the view of taking command of the army , but sentiment was so strong against the appointment , as savouring of French influence , that it was not carried into effect . He therefore 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 Fort de 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 turned against the Huguenots , and Schomberg ' s merits had been long ignored on account of his adherence to the Protestant religion . The revocation of the Edict of Nantes ( 1685 ) forced him to leave his adopted country . Ultimately he became general - in - chief of the forces of the elector of Brandenburg , and at Berlin he was the acknowledged leader of the thousands of Huguenot refugees there . Soon afterwards , with the electors 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 Duke of Schomberg , was appointed Master - General of the Ordnance , and received from the House of Commons a vote of £100 , 000 to compensate him for the loss of his French estates , of which Louis had deprived him . In August he was appointed commander - in - chief of the expedition to Ireland against the Jacobite supporters of James II . After capturing Carrickfergus he marched unopposed through a country desolated before him to Dundalk , but , as the bulk of his forces were raw and undisciplined as well as inferior in numbers to the enemy , he deemed it imprudent to risk a battle , and entrenching himself at Dundalk declined to be drawn beyond the circle of his defences . Shortly afterwards pestilence broke out , and when he retired to winter quarters in Ulster his forces were more shattered than if they had sustained a severe defeat . His conduct was criticized in ill - informed quarters , but the facts justified his inactivity , and he gave what was said at the time to be a " striking example of his generous spirit " in placing at William ' s disposal for military purposes the £100 , 000 recently voted him . ln the spring he began the campaign with the capture of Charlemont , but no advance southward was made until the arrival of William . At the Battle of the Boyne ( 1 July 1690 ) , Schomberg gave his opinion against the determination 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 , he was surrounded by Irish horsemen and instantly killed . His eldest son Charles Schomberg , the second duke in the English peerage , died in the year 1693 of wounds received at the Battle of Marsaglia . Burial and Inscription . He was buried in St Patricks Cathedral , Dublin , where there is a monument to him , erected in 1731 , with a Latin inscription by Jonathan Swift . Latin text of the inscription : The English translation :