he was sent on 10 June 1625 to Hanau. But the air of the place not agreeing with him, he was removed to the academy of Sedan. Here he remained till 1630, when he was sent with a tutor of the name of Bolsinger to Paris; but some fears being entertained that the influence of his cousin, Count Schomberg, might prove detrimental to his protestant principles, he was, after a brief visit to his grandfather, Lord Dudley, in England, placed at the university of Leyden, where he remained for two years. When about the age of seventeen he served as a volunteer in the army of Frederick Henry, prince of Orange, and was present at the seige of Rheinberg on 31 May 1633. Subsequently he joined the Swedish army in Germany, under Bernhard of Weimar, and took part in the battle of Nördlingen on 5 Sept. 1634, fighting in the infantry regiment of Pfuhl. He took part in the flight from Nördlingen to Mainz, and in the better-conducted retreat from Mainz to Metz, and in the numerous skirmishes that daily occurred he fought by the side of Reinhold von Rosen, seeing more of real warfare in those few days than in several subsequent years.
In 1635, when France openly intervened in the war, Schomberg purchased a company in the regiment of German infantry raised and commanded by Josias, afterwards maréchal de Rantzau. He was stationed in the neighbourhood of Calais and Gravelines for the purpose of supporting Maréchal Chatillon in effecting a juncture with the Dutch troops under the prince of Orange. He carried out his part of the plan satisfactorily, and it was remarked in his favour that he was the only officer who, owing to his knowledge of French, was able to quell the dissensions that daily arose between the French and German soldiers. In the campaign of the following year he served under Rantzau in Franche-Comté, taking part in the capture of Dôle, and sharing with his general the honour of the relief of St. Jean-de-Lône. In March 1637 he passed into Westphalia for the purpose of raising recruits for a cavalry regiment to which Rantzau had been appointed. Having accomplished his purpose he went to join his general in Holstein, when the enemy took advantage of his absence to pick off his recruits. He revenged himself by attacking their quarters; but the main object of the undertaking—the relief of the fortress of Ehrenbreitstein—was frustrated, and a force of 8,000 Hessians, who were to have co-operated, were routed by the imperialists. With such of them and of Rantzau's recruits as he could collect he overran East Friesland and surprised Nordhausen; but, the war proving unsatisfactory in many ways, he resolved to retire from it, and after settling an affair of honour between himself and a fellow-officer, in which both were wounded, he retired to Holland.
On attaining his twenty-third birthday Schomberg took over the management of his own property, and on 30 April 1638 married his first cousin, Johanna Elizabeth von Schönberg, fixing his residence at Geisenheim in the Rheingau. Here his eldest son, Otto, was born on 15 March 1639; but before that event he had entered the service of Frederick Henry, prince of Orange, and, having obtained a lieutenancy in a regiment of German arquebusiers, was present at the capture of Gennep on 27 July 1641. Subsequently, on 7 Jan. 1642, he was given a company; but at this point his career becomes obscure. There are grounds for identifying him with the ‘Shimbeck’ of Le Laboureur's ‘Histoire du Maréchal de Guébriant’ (p. 715), the ‘Schiembek’ or ‘Schombeck’ of Mazarin's letters (ed. Chéruel, ii. 96, 191), and the ‘Keimbecus’ or ‘Keinbeck’ of Labardæus (De rebus Gallicis, p. 62), mentioned as commanding the Germans under Rantzau at the battle of Tuttlingen on 24 Nov. 1643, and taken prisoner by the imperialists. But, if so, it is difficult to reconcile Kazner's statement, based on good authority, that he was present at the capture of Sas de Gand on 7 Sept. 1644, and that his son Charles was born on 5 Aug. 1645, with the fact that the above-mentioned ‘Schombeck’ was only released apparently in May 1645. It is certain that he served under the Prince de Tarente in Holland in the autumn of 1645, and took part in the capture of Hulst on 5 Nov. A favourite of William II, prince of Orange, he was appointed by him first gentleman of his chamber, and is credited by Burnet with having influenced him in his violent action against the states of Holland (Own Time, i. 172). After William's death he served as a volunteer in the French army, and on 28 Oct. 1652 was appointed captain in the Scottish guards with the rank of maréchal-de-camp. He was present at the capture of Rhetel on 9 July, and of St. Menehould on 26 Nov. 1653; at the relief of Arras on 25 Aug., and the capture of Quesnoy on 16 Sept. 1654. At the end of the campaign he repaired to Germany, and, having by his own exertions raised a regiment of infantry, he was on 16 June 1655 appointed lieutenant-general. He took part in the capture of Landrecy on 13 July, of Condé on 18 Aug., and of St. Guislain, of which place he was appointed governor on the 25th of
