Rabo Herman Schele (1620-1662)

Rabo Herman Schele werd geboren in 1620. Zijn ouders waren Sweder Schele (II) van Weleveld en diens tweede vrouw, Anna Brawe tot Campe. Zijn jeugd bracht hij door op het Huis Welberg bij Steinfurt, de plek waar zijn moeder toen verbleef. Hij studeerde aan het gymnasium in Burgsteinfurt en vanaf 1637 in Leiden, waar hij voor de studierichting rechten koos. Prof. Gronovius beschreef de leergierige Schele in een brief aan zijn ambtgenoot Salmasius als ‘wonderbaarlijk geleerd’ en uitmuntend in ‘goede manieren en eenvoud, gemakkelijk gebruik van een aangename taal, grootheid van ziel, scherpzinnigheid van oordeel, vlugheid van geest, deftigheid van stijl en gepaste ernst’. Daarbij moet worden aangetekend dat het gebruik van superlatieven (in het Latijn veelvuldig gebruikt) in die tijd gewoon was. Tijdens zijn studie overleed zijn vader Sweder, die wel wordt omschreven als een ‘allround edelman’, en die een belangrijk lid van de Ridderschap was. De oorspronkelijk van Duitse ‘Uradel’ afkomstige Schele’s waren ontwikkelde mensen.

Trefwoorden: Overijssel Twente Twenthe Borne Zenderen Weleveld

The frontispiece depicts a Roman soldier who gives instructions for the building of a castrum. Engraved printer's device on the title, within a laurel wreath we see a hand coming out of a cloud, writing on a sheet of paper 'Hac itur ad astra'. Engraved initials) (Condition: Vellum age tanned. Ownership entry on the title) (Note: This title contains the work of 3 experts on the fortification of Roman camps. To the first, the Roman land surveyor Hyginus Gromaticus, who lived in the 2nd or 3rd century A.D. 'has been falsely attributed the incomplete treatise 'De munitionibus castrorum'', (also called 'De castris romanis') 'a handbook of castrametation on a basis more theoretical than practical'. (OCD 2nd ed. s.v. Hyginus 4) Nowadays the author is referred to as Pseudo Hyginus. (Castrametari means to 'pitch a camp', and a 'groma' is a land surveyor's measuring-rod) § In the introduction to this work, the editor, translator and commentator R(adbodus) H(ermannus) S(chelius) argues that the art of Roman warfare was admired in antiquity by Philippus of Macedon and Pyrrhus of Epirus, for its perfection and its results. The building of a strong and well organized camp was a vital part of the Roman strategy. Such a camp, with its walls and tents, was the homestead and a second fatherland of every Roman soldier. ('Patria altera est militaris haecsedes, vallum pro moenibus & tentorium suum cuique militi domus ac penates sunt'. p. a4 recto) And in modern times, he goes on, especially the Commanders of the armed forces of The Netherlands (in Belgio) have studied and thus revived the noble art of Roman warfare. They were successful on the battlefield, because they had studied Roman tactics, reinstated Roman discipline, and stopped the plundering and looting of armies on the move. They waged war just like the Romans, 'ratione' and 'disciplina'. (p. c1 recto) Therefore the Dutch Republic is considered nowadays, he says, to be the seat of discipline and the school of warfare. (Sedes disciplinae & Schola rei Militaris) Schelius thinks here of course of Princes Maurits and Frederik Hendrik of Orange. Maurits, 1567-1625, 'organised the Dutch rebellion against Spain into a coherent, successful revolt and won fame as a military strategist'. 'Maurits set out to revive and revise the classical doctrines of the Romans and pioneered the new European forms of armament and drill'. (Wikipedia, Prince Maurice of Orange). Another successful Dutch commander in the war against the Spaniards was Prince Frederik Hendrik, 1584-1647, who could read Latin, and had studied mathematics and the 'ars gromatica', or the art of land surveying, in Leiden. § The Latin text of Hyginus is printed twice. The first text is printed in 2 columns, and the heading is 'De castramentione liber'. It is printed as a facsimile of a medieval manuscript. Then follows the same text, now edited and emended after this 'manuscript'. The huge commentary numbers 143 pages. Hyginus was an expert on the fortification of camps, and his work is more theoretic. § More practical is the following treatise on 'castrametatio' of the Greek historian and expert on Roman warefare Polybius, c. 200 - c. 118 B.C. (Book VI, 26/10-36) The Greek text is accompanied by a facing Latin translation. Polybius was a mentor and friend of Scipio Aemilianus. In 134 BC he took over the Numantine War (143-133 BC), restored the discipline of the Roman army, besieged Numantia and destroyed it. He acquired first hand knowledge of Roman warfare, when he followed Scipio on his campaign against Hannibal in the Third Punic War. The Flemish humanist Justus Lipsius based his treatise 'De Re Militaria' (1585) on this 6th book of Polybius. The Dutch States General sent after its publication at once a copy to Maurits. § The third expert is the Dutch nobleman and warrior Radboud Herman Schele, or in Latin Radbodus Hermannus Schelius, born in 1622. After his studies and his tour through Europe, he joined the armed forces of the Duke of Tuscany, eager to learn on the battlefield the use of arms, tactics, the deployment of troops, sieges etc. At the same time he was engaged in comparing modern warfare with that of the Romans. Soon the Duke promoted him to a high post. After 4 years he returned home and applied himself to poetry and the study of Roman historians and authors who wrote on tactics and warfare. His aim was to have the generals of his time understand that they could improve their skills and tactics if they took advantage of the tactical writings and examples provided by the Romans. He died young in 1662. Schelius' work was appreciated by the 'founder' of 'Altertumswissenschaft', the German scholar F.A, Wolf. He starts a chapter on 'Kriegswesen' with this edition of 1660. He calls the commentary of Schelius 'ein nützlicher Commentar', with 'Uebersetzung' & 'Noten'. (F.A. Wolf, 'Vorlesungen über Alterthumswissenschaft, vol. 5, Leipzig 1835, p. 252) J.G. Graevius, professor of Classics at Utrecht, and probably his teacher at the Athenaeum of Deventer, wrote a funeral oration for him, and Nicolaas Heinsius composed an elegy on his death. Graevius also incorporated the work of Schelius in the 10th volume of his 'Thesaurus Antiquitatum Romanarum'. (Van der Aa 17, p. 248/251) His portrait, made by R. Vinkeles, can be admirede at rijksmuseum.nl/en/collection/RP-P-OB-64.041)