The first traceable ancestors of the house of Bylandt were known by the name of Doys, and were already noble ("
Uradel"). The first documented member of this name is
Wilhelmus dictus Doys (1260) who died in the
Battle of Worringen. Doys is mentioned in 1275 as being the owner of
Castle Scate, then a fiefdom of the
Counts (and later
Dukes)
of Cleves. Doys son Dietrich became the first person to use "de Bylandt" as his house name (1294). From then on all descendants used the name Bylandt. Following that period, the Bylandt family became steadily more powerful and acquired vast amounts of land. The title
Marshal of the
County of Cleves also stayed in the family for a long time. In 1500, the three
cadet branches formed. The first branch, Bylandt-Well, became the owners of Gut in
Geldern but soon died out. The second, Bylandt-Rheydt, inherited
Rheydt, later calling themselves Baron of Rheydt, and gained control of much land, including land in
Austria,
the Netherlands and
Germany. They were later granted the title of
Freiherr and in 1865 the title of
Count. The third
cadet branch, Bylandt-Halt-Spaldorf, gained control of the Castles of Halt and Spaldorf in
Westphalia and also became
Freiherren in 1661, while in 1678 they were created
Imperial Counts. ==Famous scions==