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.

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.

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.