Herman de Lynden

After purchasing the Lordship of Rekem, he later obtained from the Holy Roman Emperor the establishment of this domain in free barony of the Empire.

He first served as a soldier in the Italian War of 1551–1559 under the command of famous admiral Andrea Doria, participating among others to the liberation of Porto Ercole, then besieged by Piero Strozzi.

In 1577, he was named captain of the Halberd guard of Archduke Matthias, and later became counselor of Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma, then governor of the Southern Netherlands.

This allowed him to control the river access to the city, which helped secure the rendition of Karl von Waldburg (brother of Gebhard), on January 28, 1584.

On January 8, 1592, Herman de Lynden was named governor and captain general of Cologne, and settled in Bonn and Poppelsdorf.