sentences:  The lords of Ligne belonged to the entourage of the Count of Hainaut at the time of the Crusades.The Ligne family began a progressive rise in the nobility, first as barons in the twelfth century, then counts of Fauquemberg and princes of Épinoy in the sixteenth century.Lamoral I received the titles of Prince of Ligne and Prince of the Holy Roman Empire in the early seventeenth century from Emperor Rudolf II.