Heinrich Sudermann
Heinrich Sudermann (1520–1591) was a lawyer from Cologne and the first Syndic of the Hanseatic League. The son of Cologne's mayor Hermann Sudermann, he was elected in 1556 to the newly created post as a permanent official with legal training.
He worked to protect and extend the diplomatic agreements of the League's member towns. Revised agreements in 1557 and 1579 set out the towns' obligations and made some progress towards that goal. Sudermann died in Lübeck in 1591.