The preceding farmstead was by 1260 in the possession of a landowner called Karl Ulfsson, who joined the Teutonic Order in a crusade against non-Christians in the present-day Baltic states. He died in the Battle of Durbe and in his will left several of his farms to the Teutonic Order. It is therefore possible but not certain that the land for a while was in the possession of the crusader order. Little is known of the fate of the farmstead until the 15th century, when it is known to have been in possession of one Erengisle Nilsson (died 1469); his widow sold the land to Nils Bosson Sture who most probably began construction of the castle.