Before 1300, the history of Sterkenburg was still somewhat shrouded in mystery, the statements of various historians, genealogists and authors sometimes contradict each other. The first demonstrable lord of Sterkenburg, mentioned between 1307 and 1324, was Ernst van Sterkenburg, who is probably one and the same person as Ernst van Wulven, mentioned between 1286 and 1311. The most likely hypothesis, which is in line with the writings of the Utrecht genealogist Cornelis Booth (1605-1678), is that knight Gijsbrecht van Wulven (mentioned from 1238 to 1250) would have started building Sterkenburg, after which his son knight Ernst van Wulven (mentioned from 1265 to 1295) is said to have completed the castle. The three sons of this Ernst are said to have "taken the name of Sterckenbergh". In 1309 Ernst van Sterkenburg was indeed mentioned with two brothers, Hendrik and Gijsbrecht. Moreover, both Ernst van Wulven and his presumed son Ernst van Sterkenburg owned half of the Dutch lordship Berkel.
The Van Sterkenburg family died out in the fifteenth century with Catharina van Sterkenburg, who at her marriage in 1456 to Wouter van Isendoorn received from her father Gijsbrecht “het huys ende herlicheyt tot Sterckenborgh with sijner hofstat”. Their great-granddaughter Mechteld van Isendoorn married in 1564 to the Gelderse nobleman Reinier van Aeswijn (1544-1620). In 1536 Sterkenburg castle was recognized as a knight's court city.
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Photo - May 2018 from Ben Bender