The interest in Padise of monks from Dünamünde Abbey in the present Daugavgrīva near Riga is first documented in 1283 in a letter from King Eric V of Denmark (Eric Klipping) regarding the acquisition of land for the construction of a Cistercian monastery, but almost certainly they had had a presence there for several decades previously as a part of the Christianisation of the territories of Estonia newly-conquered by the Teutonic Knights. In 1305 Dünamünde Abbey was appropriated by the Teutonic Knights and the monks dispossessed. King Eric VI of Denmark then gave them permission to build a fortified monastery in Padise, where they moved in 1310, although construction of the stone buildings did not begin until 1317. The new monastery was made subordinate to Stolpe Abbey in Pomerania in 1319