Mining on the Rammelsberg was first mentioned in the records around 968 by the Saxon chronicler, Widukind of Corvey. According to his Res gestae saxonicae, Emperor Otto the Great had silver ore deposits () opened and extracted. The mining settlement of Goslar was not mentioned until 979. In 1005, attracted by the presence of silver, King Henry II of Germany had the Imperial Palace of Goslar (Kaiserpfalz Goslar) built at the foot of Mt. Rammelsberg, which, extended by his Salian successors Conrad II and Henry III, gradually replaced the former Royal palace of Werla.