There are few sources for the early history of Jesenice; most of them focus on ironworks. The oldest is a set of mining rights issued to the Carinthian counts of Ortenburg, dating to 1381. According to the document, the first settlements in the area (like Planina pod Golico) were founded on the southern slopes of the Karawanks due to need for wood, flowing water for mills, and iron ore. With the development of new techniques of extraction of iron from ore, the need for water energy grew, and the small streams on the slopes of the Karawanks were no longer sufficient. The ore-extracting industry was thus relocated to the valley in 1538, when Bernardo Bucellini from Bergamo gained permission from the Habsburg King Ferdinand I to move the ironworks to a larger water source, the Sava Dolinka River, creating a settlement that was to become Jesenice. The ironworks continued to mine ore from the slopes of the Karawanks.