Henry was crowned King of the Romans (as Henry II) by Archbishop Willigis of Mainz and finally acknowledged by Duke Bernard of Saxony. From about 1005 he had the "Kaiserpfalz" at the nearby silver mines of Rammelsberg in Goslar rebuilt, whereafter Werla's importance diminished. In 1086 Emperor Henry IV enfeoffed the estates up to the Oker to the Bishops of Hildesheim in turn for their support during the Investiture Controversy. A last stay of the Hohenstaufen emperor Frederick Barbarossa to subjugate the Saxon princes upon the deposition of his Welf rival Duke Henry the Lion is documented for 15 August 1180. The surrounding lands passed to the monastery of Dorstadt, in 1240 they were granted to nearby Heiningen Abbey. Shortly afterwards the castle was abandoned and decayed during the following centuries, leaving no visible ruins. While the village of "Burgdorf" arose in the west, the location of Werla fell into oblivion, though a chapel at the site was still mentioned in 1817.