Harzgerode lies in the lower eastern part of the Harz mountain range on the Selke River, south of Quedlinburg.[5] The settlement in the medieval Duchy of Saxony was first mentioned in connection with the Benedictine abbey of Hagenenrod in the Selke valley founded in 975, to which King Otto III granted market, minting and customs rights in 993.About 1000, the local Schwabengau counts of Ballenstedt, progenitors of the noble House of Ascania, served as Vogt protectors of the Hagenrode monastery dedicated to Saint John the Baptist.Devastated during the German Peasants' War in 1525, the monastery's local possessions fell to the Ascanian Princes of Anhalt while the abbey's buildings decayed.For centuries, the surrounding Harz mountains were a significant mining area, mainly for fluorite and silver, such as in the preserved Glasebach Pit near the village of Straßberg.