Xanten , is a town of Germany (Land of Rhineland-of-North-Westphalia), located on the the Rhine, and cash 21  477 inhabitants (2005).

History

Antiquity

The first settlements by tribes isolated are dated from the beginning from

Towards -15, the Romans built on the Fürstenberg (close to Birten) a military camp named Castra Vetera , base camp for the campaigns in Germanie, and bases fleet which controlled the the Rhine ( Classis germanica ).

After its destruction in 70 by the Batavian , a second camp, named Castrated Vetera II , was rebuilt on the Bislicher Insel , and became the seat of the Legio VI Victrix . The city installed near the military camp was set up in colony in 110 by Trajan, under the name of Colonia Ulpia Traiana (the Gentilice of the emperor was Ulpius ). It was, after Cologne ( Colonia Agrippinensis ), the most important shopping mall of the lower Germanie. In 122, the Legio VI Victrix , sent Brittany, was replaced by the Legio XXX Ulpia Victrix .

Almost destroyed in 275 by Germanic tribes, a smaller, but strengthened and easily justifiable city was arranged on the site of the colony, and was called Tricensimae . At the beginning of the 5th century, the city was finally submerged by the attacks of the German ones.

According to the legend, the Christian Victor de Xanten was carried out there in 363, with 360 other legionaries of the legion thebaine to have refused to sacrifice to the gods. Buried where the cathedral Saint-Victor was built, it became the patron saint of the city.

In the Song of Nibelungen, Siegfried was born in “Santen year dem Rhîne”.

The Middle Ages

Given up after the installation of the Frank in the area at the 5th century, a church was built in second half of the 8th century on the supposed site of the tomb of Victor de Xanten. It was indicated under the name of Sanctos (super Rhenum) or AD Sanctum “place of the Saints”, which gave the modern name of Xanten . A village developed around this church, and of a monastery constreuit in the south.

Following the Battle of Xanten in 939, the the Rhineland was conquered by Otton {{Ier}}. The Archevêque of Cologne Henri de Mulnarken gave to the city in 1228 municipal rights.

In 1392, the northern part of the city was with the hands of the duke of Clève, while the southern part remained the possession of the archbishops of Cologne. This division involved a conflict which ended in 1444 when Xanten was allotted in entirety to the duchy of Clèves.

In 1614, a treaty was concluded there to put a term at the war of succession of Juliers, and by which the voter of Brandebourg accepted inter alia the duchy of Clèves.

The city was taken by the French in 167 2. The change of the course of the Rhine, while moving away from the city, had involved its economic decline: the city counted nothing any more but 2.500 inhabitants at the end of the 18th century.

Contemporary time

The convents were secularized by Napoleon in 1802, and the fortifications destroyed in 1825. The site of the Roman colony woke up scientific curiosity, and the first excavations were undertaken between 1819 and 1844.

In 1937, the pope Pie XI raised the Saint-Victor cathedral with the row of minor basilica.

Bombarded in 1945, the city, destroyed to 85%, was taken by the Canadian troops the March 8th 1945.

The rebuilding of the city and the cathedral lasted until in 1966, and Xanten accommodated refugees of Eastern Prussia. In 1969, the localities of Birten, Lüttingen, Marienbaum, Obermörmter, Vynen and Wardt were amalgamated in Xanten to form a municipality of 16.000 inhabitants and 72km ².

In 1975 was open the archaeological park of Xanthen, showing a rebuilding partial of the Colonia Ulpia Traiana .

Twinnings

The town of Xanten is twinned with:

See too

• Norbert de Xanten

• Victor de Xanten
• Amphitheater of Xanten
• Cathedral Saint-Victor de Xanten

Random links:

Andre-Philippe Gagnon | Endoplasme | Faience manufacture of Martens-Tolosane | List linguistic academies | Centurions of Caprica