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Xanten is made up of three boroughs (Ortsteile):Hochbruch,Niederbruch, and thetown centre. Other localities (Bezirke) belonging to the town of Xanten includeBirten,Lüttingen,Marienbaum,Vynen,Obermörmter,Wardt,Mörmter,Willich,Beek andUrsel. Parts of a nature reserve calledBislicher Insel are located in the municipality as well.
The town borders theLower Rhine and the town ofRees to the north, the town ofWesel to the east, the municipalities ofAlpen andSonsbeck to the south, and the towns ofUedem andKalkar to the west.
Colonia Ulpia Traiana, Tricensimae, Archäologischer Park XantenReconstructed Roman amphitheatre in Archäologischer Park Xanten
The first settlements by isolated tribes can be dated to around the year 2000 BC. Around 15 BC theRomancastrum or campVetera was created on the Fürstenberg near modern-day Birten. It was intended as a base for campaigns intoGermania and until its destruction during theRevolt of the Batavi in 70 AD it was occupied by 8,000 to 10,000 legionaries, and was the main base of theClassis germanica.
After the destruction ofVetera a second camp was established at the Bislicher Insel, namedCastra Vetera II, which became the base camp ofLegio VI Victrix. A nearby created settlement, which was inhabited by 10,000 to 15,000 former legionaries and others, was given the rights of acolonia in 110 AD by the Roman emperor Marcus UlpiusTraianus, who renamed the townColonia Ulpia Traiana. The colonia was a completely new town with a town wall and other buildings like an amphitheatre. For this town the old settlement was completely destroyed. The colonia became the second most important commercial post in the province ofGermania Inferior, surpassed only byColonia Agrippinensis (today'sCologne). In 122,Vetera II became the camp ofLegio XXX Ulpia Victrix, replacing VI Victrix which had moved toBritannia.
In 275, the colonia was almost destroyed by Germanic tribes. Subsequently, in 310 in the area of the colonia a new town was established, namedTricensimae ("of the Thirtieth"), which was built on the nine centralinsula of the former colonia but fortified and more easily defended. At the beginning of the 5th century, assaults by Germanic tribes rapidly increased, with the result thatTricensimae was finally given up.
In the 5th century theFranks began to settle in the area of today's Xanten, but no urban settlements have been found from this time as the Franks did not build in stone, unlike the Romans. Only graves from this time have been discovered.
In the second half of the 8th century a church was built on the grounds of an old cemetery of the ancient Roman colony and calledSanctos (super Rhenum) (also mentioned asad Sanctum). The name of "place of saints" was derived from the assumed grave of the martyrViktor of Xanten and is the source of today's municipal name ofXanten. After the establishment of a convent to the south, what became today's town centre grew into existence.
While Xanten, with its richViktor Convent, was still being besieged byNorsemen in 863, in 1122 the place already appears as part of a trading network at the Lower Rhine. On 15 July 1228, Xanten was given town rights by theArchbishop of Cologne,Heinrich of Molenark.
Xanten had a Jewish community in early medieval times. Two massacres of Jews occurred during theFirst Crusade, on (1 and 27 June 1096). On the latter occasion some Jews committed suicide in order to escape the fury of the Crusaders.[citation needed]
In 1263 the foundation stone for the GothicSt. Victor cathedral was laid. After 281 years of construction it was finally completed in 1544. By the end of the 14th century, Xanten was surrounded by a town wall.
In 1392 the northern part of the town came into the possession of theDukes of Cleves, while the southern part remained with the Archbishopric of Cologne. The division of Xanten was a cause of a conflict between Cleves and Cologne, which ended when the whole of Xanten was awarded to the Duchy of Cleves in 1444.
After being taken by the Dukes of Cleves, in the wake of war and crop failure, the number of inhabitants slumped from 5,000 at the beginning of the 16th century to approximately 2,500 by the end of the 18th century. The Rhine had been a basis of Xanten's status as a trading town until the river bed shifted away from the town, causing its economic situation to deteriorate. The river even flooded and destroyed the locality of Birten several times.
The borough Marienbaum, however, became the main place of pilgrimage on the Lower Rhine between 1430 and 1441. In 1460 a monastery of theBridgettines was established, with an abbey church calledSt. Mariä Himmelfahrt (Assumption of Mary) which nowadays serves as a parish church.
In the 17th century Xanten was (along with Cleves) inherited by theMargraviate of Brandenburg.Protestantism was placed on an equal footing with theRoman Catholic Church, as confirmed by theTreaty of Xanten on 12 November 1614. Thereupon a church was built at theGroßer Markt (Great Marketplace), which was expanded with a spire in 1622. Nevertheless, at the beginning of the 20th century only 5% of the population were of Protestant denomination. By the beginning of the 21st century, the Protestant share of the population had increased to some 20%.
In 1802, the Viktor-convent was secularized byNapoléon Bonaparte, and the libraries of closed monasteries and the convent library were merged. After that, the economic situation deteriorated more rapidly. A town gate called theMarstor was torn down in 1821, and theScharntor and parts of the town walls were removed in 1825. The removal of theKlever Tor and a mill calledKriemhildmühle was prevented by a town councillor in 1843. At the same time, the ruins of theColonia Ulpia Traiana, which had been used as a quarry since the Roman settlement was given up, aroused the interest of archaeologists.
Xanten was administered within thePrussianRhine Province from 1822 to 1945. Between 1819 and 1844, excavations were carried out at the Roman ruins. In September 1927, the Catholic Church municipality celebrated its 1,600th anniversary; in 1937Pope Pius XI granted the right for the cathedral ofSt. Viktor to be called abasilica minor.
In the later part of the 19th century, there was a high-profile case of alleged ritual murder, also known asblood libel. On 29 June 1891, Johann Hegemann, the five-year-old son of a local cabinet maker, was found dead in a neighbour's barn, with his throat cut from ear to ear.Anti-Semitic agitation connected the Jewish butcher and formershoḥeṭ Adolf Buschoff with this crime, and the local priest, Father Bresser, lent support to this rumour by publishing articles on ritual murder in the paperBote für Stadt und Land, which he edited. The agitation in the anti-Semitic press, as well as at anti-semitic meetings, where it was insinuated that the Jews had bribed or intimidated the authorities in order to prevent the discovery of the truth, compelled the government to arrest Buschoff and his family (14 October 1891). The evidence against the man, who had always borne a good reputation, was so flimsy, however, that he was discharged (20 December). This action aroused the anti-Semites to still stronger agitation, which culminated in a heated debate in the Prussian Diet. In the course of this argument, Stoecker, the ex-court chaplain, repeated the accusation of ritual murder, and hinted at Jewish influence as the cause of the failure to find the murderer (7 February 1892). Under pressure from this agitation, Buschoff was rearrested (8 February), and tried before a jury at Cleves (4–14 July 1892). During this trial, it was found that the accusations were based on mere hearsay, and contained impossible assertions. The prosecuting attorney himself moved for the dismissal of the charge, and the jury rendered its verdict accordingly. The real murderer was never discovered, and the possibility that the death of the child was due to an accident was not entirely disproved. The agitation had the effect of reducing the Jewish population of the town, and Buschoff himself had to leave. In 1905, Xanten had about thirty Jews out of a total population of 3,770.[citation needed]
In 1933, mayor Heinrich Wagner was locked up in a tower called theMeerturm, accused of alleged nepotism in the loan business. His successor was Friedrich Karl Schöneborn, while the post of deputy mayor was given to Heinrich Prang junior. Prang had already created a local group of theNSDAP in 1925. As the local council of theDeutsche Zentrumspartei was dissolved, three of formerly eight town council members were group members of the NSDAP. The remaining opposition consisted ofcommunists and liberal politicians lacking a clear political mandate.
The following years saw harassment of the Jewish population of Xanten. This included the destruction of the local prayer room and the devastation of several dwellings of Jewish inhabitants onReichskristallnacht of 9 November 1938. After these events, the entire Jewish population fled Xanten. In May 1940, the German 256th infantry division was transferred to Xanten to take part in the forthcominginvasion of the Netherlands. During theSecond World War an ammunition factory of theLuftwaffe was established in a small forest close to the town, calledDie Hees. While citizens of Xanten worked there at the beginning of the war, women and children, and especially foreigners were forced to perform hard labour at the plant as the war progressed. Incidents in the area of the factory occurred in November 1942 and October 1944, causing the explosion of a portion of the stored ammunition, which cost several workers' lives.
When Allied troops reached Xanten in February 1945, mayor Schöneborn left the town. With him fled almost the entire town administration to areas to the east. In the same month the bombardment of the town had begun, killing civilians and destroying parts of Xanten. In addition, the cathedral was hit byAllied bombs and damaged heavily. On 8 March, Xanten was finally taken by Canadian troops. The Canadian military lost, according to their own data, 400 soldiers in the fight against the defendingFallschirmjäger (paratroops) under the command ofEugen Meindl. Thereupon the town, 85% of which had already been destroyed, was occupied by British troops while the population was evacuated toBedburg-Hau in preparation for the crossing of the Rhine near the town of Wesel. Artillery projectiles fired by German soldiers from the right bank of the Rhine further devastated Xanten at this time. When the crossing of the Rhine finally succeeded on 24 March, the Second World War was over for Xanten.
Reconstructed corner of theHafentempel (harbour temple) inArchäologischer Park Xanten
The reconstruction of the town and the cathedral was influenced particularly by the archaeologist and monument conservationist Walter Bader, and lasted until 1966.Expellees fromEast Prussia were resettled in Xanten and caused the population to rise by almost 40%. In the course of the local re-organization in 1969, the localitiesBirten,Lüttingen,Marienbaum,Obermörmter,Vynen andWardt were integrated into Xanten, so that around 16,000 inhabitants lived within the town boundaries. The area of the town increased from 8 km2 to 72 km2.
In 1975, theArchäologischer Park Xanten (Xanten Archaeological Park), a partial reconstruction of theRoman Colonia Ulpia Traiana, was established and opened for tourism.
On 28 November 1988, Xanten was granted the title of aStaatlich anerkannter Erholungsort (state-recognized leisure town) as the first such town in theregion of Düsseldorf. Between 1990 and 2004, the number of inhabitants rose from 16,930 to about 22,000.
TheArchäologischer Park Xanten is built on the site of the Roman town, and it is one of the most frequently visited parks in Germany. In 2012, the Archaeological Park was expanded to nearly the whole area of the Roman colonia after Bundesstraße 57 was moved away from the area.
Historical buildings in the town centre have been restored. At theXantener Südsee andXantener Nordsee, two lakes connected by a channel close to the localities Wardt and Vynen, theFreizeitzentrum Xanten (Xanten Leisure Center) was established in 1982. Today, it is a popular destination for sailors.
Big events include theXantener Sommerfestspiele (a prestigious classical music festival lasting two weeks every summer from 1993 to 2012), the annualKleinMontMartre where artists from all over the world show their latest works as well as the annual German sandcastle-building championship.
Julius Aronius [de], "Regesten", p. 89, No. 188; p. 92, No. 195). In 1187 the martyrs of Neuss were brought to Xanten to be buried by the side of those martyred in 1096 (p. 144, No. 322)
Ralph Trost,Eine gänzlich zerstörte Stadt. Nationalsozialismus, Krieg und Kriegsende in Xanten. Münster: Waxmann 2004. ISBN 3-8309-1413-X. (online (pdf))
Holger Schmenk,Xanten im 19. Jahrhundert: eine rheinische Kleinstadt zwischen Tradition und Moderne, Cologne / Weimar / Vienna: Böhlau 2008.ISBN9783412201517.
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