of Germania Inferior, surpassed only by Colonia Agrippinensis (today's Cologne). In 122, Vetera II became the camp of Legio XXX Ulpia Victrix, replacing VI Victrix which had moved to Britannia. In 275, the colonia was almost destroyed by Germanic tribes. Subsequently, in 310 in the area of the colonia a new town was established, named Tricensimae ("of the Thirtieth"), which was built on the nine central insula 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 that Tricensimae was finally given up. Around 300, Viktor of Xanten is named among the Theban Legion executed for refusing to sacrifice to the Roman gods. Venerated as a martyr and a saint by the Catholic as well as the Eastern Orthodox Church, Viktor of Xanten is commemorated in Xanten Cathedral, where his relics are kept in a shrine embedded in the high altar. Middle Ages In the 5th century the Franks 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. According to the legend of the Nibelungs, the mythical Siegfried of Xanten was born ze Santen an dem Rhîne. 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 called Sanctos (super Rhenum) (also mentioned as ad Sanctum). The name of "place of saints" was derived from the assumed grave of the martyr Viktor of Xanten and is the source of today's municipal name of Xanten. After the establishment of a convent to the south, what became today's town centre grew into existence. In 939 troops under Otto I, King of Germany defeated rebellious Franconian, Saxon and Lotharingian troops under Eberhard of Franconia in the Battle of Birten near Xanten. Following the Battle of Andernach the same year the Rhineland was reaffirmed to the kingdom of Otto I. While Xanten, with its rich Viktor Convent, was still being besieged by Norsemen 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 the Archbishop of Cologne, Heinrich of Molenark. Xanten had a Jewish community in