diff --git a/xdoc/plugin.jelly b/xdoc/plugin.jelly
index 3b93b540..7a43697a 100644
--- a/xdoc/plugin.jelly
+++ b/xdoc/plugin.jelly
@@ -817,9 +817,20 @@
           </j:otherwise>
         </j:choose>
       <j:forEach var="file" items="${xmlFiles.iterator()}">
-        <plugin:validate-xml
-            schema="${plugin.resources}/dtd/maven-xdoc-${currentRelease}.dtd"
-            file="${file}"/>
+      <util:replace var="dtdFile" old=".xml" new=".dtd" value="${file}"/>
+      <util:replace var="xsdFile" old=".xml" new=".xsd" value="${file}"/>
+      <j:set var="schema" value="${plugin.resources}/dtd/maven-xdoc-${currentRelease}.dtd"/>
+      <util:available file="${dtdFile}">
+        <j:set var="schema" value="${dtdFile}"/>
+        <echo>Using ${dtdFile} for validation</echo>
+      </util:available>
+      <util:available file="${xsdFile}">
+        <j:set var="schema" value="${xsdFile}"/>
+        <echo>Using ${xsdFile} for validation</echo>
+      </util:available>
+      <plugin:validate-xml
+          schema="${schema}"
+          file="${file}"/>
       </j:forEach>
     </j:if>
 
diff --git a/xdoc/project.properties b/xdoc/project.properties
index e6baacbc..655e6b6d 100644
--- a/xdoc/project.properties
+++ b/xdoc/project.properties
@@ -19,4 +19,4 @@
 # -------------------------------------------------------------------
 maven.junit.fork=yes
 maven.compile.encoding=UTF-8
-maven.xdoc.validate.exclude=changes.xml,reference/escapeXml.xml
+maven.xdoc.validate.exclude=changes.xml
diff --git a/xdoc/xdocs/reference/escapeXml.dtd b/xdoc/xdocs/reference/escapeXml.dtd
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..cce11151
--- /dev/null
+++ b/xdoc/xdocs/reference/escapeXml.dtd
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+  <!ELEMENT example (text)>
+  <!ATTLIST example name CDATA #IMPLIED>
+  <!ELEMENT text (#PCDATA)>
diff --git a/xdoc/xdocs/reference/xdocs.xml b/xdoc/xdocs/reference/xdocs.xml
index 2eb4baac..da5596ed 100644
--- a/xdoc/xdocs/reference/xdocs.xml
+++ b/xdoc/xdocs/reference/xdocs.xml
@@ -109,9 +109,12 @@
         </p>
         <source><escapeXml>&escapeXmlExample;</escapeXml></source>
         <p>
-          <strong>Note</strong> that currently it is not possible to validate
-          arbitrary xml files with the <code>xdoc:validate</code> goal.
-          You can use the <code>maven.xdoc.validate.exclude</code>
+          <strong>Note</strong> that it is possible to validate the included
+          xml file with the <code>xdoc:validate</code> goal even if it is not
+          a valid xdoc document (like in the example above). You just have to
+          provide a custom <code>.dtd</code> or <code>.xsd</code> schema file
+          with the same base name in the same directory. Otherwise,
+          you should use the <code>maven.xdoc.validate.exclude</code>
           property to exclude specific files from validation.
         </p>
       </subsection>