Abbot Suger of St.-Denis
1081?-1151
French Architect, Politician, and Church Administrator
Suger, through his promotion of the redesign and reconstruction of the Abbey Church of St. Denis, near Paris, France, is regarded as the originator of gothic architecture. He also had great effect on the ideology of church decoration, was close advisor to two kings, and served for two years as regent of France.
The son of Helinand, a minor French knight, Suger was born north of Paris in the general vicinity of St.-Denis. When he was about ten, his family gave him as an oblate to the Benedictine Abbey of St.-Denis, the royal church of the patron saint of France. For the next ten years he lived in a tiny cell at L'Estrée while he completed his theological, liturgical, legal, and Latin education. Early in the twelfth century he studied at several schools along the Loire River, then returned to St.-Denis.
After 1106 Suger frequently represented the legal and political interests of St.-Denis at church councils, in Rome, and elsewhere. He gradually extended his connections with royal and ecclesiastical authorities, and became Abbot of St.Denis in 1122. He was counselor to King Louis VI from 1124 to 1130, then minister to Louis VI from 1130 to 1137 and to Louis VII from 1137 to 1151. He ruled France as regent from 1147 to 1149 during the absence of Louis VII on the Second Crusade. Regarding his influence on French politics, Suger has been compared to Cardinal Richelieu in the court of Louis XIII.
Suger's life's project was to enlarge, beautify, and rebuild the Abbey Church of St.-Denis. Thiswas accomplished through three major construction campaigns: the nave (west) from 1135 to 1140, the sanctuary and choir (east) from 1140 to 1144, and the exterior of the nave (north and south) from 1144 to 1150. Each phase was consecrated as it was completed. Wealthy bishops, nobles, royals, and merchants lavishly obeyed Suger's call for donations of money, gems, and artwork to furnish the new church.
Suger exemplified the bold, lively Catholicism of his time. He claimed that all ornamentation, when it reflected inward spirituality and faith, was in the service of God—and the more elaborate, expensive, and precious the ornamentation, the better. Influenced by stories he heard of the riches of the Church of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, he developed what came to be the standard medieval arguments for church decoration. Throughout his career, Suger was often at odds with St. Bernard of Clairvaux, the zealous Cistercian monk who opposed most ostentation in churches. Suger was as strict a disciplinarian as Bernard, and followed the Benedictine rule methodically, but still claimed that the more extravagant the church and its fittings, the greater the gift to God, and the greater the glory of God.
Suger put into practice a philosophy of art that was prominent in both pagan and Christian neo-Platonic thought since the third century. Neo-Platonism is the modification of the philosophy of Plato (427-347 B.C.) that was developed mainly by the pagan Plotinus (205-270) and his followers. Plotinus believed that truth, being, goodness, beauty, and value were all one. He had a very high opinion of art, because the production and contemplation of objects of beauty could (under the right circumstances) direct a person toward the contemplation of beauty itself, and thus toward a mystical awareness of the divine. Christian neo-Platonists easily adapted this philosophy of art to Christian theology, claiming that religious art could be an effective means of conversion, devotion, and spiritual renewal.
Suger agreed with his contemporary, the artisan and philosopher of art, Theophilus Presbyter, that artists are intermediaries, like priests, uniquely situated, gifted, and commissioned to bring worshippers closer to God. The intermediationism of Suger and Theophilus, proclaiming a mutually beneficial relationship of worship and art, derives from the general twelfth-century Benedictine reception of sixth-century Patristic texts, such as those of Gregory the Great and Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite.
Among Suger's extant writings are The Book of Abbot Suger of St.-Denis on What Was Done During his Administration, The Little Book of the Consecration of the Church at St.-Denis, The Life of Louis the Fat, The History of Louis VII, and several letters. All are important source documents for understanding twelfth-century France.
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