He was succeeded by Hezilo, and many other pupils.  These men made the beautiful corona of the cathedral, of which I give an illustration in detail.  Great coronas or circular chandeliers hung in the naves of many cathedrals in the Middle Ages.  The finest specimen is this at Hildesheim, the magnificent ring of which is twenty feet across, as it hangs suspended by a system of rods and balls in the form of chains.  It has twelve large towers and twelve small ones set around it, supposed to suggest the Heavenly Jerusalem with its many mansions.  There are sockets for seventy-two candles.  The detail of its adornment is very splendid, and repays close study.  Every little turret is different in architectonic form, and statues of saints are to be seen standing within these.  The pierced silver work on this chandelier is as beautiful as any mediaeval example in existence.

[Illustration:  Corona at Hildesheim (detail)]

The great leader of mediaeval arts in France was the Abbot Suger of St. Denis.  Suger was born in 1081, he and his brother, Alvise, who was Bishop of Arras, both being destined for the Episcopate.  As a youth he passed ten years at St. Denis as a scholar.  Here he became intimate with Prince Louis, and this friendship developed in after life.  On returning from a voyage to Italy, in 1122, he learned at the same time of the death of his spiritual father, Abbot Adam, and of his own election to be his successor.  He thus stood at the head of the convent of St. Denis in 1123.  This was due to his noble character, his genius for diplomacy and his artistic talent.  He was minister to Louis VI., and afterwards to Louis vii., and during the second Crusade, he was made Regent for the kingdom.  Suger was known, after this, as the Father of his Country, for he was a courageous counsellor, firm and convincing in argument, so that the king had really been guided by his advice.  While he was making laws and instigating crusades, he was also directing craft shops and propagating the arts in connection with the life of the Church.  St. Bernard denounced him, as encouraging too luxurious a ritual; Suger made a characteristic reply:  “If the ancient law... ordained that vessels and cups of gold should be used for libations, and to receive the blood of rams,... how much rather should we devote gold, precious stones, and the rarest of materials, to those vessels which are destined to contain the blood of Our Lord.”

Suger ordered and himself made most beautiful appointments for the sanctuary, and when any vessel already owned by the Abbey was of costly material, and yet unsuitable in style, he had it remodelled.  An interesting instance of this is a certain antique vase of red porphyry.  There was nothing ecclesiastical about this vase; it was a plain straight Greek jar, with two handles at the sides.  Suger treated it as the body of an eagle, making the head and neck to surmount it, and the claw feet for it to stand on, together with its soaring wings, of solid gold, and it thus became transformed into a magnificent reliquary in the form of the king of birds.  The inscription on this Ampula of Suger is:  “As it is our duty to present unto God oblations of gems and gold, I, Suger, offer this vase unto the Lord.”