Suger of Saint-Denis on a medieval window

Suger (c. 1081 – January 13, 1151) was one of the last French abbot-statesmen, a historian and the influential first patron of Gothic architecture. Events 532 - Nika riots in Constantinople. 888 - Odo Count of Paris becomes King of the Franks This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. See also Gothic art Gothic architecture is a style of Architecture which flourished during the high and late medieval period.

Suger was born into a poor family and in 1091 was brought to the nearby abbey of Saint-Denis for education. The Basilica of Saint Denis ( French: Basilique de Saint-Denis, or simply Basilique Saint-Denis) is the burial site of almost all the French He trained at the priory of Saint-Denis de l'Estrée, and there first met the future king Louis VI the France. Louis VI ( 1 December 1081 – 1 August 1137) called the Fat (le Gros was King of France from 1108 until his death (1137 From 1104 to 1106 Suger attended another school, perhaps that attached to the abbey of Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire. Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire is a commune of the Loiret département, in France. In 1106 he became secretary to the abbot of Saint-Denis. The word abbot, meaning Father, is a title given to the head of a Monastery in various traditions including Christianity. In the following year he became provost of Berneval in Normandy, and in 1109 of Toury. Normandy (Normandie Norman: Normaundie) is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. In 1118 Louis VI sent Suger to the court of Pope Gelasius II at Maguelonne, and he lived from 1121 to 1122 at the court of Gelasius's successor, Calixtus II. Gelasius II (died January 29 1119) born Giovanni Coniulo, was Pope from January 24 1118 to January 29 1119 Villeneuve-lès-Maguelone is a commune in the Hérault department in Languedoc-Roussillon in southern France. Blessed Pope Callixtus II (or Calistus II) (died December 13 1124) born Guy de Vienne, the fourth son of William I Count of Burgundy

On his return from Italy Suger became abbot of St-Denis. Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest Until 1127 he occupied himself at court mainly with the temporal affairs of the kingdom, while during the following decade he devoted himself to the reorganization and reform of St-Denis. A controversial theory has him starting work at that time - along with the renovation of his Basilica - on the creation of the Tarot deck of playing cards. In 1137 he accompanied the future king, Louis VII, into Aquitaine on the occasion of that prince's marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine, and during the Second Crusade served as one of the regents of the kingdom (1147 - 1149). Louis VII, called the Younger or the Young (Louis le Jeune 1120 – 18 September 1180) was King of France, the son and successor Aquitaine (Aquitània Akitania archaic Guyenne / Guienne (Occitan Guiana) is one of the 26 Regions of France, in the south-western part of For other Eleanors of England see Eleanor of England (disambiguation Eleanor Duchess of Aquitaine (1122&ndash1 April 1204 The Second Crusade (1147&ndash1149 was the second major Crusade launched from Europe, called in 1145 in response to the fall of the County of Edessa the He bitterly opposed the king's divorce, having himself advised the marriage. Although he disapproved of the Second Crusade, he himself, at the time of his death, had started preaching a new crusade. The Second Crusade (1147&ndash1149 was the second major Crusade launched from Europe, called in 1145 in response to the fall of the County of Edessa the The Crusades were a series of military campaigns of a religious character waged by much of Christian Europe against external and internal opponents

Suger served as the friend and counsellor both of Louis VI and Louis VII. He urged the king to destroy the feudal bandits, was responsible for the royal tactics in dealing with the communal movements, and endeavoured to regularize the administration of justice. He left his abbey, which possessed considerable property, enriched and embellished by the construction of a new church built in the nascent Gothic style. The Basilica of Saint Denis ( French: Basilique de Saint-Denis, or simply Basilique Saint-Denis) is the burial site of almost all the French See also Gothic art Gothic architecture is a style of Architecture which flourished during the high and late medieval period. Suger wrote extensively on the construction of the abbey in Liber de Rebus in Administratione sua Gestis, Libellus Alter de Consecratione Ecclesiae Sancti Dionysii, and Ordinatio. Scholars such as Erwin Panofsky believe that the theology of the Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite influenced the architectural style of the abbey of St. Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, also known as Pseudo-Denys, is the anonymous theologian and philosopher of the late 5th to early 6th century whose Corpus Areopagiticum Denis.

Suger became the foremost historian of his time. He wrote a panegyric on Louis VI (Vita Ludovici regis), and collaborated in writing the perhaps more impartial history of Louis VII (Historia gloriosi regis Ludovici). In his Liber de rebus in administratione sua gestis, and its supplement Libellus de consecratione ecclesiae S. Dionysii, he treats of the improvements he had made to St Denis, describes the treasure of the church, and gives an account of the rebuilding. Suger's works served to imbue the monks of St Denis with a taste for history, and called forth a long series of quasi-official chronicles.

References

• "Suger", Encyclopedia Britannica, 1911
• "Suger", The Middle Ages, A Concise Encyclopedia, H. R. Loyn Editor, 1989 (ISBN 0-500-27645-5)
• Abbott Suger of St. Denis: Church and State in Early Twelfth-Century France. Grant, Lindy. Essex, UK: Addison Wesley & the Medieval Concept of Order (Third Edition), Simson, Otto Van. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1988. Bollingen Series XLVIII. (ISBN 0-691-01867-7)
• The World, A History Volume One - to 1500, Filepe Fernandez Armesto. (ISBN 0-13-177764-5)

External links

• Gothic Art and Abbe Suger
• The Tarot and Abbe Suger

Further reading

• Suger, Abbot of Saint Denis,. The Deeds of Louis the Fat. Translated with introduction and notes by Richard Cusimano and John Moorhead. Washington, DC : Catholic University of America Press,1992. (ISBN 0-8132-0758-4)
• Suger, Abbot of Saint Denis,. The Deeds of Louis the Fat. Translated by Jean Dunbabin (Free, but has no annotations)