Suger and the Abbey Church of Saint-Denis, 1144–51

Abstract

This paper examines the nature and extent of Abbot Suger’s work on the church of Saint-Denis during the last seven years of his twenty-nine-year-long abbacy (1122–51), topics that have occasioned scholarly disagreement, largely because of Suger’s statements in his Ordinatio (1140–41), De consecratione (1144), and Gesta (1144–49). Close reading of these texts suggests that Suger never professed to have finished the western towers (or even one of them), nor yet a transept or the nave. The work he said he had accomplished on the transept and nave is consistent with archaeological evidence, whereas the state of the western towers that Suger described suggests that the surviving evidence, sparse and complex as it is, deserves reconsideration. The concordances, contradictions, and resonances among his writings shed light on his plans, his actual accomplishments, and the rhetorical strategies he used to shape perception of his work. Inspired by a vision of the whole church he wished to erect, the projects Suger initiated after building the westwork and the eastern crypt and chevet reflect his desire to set his stamp on the entire basilica. Eager as he was to see his vision realized, Suger was aware that at his age (he died at seventy) time was lacking. The projects he initiated ensured that even if he was unable to execute them himself, the entire church, once finished, would be associated, from beginning to end, with him as its creator.