Suger's life and personality

Abstract

The text which follows was presented as the introductory paper at the International Symposium on Abbot Suger and Saint-Denis held at Columbia University, 11 April 1981. It gives a brief chronology of Suger's life -- born c. 1081, became abbot 1122, died 1151. Suger, who came from a family of minor knights, tells us almost nothing of his childhood and background. He got early administrative training as a provost of priories in Normandy and Beauce and also served King Louis VI as an emissary. As Abbot of Saint-Denis he served both Louis VI and his son, Louis VII as a counsellor, and during the Second Crusade he acted as regent. His policies showed a consistent preference for negotiated settlement and peace. Suger's three major monuments were his writing, his administrative and financial reforms, and his artistic achievement in the rebuilding and embellishment of the abbey church. On all these he left marks of his own strong sense of self.

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