Suger

The son of a peasant in the royal domain , Suger from his youth was marked by extraordinary abilities and from 1091 he was brought up in the abbey of Saint-Denis with the future king Louis Tolstoy , who was his peer ^[1] . After the accession of Louis as his comrade, he was brought close to the court and traveled with diplomatic missions to Henry of Normandy and other feudal rulers.

After visiting Rome, Suger became the abbot in Saint-Denis in 1122, succeeding the abbot of Adam . At the insistence of Bernard of Clairvaux, he not only put an end to the secularization of monastic life in his monastery, but also set about actively strengthening the royal power, in every way justifying its sacred significance. At the same time, the veneration of St. Dionysius of Paris as the patron saint of all France.

When Emperor Henry V invaded the royal estates in 1124, Suger arrived on the battlefield with the altar gates of the abbey - the Oriflamme ; since then it has been perceived as the battle flag of the king. Confused by the number of feudal lords who supported the king, the emperor hastened to retire.

"Eagle Sugeria" exhibited in the Louvre

After the death of Louis VI, the abbot temporarily lost his influence at the court and turned to the restructuring of the dilapidated abbey church in an unprecedented hitherto style, later called Gothic . Instead of round arches, builders preferred pointed ones, made extensive use of buttresses , and resorted to stained-glass windows to decorate the windows, which also laid a round window on the facade - a “rose”. Erwin Panofsky explained the innovations by the personal predilections of the scientist Suger and looked for their origins in his fascination with " areopagitics ."

At the consecration of the basilica in Saint-Denis, the king made peace with his most powerful vassal - the champagne count Thibault the Great . Negotiations about peace between the rulers were conducted by Abbot Suger. Bernard of Clairvaux, in redemption of the king’s guilt in starting an unrighteous war, suggested that he lead a crusade in the Holy Land . Despite the opposition of Suger, the king obeyed the pope’s desire and, together with Queen Alienora of Aquitaine, went on the Second Crusade , leaving Sugeria (1147) as regent in Paris.

Suger’s forebodings were justified, and the campaign turned into a disaster. The treasury was completely exhausted by military costs, but Suger’s wise rule prevented the rebellion of disaffected feudal lords led by the king’s brother, Robert de Dreux ^[1] .

At the end of his life, Suger prepared with Bernard another crusade, only a sudden death from malaria did not allow him to take a personal part in this campaign. He left an enthusiastic description of the acts of Louis VI, as well as the narrative of the restructuring of the abbey and other affairs of his son. Before him, the historical works from Saint-Denis were simply scattered recordings of various authors, collected without special order by the anonymous monks of the abbey. Sugeria’s autograph has not been preserved; today eight manuscripts of “The Life of Louis Tolstoy” are known - “Vita Ludovici Grossi Sugeria”, it is the main source for studying the history of the reign of this king, as well as for the last years of the reign of Philip I.

• Collected works of Suger (fr.)
• Abbot Suger. The life of Louis Tolstoy (neopr.) . Eastern literature . Date of treatment May 11, 2011.

• Timothy Granovsky , "Abbot Suger" (1849).
• Khripkova E.A. Basilica of Saint-Denis Abbot Suger. Monograph. - M.: Publishing House DPK-Press, .2013. - 356 p.
• Suger, abbot of Saint-Denis. The life of Louis VI Tolstoy, king of France (1108-1137). M. Old Basmannaya, Plusquamperfectum. 2006
• Panofsky E. Abbot Suger and Abbey of Saint-Denis