Royal Abbey

Improved Essays
With the building of the Royal Abbey, Suger manifested his talents, not just in architecture but in balancing the income from agricultural activities: “The evidence of Abbot Suger of St. Denis and his application of specific agricultural incomes for the reconstruction of his abbey church survives as a very exceptional record” (Verdon and Dally 175). Construction costs were very enormous and the money that the king was giving to Suger was enormous too. This was recorded by Bernard of Clairvaux and he wrote: “that the abbot had learned to suck (sugere) the breasts of Divine Wisdom rather than the lips of flatters” (Bradbury 129). Even though the cost is too high, this didn’t stop Suger to continue the construction. To balance the the income of the church “It is one thing to arrive at a reasonable estimate of the sources of an abbey’s income and an informed guess at its revenues based on the costs of living and the salaries of workers in a given year” (Verdon and Dally 175). Bernard of Clairvaux commented on the renovation of the abbey and said that it unnecessary to reform the church because God is not asking for extravagance and there are far more important things finance rather than just the renovation (Hallam and Everard 247). However, the monastery poured enormous sums of money to assist the needy and the sick as well (Duby 166). The belief during the 12th century was to glorify God. …show more content…
The heads of the monasteries, such as Abbot Suger, put the wealth of the church to rebuilding, embellishing, and decorating the place of prayer (Braunfels 7). Some of the funding that the Abbot receive were from wealthy landlords who were guilty of committing arson, rape, murder, and other deeds of destruction. By donating to the church they feel that their sins were relinquished and forgiven (Verdon and Dally 175). The renovation was on full force. People Saint-Denis were donating everything they can. Even Louis the Young and his wife, Eleanor of Aquitane, donated a tremendous amount of relics and gems to decorate the Royal Abbey (Panofsky 79). On the book of Suger “Abbot Suger on the Abbey Church of St.-Denis and Its Art Treasure,” he wrote that “you could see how kings, princes, and many outstanding men, following our example, took the rings off the fingers of their hands and ordered, out of love for the Holy Martyrs, that gold, stones and precious pearls of the rings be put into the that panel. […] And such a crowd of dealers in precious gems flocked in on us from diverse dominions and regions that we did not wish to buy…” (Panofsky 55) meaning that everyone wants to collaborate with the building of the church. He had massive amounts of donations to reconstruct the Royal Abbey. The construction of the church was divided to three successful periods and “each major part of the church was intended to signify different fundamental beliefs about the Christian universe and its successful existence” (Verdon and Dally 190). Usually, the construction of medieval churches starts at the eastern end because, by doing this, the services of the church won’t be disrupted. Suger opposed this idea by starting his project on the western end of the church. The main reason behind this is that the western end of the building was not really the work of Dagobert I, but it was the work of Fulard during the reign of Charlemagne (Verdon and Dally 191). Suger decided to rebuild the entrance and add elaborately decorated towers to dominate the plains od Saint-Denis and deliberately call attention to the abbey (Verdon and Dally 191-192). We know that the date the first campaign was written on the doors of the abbey (Panofsky 102-103). The first campaign was dedicated to the celestial hierarchy, the realm of light and the second campaign was dedicated to the new eastern choir in 1144 (Verdon and Dally 190). To achieve Suger’s aim for “wonderful and uninterrupted lights”, he commissioned the creation of stained glass. Since majority of the people were not educated, the stained glass told the stories from the old testament visually (Stoddard 888). With these renovation, it permits the light to illuminate the church and it also serves as

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