Sainte-Chapelle of Paris 639the plant Crocus sativus.That somewhat rare plant usu-
ally only annually bloomed for a two-week period in late
autumn. The word saffronwas derived from the Arabic
word zaaranor “yellow.” It could require perhaps 70,000
flowers to yield a single pound of saffron.
The taste for and use of saffron were probably intro-
duced to ITA LY,FRANCE, Iberia, and GERMANYby return-
ing crusaders during the 13th and 14th centuries. Saffron
from VALENCIAand CATALONIAinitially dominated the
market in Western Europe, while saffron from Tuscany
did so in the eastern Mediterranean market. Certain
towns, such as MONTPELLIERand San Gimignano in TUS-
CANYsoon specialized in its production, and made for-
tunes from its production.
See alsoFOOD, DRINK, AND NUTRITION; SPICES AND THE
SPICE TRADE.
Further reading:John W. Parry, Spices: Their Mor-
phology, Histology and Chemistry(New York: Chemical,
1962); Frederick Rosengarten, The Book of Spices(Wyn-
newood, Pa.: Livingston, 1969).
sagas Medieval sagas were prose narratives, sometimes
including skaldic strophes or even long poems, composed
in ICELANDfrom the 12th to the 14th century. Some fol-
lowed classical and hagiographical Latin models. The
word itself derived from the verb segja,“to say” or “to
recount.” They were not intended as history but often
reflected considerable historical reality. Most were written
by literate lay or clerical authors, much under the influ-
ence of oral traditions. There were pagan elements run-
ning through them, but they were influenced by
Christian ethical ideas.
GENRESDating from the early 13th century, the historical sagas
tried to trace the lives of the kings of NORWAYor DEN-
MARK, such as in SNORRISTURLUSON’SHEIMSKRINGLAfrom
about 1225. The Icelandic sagas or family sagas were tales
about the great colonizers of Iceland or their immediate
descendants, such as Saga of Burnt Njaland the Saga of
Egill Son of Grimr the Bald.Those later-named contempo-
rary sagas were chronicles of events contemporary with
their anonymous authors, such as the Sturlunga Saga.
There were the knights’ sagas (riddarasogur),adaptations
of courtly texts from the romantic and Germanic courtly
world. Last there were sagas set in ancient times, basi-
cally legendary, archaic, and more generally Germanic,
such as the Volsunga Saga.
See alsoICELAND ANDICELANDIC LITERATURE.
Further reading:Jesse L. Byock, Medieval Iceland:
Society, Sagas, and Power(Berkeley: University of Califor-
nia Press, 1988); Carol J. Clover, The Medieval Saga
(Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1982); Paul
Schach, “Norse Sagas” in European Writers: The Middle
Ages and the Renaissance.Vol. 1, Prudentius to Medieval
Drama, eds. William T. H. Jackson and George Stade
(New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1983), 377–404.Saint-Denis, abbey and church of Around 475 Saint
Geneviève (d. 500) had an oratory built on the tomb and
in memory of Denis or Dionysius (d. ca. 250), a Christian
missionary, patron saint of France, and the bishop of
Paris who was martyred in the midthird century on a
road north of Paris. He was buried there by a pious
woman. The Merovingian dynasty soon took an interest
in the sanctuary because of its powerful RELICS. Around
550 Childebert I (r. 511–58) enlarged the monastery and
made it the religious heart of his kingdom. He also made
it the royal necropolis. By the late sixth century, many
members of royal family were buried there. The abbey
became very rich. The Carolingians built a new church
and also used it as a burial site for their kings, CHARLES
Martel and CHARLES THE BALD, among others. The
Capetians, as lay abbots of Saint Denis, enriched the
abbey’s position still further and allied it even more
closely with the Crown. To show this the royal battle
insignia from the 12th century, the oriflamme, became
the banner of the abbey.
A new church built by SUGER between 1130 and
1144 housed the tombs of all the Capetian kings except
Philip I (r. 1060–1108), who was at Fleury; Louis VII (r.
1137–80), who was at Barbeau, and Louis IX who was at
Cléry. The abbey fared poorly during the HUNDREDYEARS’
WARand thereafter never regained its prominence and
links with the new VALOISdynasty.
See alsoCRYPTS; DEATH AND THE DEAD; GOTHIC.
Further reading:Pamela Z. Blum, Early Gothic Saint-
Denis: Restorations and Survivals(Berkeley: University of
California Press, 1992); Paula Lieber Gerson, ed., Abbot
Suger and Saint-Denis: A Symposium (New York:
Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1986); Sumner M. Crosby,
The Royal Abbey of Saint-Denis: From Its Beginnings to the
Death of Suger, 475–1151,ed. Pamela Z. Blum (New
Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1987); Anne F.
Rockwell, Glass, Stones and Crown: The Abbé Suger and
the Building of St. Denis(New York: Atheneum, 1968);
Suger, Abbot of Saint Denis, Abbot Suger on the Abbey
Church of St.-Denis and Its Art Treasures,ed. and trans.
Erwin Panofsky (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University
Press, 1946).Sainte-Chapelle of Paris The Sainte-Chapelle of
PARISwas built for King LOUISIX, in a courtyard of the
Palace of the Cité, to house the RELICSof the Passion
taken by Baldwin II the Latin emperor, from Byzantium
and the Near East between 1239 and 1247. It was mod-
eled on a palace of the Byzantine emperors, Bucoleon, on
the edge of CONSTANTINOPLE. This treasure house was
enriched later by gifts, and exchanges of relics and, in
1306, by a RELIQUARYof Saint Louis IX, who had been