The architectural additions of Abbot Suger include a westwork three bays wide and
two deep, as well as the four bays necessary to join the old nave and a two-level chevet.
The lower level consists of ambulatory and chapels wrapped around both the old apse and
Hilduin’s chapel to create a level platform for the upper ambulatory and seven radiating
chapels. These eastern additions mark a significant change in medieval French art and
gave rise to a new style that is still (erroneously) called “Gothic.” The upper level of the
new chevet of Saint-Denis, dedicated with pomp and ceremony in 1144, is universally
recognized as the first example of the new style. In reality, both levels of the chevet,
crypt as well as upper level, mark the beginning of a new conception of the organization
of architectural space that differs profoundly from the Romanesque style.
Equally important in the history of Gothic art are the three west-façade portals,
mutilated in the 18th century; the Porte de Valois, a 12th-century portal now installed in
the 13th-century north transept; the remaining stained-glass windows; and the lavish
liturgical objects commissioned by Abbot Suger. From his writings and such later
documents as survive, lost works like the bronze doors, the Great Cross, and the Tomb of
the Martyrs can be at least partly reconstructed by scholars.
Although Crosby’s excavations revealed that Abbot Suger ultimately intended to
rebuild even the 8th-century nave, this was not accomplished until the 13th century.
Beginning on the north side in 1231, the church was progressively enlarged to its present
width and height. The expansion of the transept created a new space that by its lateral
extension almost seemed to include Abbot Suger’s chevet, rather than setting it apart. The
process was completed by rebuilding the upper stories and heightening them to match the
new height of the transept. In plan, this church has an eight-bay nave with the monks’
choir in the first two, which is why the transept has double-aisle bays on the west side.
Work on this church, one of the finest examples of the Rayonnant style, continued almost
to the end of the century.
It was this 13th-century church that became the burial site of the kings of France as a
result of the efforts of Louis IX. Kings had been buried at Saint-Denis since the time of
Dagobert and probably long before that—the intact tomb of Queen Arnegund, mother of
Chilperic, dates to the mid-6th century, and the cemetery has yielded still earlier nonroyal
burials. Prior to the 13th century, none of the royal tombs was indicated by more than an
engraved floor slab. At the instigation of Louis IX, all of the royal tombs were opened
and the bodies transferred to new, raised sarcophagi topped by carved effigies. The new
tombs were grouped by dynasties along the sides of the crossing, except for such patrons
as Charles the Bald, who as lay abbot was buried in the monks’ choir; Dagobert, who was
buried on the south side between the two altars; Philip II Augustus, Louis VIII, and Louis
IX (until his canonization), who were buried in the center of the crossing.
The importance of Saint-Denis continued into the early 14th century, when the abbey
became the fountainhead in collecting, writing, and disseminating such works as the
Grandes chroniques de France and the Vie de saint Denis. The privileged position of the
abbey in relation to royalty produced such splendid gifts as the Virgin and Child, now in
the Louvre, given by Queen Jeanne d’Évreux.
All of these works suffered enormous damage and destruction, especially in the
aftermath of the Revolution and in the early, misguided attempts at preservation and
restoration. Modern scholarship nonetheless continues to piece together the evidence to
give an understanding of the complexities that distinguish the works of art associated
Medieval france: an encyclopedia 1580