medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
This is the most recent book I can identify on Suger & the abbey:
*
L'abbé Suger, le manifeste gothique de Saint-Denis et la pensée
victorine :*
*colloque organisé à la Fondation Singer-Polignac le mardi 21 novembre
2000 par Rencontres médiévales européennes : Actes /*
Dominique *Poirel*; Alain *Erlande-Brandenburg*
2001
*French* Book Book 195 p. : ill., plans ; 24 cm.
Turnhout : Brepols, ; ISBN: 2503512593 9782503512594
Tom Izbicki
John Briggs wrote:
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
> This may not be the right place to ask, but here goes: Can anyone
> point me to recent work on the Abbey of Saint-Denis? Specifically,
> the latest thinking on the form of Abbot Suger's choir? I have been
> re-reading (after about 20 years) Crosby's semi-posthumous magnum
> opus, and Bruzelius' book on the 13th century church, and I have
> decided that I don't believe the accepted account.
>
> According to this, when building of the great 13th century church
> commenced in 1231, Suger's choir was carefully dismantled, right down
> to the abaci of the arcade columns (from which the ambulatory vaulting
> also springs). Additional strengthening was put in the crypt, and the
> arcade column shafts were replaced by new larger diameter (and
> stronger) ones and new capitals inserted. A new 'choir' was then
> built on these columns, starting with new arcade arches.
>
> To me, there seem to be several things wrong with this. For a start,
> the tail seems to be wagging the dog: why carefully preserve the
> ambulatory vault, if you are destroying the body of the 'choir'? But
> why destroy the choir at all? Because Suger's chevet isn't really the
> choir - it is actually the retrochoir. The high altar was further
> west, one bay east of the crossing, in the Carolingian church which
> wasn't replaced until the 13th century rebuilding (the monk's choir
> was in the nave, immediately west of the crossing.) Even if you are
> rebuilding the entire church, and working east to west, a retrochoir
> less than a hundred years old could still be safely left until last. I
> am also sceptical about Crosby's suggested reconstruction of the
> elevation.
>
> I now find that John James doesn't believe it either. He points out
> that the timescale given in Abbot Suger's account (and modern
> re-tellings) of three (or four) years for the building of the choir
> isn't sufficient to build from crypt to high vaults. There wasn't
> time for all the mortar to set, for one thing. Or room for all the
> masons required to work together simultaneously. He suggests that
> only the ground stage of Suger's 'choir' was completed, and that the
> chevet was roofed over at arcade level.
>
> This strikes me as more plausible, but I wondered what reaction there
> had been to the suggestion.
>
> John Briggs
>
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