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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