Editing Basilica of Saint-Denis (section)

=== Suger and the Early Gothic Church (12th century) ===
<gallery mode="packed" heights="200px">
File:Basilique Saint-Denis - Verrière de l'Arbre de Jessé - Suger.JPG|[[Suger|Abbot Suger]] depicted in the [[Tree of Jesse]] window (19th c.)
File:Louis le Gros visiting St Denis.jpg|[[Louis VI of France]] visiting St. Denis (14th century illustration)
File:Battle of Poitiers.jpg|The [[Oriflamme]] (top left), or battle flag of French kings, was kept at Saint Denis.
File:Philippe II et Oriflamme.jpg|King [[Philip II of France]] receives the [[Oriflamme]] from the bishop before going to war (13th c., 1841 painting)
</gallery>
[[Abbot Suger]] (c. 1081 – 1151), the patron of the rebuilding of the Abbey church, had begun his career in the church at the age of ten, and rose to become the Abbot in 1122. He was a school companion and then confidant and minister of [[Louis VI of France|Louis VI]] and then of his son [[Louis VII]], and was a regent of Louis VII when the King was absent on the Crusades.{{Sfn|Plagnieux|1998|p=4}}  He was an accomplished fund-raiser, acquiring treasures for the cathedral and collecting an enormous sum for its rebuilding. In about 1135 he began reconstructing and enlarging the abbey.  In his famous account of the work undertaken during his administration, Suger explained his decision to rebuild the church, due to the decrepit state of the old structure and its inability to cope with the crowds of pilgrims visiting the shrine of St Denis.

In the 12th century, thanks largely to Suger, the Basilica became a principal sanctuary of French Royalty, rivalling [[Reims Cathedral]], where the kings were crowned. The Abbey also kept the regalia of the coronation, including the robes, crowns and sceptre.{{Sfn|Plagnieux|1998|p=11}} Beginning in 1124, and until the mid-15th century, the kings departed for war carrying the [[oriflamme]], or battle flag, of St. Denis, to give the King the protection of the Saint. It was taken to the Abbey only when France was in danger. The flag was retired in 1488, when the Parisians opened the gates of Paris to invading English and Burgundian armies.

==== First Phase: the west front (1135–1140) ====
Suger began his rebuilding project at the western end of St Denis, demolishing the old Carolingian facade with its single, centrally located door. He extended the old nave westwards by an additional four bays and added a massive western [[Narthex]], incorporating a new façade and three chapels on the first floor level.

In the new design, massive vertical buttresses separated the three doorways and horizontal string-courses and window arcades clearly marked out the divisions. This clear delineation of parts was to influence subsequent west façade designs as a common theme in the development of Gothic architecture and a marked departure from the Romanesque. The portals themselves were sealed by gilded bronze doors, ornamented with scenes from Christ's Passion. They clearly recorded Suger's patronage with the following inscription:

On the lintel below the great tympanum showing the Last Judgement, beneath a carved figure of the kneeling Abbot, was inscribed the more modest plea;
<blockquote>Receive, stern Judge, the prayers of your Suger, Let me be mercifully numbered among your sheep.</blockquote>

====Second Phase: the new choir, (1140–1144)====
[[File:A Vault in Ambulatory at Saint-Denis.png|thumb|Suger's Gothic Ambulatory ]]
Suger's western extension was completed in 1140 and the three new chapels in the narthex were consecrated on 9 June of that year, but the Romanesque nave between was yet unchanged. He wrote about the new narthex at the west end and proposed chapels at the east: "Once the new rear part is joined to the part in front, the church shines with its middle part brightened. For bright is that which is brightly coupled with the bright, and bright is the noble edifice which is pervaded by the new light."{{Sfn|Watkin|1986|p=127}}

Suger's great innovation in the new choir was the replacement of the heavy dividing walls in the apse and ambulatory with slender columns, so that the interior of that part of the church was filled with light. He described "A circular string of chapels, by virtue of which the whole church would shine with the wonderful and uninterrupted light of most luminous windows, pervading the interior beauty."{{Sfn|Watkin|1986|p=127}}
One of these chapels was dedicated to Saint [[Osmanna]], and held her relics.{{sfn|O'Hanlon|1873|p=241}}

Suger's masons drew on elements which evolved or had been introduced to Romanesque architecture: the [[rib vault]] with pointed arches, and exterior buttresses which made it possible to have larger windows and to eliminate interior walls.  It was the first time that these features had all been drawn together; and the new style evolved radically from the previous Romanesque architecture by the lightness of the structure and the unusually large size of the stained glass windows.{{Sfn|Watkin|1986|pp=126–127}}

The new architecture was full of symbolism. The twelve columns in the choir represented the twelve Apostles, and the light represented the Holy Spirit.
Like many French clerics in the 12th century AD, he was a follower of [[Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite]], a 6th century mystic who equated the slightest reflection or glint with divine light. Suger's own words were carved in the nave: "For bright is that which is brightly coupled with the bright/and bright is the noble edifice which is pervaded by the new light."<ref>Bruce Watson, Light: A Radiant History from Creation to the Quantum Age. Bloomsbury, 2016, p 52.</ref> Following Suger's example, large stained glass windows filling the interior with mystical light became a prominent feature of Gothic architecture.{{Sfn|Watkin|1986|p=127}}

Two different architects, or master masons, were involved in the 12th century rebuilding.<ref>Lindy Grant, ''Abbot Suger of St. Denis: Church and State in Early Twelfth Century France'', Addison Wesley Longman Limited, 1998</ref> Both remain anonymous but their work can be distinguished on stylistic grounds. The first, who was responsible for the initial work at the western end, favoured conventional Romanesque capitals and moulding profiles with rich and individualised detailing. His successor, who completed the western facade and upper storeys of the [[narthex]], before going on to build the new choir, displayed a more restrained approach to decorative effects, relying on a simple repertoire of motifs, which may have proved more suitable for the lighter Gothic style that he helped to create.<ref>Stephen Gardner, "Two Campaigns in Suger's Western Block at Saint-Denis", ''Art Bulletin'', Vol.44, part 4, 1984, pp. 574–87</ref>

The Portal of Valois was the last of the Gothic structures planned by Suger. It was designed for the original building, but was not yet begun when Suger died in 1151. In the 13th century it was moved to the end of the new transept on the north side of the church.{{Sfn|Plagnieux|1998|pp=10–11}} The sculpture of the portal includes six standing figures in the embracements and thirty figures in the voussures, or arches, over the doorway, which probably represent the Kings of the Old Testament. The scene in the Tympanum over the doorway depicts the martyrdom of Saint Denis. In their realism and finesse, they were a landmark in Gothic sculpture.{{Sfn|Plagnieux|1998|p=10}}

The new structure was finished and dedicated on 11 June 1144, in the presence of the King.<ref>H. Honour and J. Fleming, ''The Visual Arts: A History''. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2005. {{ISBN|0131935070}}</ref> The Abbey of St Denis thus became the prototype for further building in the royal domain of northern France. Through the rule of the [[House of Plantagenet|Angevin dynasty]], the style was introduced to England and spread throughout France, the [[Low Countries]], Germany, Spain, northern Italy and [[Sicily]].<ref name=gothicplantagenet>"L'art Gothique", section: "L'architecture Gothique en Angleterre" by Ute Engel: L'Angleterre fut l'une des premieres régions à adopter, dans la deuxième moitié du XIIeme siècle, la nouvelle architecture gothique née en France. Les relations historiques entre les deux pays jouèrent un rôle prépondérant: en 1154, Henri II (1154–1189), de la dynastie Française des Plantagenêt, accéda au thrône d'Angleterre." (''England was one of the first regions to adopt, during the first half of the 12th century, the new Gothic architecture born in France. Historic relationships between the two countries played a determining role: in 1154, Henry II (1154–1189), of the French Plantagenet dynasty, ascended to the throne of England'').</ref><ref name=JH1>John Harvey, ''The Gothic World''</ref>