File:Abbot_Suger.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
Abbot Suger
Sign in to saveAlso known as Suger of Saint-Denis, Abbot of Saint Denis Suger, Suger, Abbot of Saint-Denis Suger, Abbé Suger
Suger (; ; ; 1081 – 13 January 1151) was a French abbot and statesman. He was a key advisor to King Louis VI and his son Louis VII, acting as the latter's regent during the Second Crusade. His writings are seminal texts for early 12th-century Capetian history, and his reconstruction of the Basilica of Saint-Denis, where he was abbot, was instrumental in creating the Gothic architecture style.
OverviewAI-generated
Abbot Suger was a male monk of the Benedictine order within the Catholic Church. Born in Chennevières-louvres in 1080, he held citizenship in the Kingdom of France. His occupations included roles as an architect, historian, writer, and abbot. He spoke and wrote in medieval Latin and Old French.
Suger is noted for his work on the Basilica of Saint-Denis, which also serves as his place of burial. He died in Saint-Denis on January 13, 1151, from malaria due to natural causes. His writings include the text *On the Abbey Church of St. Denis and Its Art Treasures*. He is described in sources such as the *Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary* and the *Encyclopædia Britannica* 11th edition.
Synthesized by Vinony from 24 facts across 3 sources: Wikidata, Open Library, Europeana Sparql. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Person · Open Library
- Works
- 1
Top works
- ON THE ABBEY CHURCH OF ST.DENIS AND ITS ART6 TREASURES
via Open Library + Wikidata
Key facts
- Religious biography.name
- Suger
- Religious biography.image
- Abbot Suger.jpg
- Religious biography.alt
- A redrawing of Suger from a stained glass window.
- Religious biography.caption
- A redrawing of Suger from a stained glass window found in his abbey.
- Religious biography.religion
- Christianity
- Religious biography.birth_date
- 1081, likely in Chennevières-lès-Louvres
- Religious biography.death_date
- 13 January 1151 (aged ~70)
- Religious biography.death_place
- Saint-Denis
- Religious biography.resting_place
- Basilica of Saint-Denis
- Religious biography.works
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- Religious biography.literary_works
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- Religious biography.background
- D3D3D3
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Gender
- male
- Citizenship
- Kingdom of France
- Place of birth
- Chennevières-lès-Louvres
- Place of death
- Saint-Denis
- Occupation
- politician
- Languages spoken
- Old French
- Native language
- Old French
- Religion
- Catholic Church
- Image
- Suger cour Napoleon Louvre.jpg
- Religious order
- Benedictines
Show 9 more facts
- place of burial
- Basilica of Saint-Denis
- Commons category
- Suger de Saint-Denis
- date of death
- 1151-01-13
- date of birth
- 1080-01-01
- name in native language
- Suger
- cause of death
- malaria
- different from
- sugar
- writing language
- medieval Latin
- manner of death
- natural causes
Sources (3)
via Wikidata · CC0
Works in European collections
2 objects attributed to Abbot Suger, held across European museums, libraries & archives · via Europeana
~20 min read
Encyclopedic overview
16 sectionsContents
- Early life
- Court life and influence
- Contribution to the arts
- Abbey of Saint-Denis
- Collections
- Historiography
- Works
- Gothic tradition
- Citations
- Notes
- References
- Bibliography
- Contemporary works
- Books
- Journal articles
- External links
Suger (; ; ; 1081 – 13 January 1151) was a French abbot and statesman. He was a key advisor to King Louis VI and his son Louis VII, acting as the latter's regent during the Second Crusade. His writings are seminal texts for early 12th-century Capetian history, and his reconstruction of the Basilica of Saint-Denis, where he was abbot, was instrumental in creating the Gothic architecture style.
== Early life == Suger was born into a family of minor knights 1081 (or 1080), landholders at Chennevières-lès-Louvres, a small village surrounding Saint-Denis in northern Paris. Suger was given as an oblate to the abbey of St. Denis at age ten in 1091. He claims humble origins, but may have come from a family of some substance. He trained at the priory of Saint-Denis de L'Estrée for about a decade, where he would have first met the future king Louis VI of France. Suger took up the oblate life relatively easily and showed strong ability including in Latin and a firm grasp of legal matters. This ability led to him being chosen to work in the abbey archives to find documents that could protect the abbey from usurpation by Bouchard II of Montmorency, where historians speculate of his involvement in the appearance of a forged charter—if this was Suger's work, then it is certainly a fitting reflection and early example of his close admiration of the abbey.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Abbot Suger” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.