Abbot Suger on the Abbey Church of St. Denis and Its Art Treasures [2 ed.] 0691003149, 9780691003146

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JBBO T SUGE R

Corpore, gente brevis, gemina brevitate coactus, In brevitate sua noluit esse brevis.

ABBOT SUG6R ON THE ABBEY CHURCH OF ST.-DENIS AND ITS ART TREASURES EDITED, TRANSLATED AND ANNOTATED BY ERWIN PANOFSKY

SECOND EDITION BY GERDA PANOFSKY-SOERGEL PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY

COPYRIGHT©

1946

BY PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS,© RENEWED

1973

SECOND PRINTING I 948 SECOND EDITION COPYRIGHT©

1979

BY PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS

Published by Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, Chichester, West Sussex ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Suger, Abbot of Saint Denis, 1o8I-IISI. Abbot Suger on the Abbey Church of St.-Denis and its art treasures. Latin and English. Bibliography: p. Includes index. 1. Saint-Denis, France (Benedictine abbey) 2. Architecture-Early works to I8oo. 3· Art-Early works to 1800. I. Panofsky, Erwin, I892-1968. Ill. Title. II. Panofsky-Soergel, Gerda NA 5551.S2S8 1978 726'.5'0944362 78-51186 ISBN o-69 I -03936-4

This book has been composed in Linotype Caslon Old Face Princeton University Press books are printed on acid-free paper and meet the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources The thirteenth-century seal of St.-Denis on the title-page is after the reproduction in Trtsor de Numismatique et de Glyptique, XIII, Paris, 1858, pl. II, no. 4 http://pup.princcton.edu Printed in the United States of America IS

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ISBN-13: 978-0-691-00314-6 (pbk.) ISBN-10: 0-691-00314-9 (pbk.)

To 'Booth Tarkington (1869-1946)

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION

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FTER the second printing of this book was exhausted some twenty years ago, the author resisted the requests for still another reprinting, because, as he wrote in a letter to his publisher, "so much of it has become untenable by the progress of scholarship," especially as far as the commentary was concerned. Yet, that Erwin Panofsky was not on principle opposed to a second edition at some future date, is not only attested by the same letter but by the fact that in the intervening years he had recorded some of his intended revisions. Encouraged by these, but nevertheless with great hesitation, I decided to accept the responsibility of preparing the present new edition after my husband's death. Of Erwin Panofsky's own additions and emendations, some account is in order here: About a year after the publication of the first edition, the author learned that of the medieval manuscripts of Suger's De Consecratione, which he had assumed to be lost, two were still extant and had been identified by Luchaire as early as I 899. Thus Luchajre's readings of these manuscripts could be compared with the proposed conjectures against Lecoy de la Marche's edition of Suger's CEuvres Completes (I 867 ), on which the author's translation had relied. Meanwhile, the manuscripts of Suger's De Rebus Administratione Sua Gestis and of his Ordinatio of I J40/ 4I, inaccessible to the author during World War II, had again become available for study; and in I 94 7 he collated therefore a long list of variants and other observations (see Bib. I 3 2), which are now incorporated in the section entitled TExTs AND TRANSLATIONs, superseding the remarks on p. I46 ff. of the first edition. With regard to the CoMMENTARY, this section has been augmented by all of the author's addenda and corrigenda as previously printed on p. 243 f., and as left in handwritten or typed notes entered in his personal copy of the book. Wherever references to more recent scholarship have seemed appropriate, I have inserted these, together with any necessary explanation, distinguishing them from the author's text by angular brackets. The BIBLIOGRAPHY, provided in this new edition, reflects the wealth of literature that has been published on St.-Denis in the last thirty years. Unfortunately, the publication that the author [ vii

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PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION

would have wished most to precede our venture-Sumner McKnight Crosby's The Abbey of St.-Denis, vol. 11-has not yet been completed. However, Crosby's interim publications on his numerous excavations and investigations (see Bib. 21 ff., especially Bib. 26) have answered many questions, and I am grateful for his generous replacement of two outdated text figures, the section of the choir and the plan, both newly drawn under his supervision. A brief glance at the new entries will reveal that those on Suger's stained-glass windows contribute most extensively to revisions as the pertinent paragraphs of the earlier Commentary have become outdated not only by the postwar restorations and re-installations of the glass but even more so by the important findings of Louis Grodecki, Paris. I am immensely indebted to Mr. Grodecki for having checKed my draft of this difficult chapter and for having provided me in the most devoted and selfless way with an unlimited amount of unpublished information of his own for his forthcoming two volumes of the Corpus Vitrearum Medii Aevi (see Bib. 93). Willibald SauerHinder, Munich, has been kind enough to read through my bibliographical items concerning the St.-Denis sculpture, while Hugo Buchthal, New York and London, took the trouble of verifying for me the Montfaucon drawings at the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris. For the venerated liturgical objects, restored or commissioned by Suger, students may now consult Florentine Miitherich's excellent catalogue (see Bib. 1 53) as well as Peter Lasko's Pelican volume (see Bib. I I I). Comte Blaise de Montesquiou-Fezensac's exemplary edition of the inventory of the St.-Denis treasury (see Bib. 125), taken in I634 before most of the medieval goldsmithworks were destroyed, ought henceforth to elucidate Suger's descriptions, at times so puzzling. Here, though tempting, it would have been beyond my competence to try my hand at novel reconstructions of lost monuments. I want to thank Philippe Verdier, Montreal, for his gracious correspondence, often accompanied by offprints, on Sugerian enamels, and I deeply appreciate the alacrity with which John D. Cooney, Cleveland, sent me his still unpublished paper on the agate cup of Suger's chalice (see Bib. 20). [ viii

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PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION Suger's complete writings will soon be available in a modern reprint of Lecoy de la Marche's edition (see p. 262). Philippe Verdier has announced an ambitious multilingual translation of these (see Gazette des Beaux-Arts, ser. 6, LXXIII, I969, p. 28), and at least one of Suger's texts, the De Consecratione, has been translated into French (see Bib. I I 2). Georg Misch has analyzed Suger's accounts within the literary tradition of the autobiography (see Bib. 116 f.), whereas Paul Frankl's survey of the treatises dwells solely on passages containing the abbot's "personal conception of Gothic" (see Bib. 59). Various sections of the first edition of Erwin Panofsky's book have been reprinted, and there has appeared an Italian, French, and Polish translation of the Intro_duction, p. I ff. (for all of which see Bib. I 3 I). Suger's fascinating personality has invited another biography (see Bib. 5) and even a charming book for children (see Bib. I44). Much has been written on his philosophy and aesthetics (see Bib. 72, 8o, 86, I33, I 54 f., I 57~.) as well as on his political goals (see Bib. 9, 52 f., 68 ff., 73, 105, I I 5, I 58), while the I 96o's focused on the aspect of his patronage of the arts (see Bib. 6, I 9, 29 f., 76, esp. 97). In this vast field of literature, I acknowledge many helpful references from Lester Little, Northampton, Mass., and above all from Konrad Hoffmann, Tlibingen, who was untiring in bringing to my attention publications which I should otherwise have missed. Those familiar with the first edition, will find various changes in the ILLUSTRATIONs: New photographs have been obtained throughout, occasionally replacing the former ones by more recent views. The inclusion of additional illustrations (see Figs. 10, I 8, 2 I, 2 5, 2 7), and the omission of the former Fig. I 4, have also prompted a revision of the sequence. Instead of following Suger's narration as before, the Abbey Church and its treasures are now unfolded systematically, beginning with the architecture and ending with the minor arts. I wish to express my gratitude to Messrs. Jean Adhemar, Sumner McKnight Crosby (whose replacement of two text figures has already been noted above), Louis Grodecki, Konrad Hoffmann, and Pierre Verlet for their assistance and generosity in procuring some of the new photographs for me, and [ ix

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for the courtesy of the many institutions mentioned in the List of Illustrations. Finally, I want to say that the basic decisions on how to arrange the later material and how to handle the ensuing scholarly problems would have been an overwhelming task, had I not been so fortunate as to be able to depend on the unfailing advice of our friend Richard Krautheimer, formerly of New York and now living in Rome. My warmest thanks go to him for having guided me through what seemed a "selva oscura." In presenting this new edition of Abbot Suger, I ask the indulgence of medievalists for any shortcomings, and I hope that the ADDITIONAL BIBLIOGRAPHY may prove useful to students, including my own and those my husband loved to teach. G.P.-S. Princeton, New I ersey, October 9, 1976

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HE texts reprinted and translated in this volume have long been familiar to every student of medieval art and civilization. They are concerned with what still deserves to be called the parent monument of all Gothic cathedrals. They were composed by a man not only famed and much beloved in his day but also recognized as one who helped to shape the course of European history. They abound in concrete information as to archaeological facts, liturgical customs, and social habits. They reflect the varied and often conflicting tendencies and attitudes of a period that is related to the subsequent phases of the Middle Ages much as the Florentine Quattrocento is to the Modern Era. They constitute a human document as well as a historical source; and they contain some real gems of medieval oratory both in prose and verse. Yet these well-known texts have never been translated in extenso. An unabridged translation into French planned by Henri Waquet some fifteen years ago has not appeared so far as can be ascertained. Selections in English and German have been printed in Arthur Kingsley Porter's Medieval Architecture, New Haven, vol. n, 1912, pp. 158, 194-199; and in Ernst Gall's Die Gotische Baukunst in Frankreich und Deutschland, 1, Leipzig, 1925, pp. 93-101, 103 f. But these translations, in addition to their fragmentary character, contain too many errors really to be helpful; even such isolated passages as have been adduced by various other scholars in the discussion of special archaeological problems have not always been correctly rendered and interpreted. An attempt to fill this gap is a hazardous undertaking. Suger, praised by his admirers as a "second Tullius," writes with Ciceronian verve and eloquence but not with Ciceronian lucidity. Without ever being confused, he can be confusing by his irrepressible love of word-play, quotation, paraphrase, and circumlocution, and by his delight in long, involved periods composed with a strong feeling for sound and rhythm rather than with due reverence for grammar. He is prolix where we would wish him to be brief, and all too laconic, especially in his references to technical or administrative detail, where we would wish him to be more circumstantial. For, with all his apostrophes to "future generations," Suger writes under the silent assumption that his readers are metropolitan [ xi

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Frenchmen of the twelfth century, and this presents much greater difficulties than recherche expressions and questionable syntax. While emulating the style of the Roman classics, while borrowing phrases from the Bible, the Fathers and John the Scot, the housephilosopher of St.-Denis, he speaks of contemporary personages, local landmarks, and national institutions much as the New Yorker speaks of Mayor La Guardia, Lord and Taylor, and the Fuller Brush Man. It is therefore impossible to translate Suger without commenting upon him, and to make such a commentary really adequate would require the combined efforts of four or five specialists. As an art historian, this writer has naturally paid especial attention to those passages that bear directly upon Suger's enterprises in the fields of architecture, sculpture, glass painting and the so-called minor arts; and he has tried to elucidate these passages by a sketch-map and a selection of pictures that illustrate such objects of Suger's descriptions as have come down to us in the original or in reliable renderings. He wishes to express his gratitude to Dr. G. Schonberger, Dr. H. Swarzenski, and the Misses D. Miner and A. Mongan for their kind assistance in procuring suitable photographs. Further he wishes to thank Dr. P. Frankl for the design of text illustration p. 221 and Mr. J. H. MacFadyen for the execution of the sketch-map; the Trustees of the Walters Art Gallery for permission to republish the photographs reproduced in figs. 4 and 5; Professor W. F. Stohlman for permission to publish a photograph by the late Clement Heaton (now in the possession of the Princeton Department of Art and Archaeology) reproduced in fig. 18, and for the generous communication of his personal notes concerning the stained glass in St.-Denis; Professor C. Ward for permission to reproduce, in fig. 7, his private print of an unpublished photograph by Mr. Princehorn; Father Q. F. Beckley, O.P., Dr. R. Ettinghausen, Dr. E. A. Lowe, and Miss R. J. Dean for valuable advice in liturgical, historical, and palaeographical matters; Mr. G. H. Forsyth, Jr., for aid and comfort in several emergencies, especially for executing the excellent original of text illustration p. r 72 f. and for redesigning the cover stamp from the thirteenth-century seal of St.-Denis as reproduced in Tresor de Numismatique et de Glyptique, XIII ( Sceaux des Communes, [ xii

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Communautis, Eveques, Barons, et Abbes), Paris, 1858, pl. n, no. 4; and Miss Elizabeth Trotter for her kind help in revising the English. Above all, however, the writer wishes to acknowledge his great indebtedness to S. McK. Crosby's monograph The Abbey of St.-Denis, I, New Haven, 1942. The sketch-map as well as the text illustration p. 22 I depend, so far as architectural features are concerned, entirely on Professor Crosby's plans and reconstructions; and even where the writer disagrees with him on certain points he would not have been able to do so without basing himself upon Professor Crosby's researches and findings. In spite of all this help the writer does not flatter himself that he has avoided inaccuracies and palpable errors. But, to quote from Suger himself, "quia sicut voluimus non potuimus, quam melius potuimus voluimus."

E.P.

Princeton, New Jersey, June I I, I944

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CONTENTS PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION

Vll

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION

Xl

LIST OF TEXT FIGURES

XVl

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

XVll

INTRODUCTION

I

TEXTS AND TRANSLATIONS

39 40

LIBER DE REBUS IN ADMINISTRATIONE SUA GESTIS LIBELLUS ALTER DE CONSECRATIONE ECCLESI.lE

82

SANCTI DIONYSII ORDINATIO A.D. MCXL

0

VEL MCXLI

0

CONFIRMATA

COMMENTARY

122

139

PRELIMINARY REMARKS THE TEXTS; DATES, TRANSMISSION, AND

I41

READINGS PERSONS AND PLACES; UNITS OF WEIGHT

I 46 I46

AND CURRENCY AUTHOR'S NOTE COMMENTARY UPON THE "LIBER DE REBUS IN

I

ADMINISTRATIONE SUA GESTIS"

47

COMMENTARY UPON THE "LIBELLUS ALTER DE CONSECRATIONE ECCLESI.lE SANCTI DIONYSII" COMMENTARY UPON THE "ORDINATIO" OF I

224

140 251

ORII4I

GLOSSARY

260

BIBLIOGRAPHIC ABBREVIATIONS

262

ADDITIONAL BIBLIOGRAPHY SINCE 1945

264

INDEX

277 following 285

ILLUSTRATIONS

(

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LIST OF TEXT FIGURES Suger, Abbot of St.-Denis. Detail of Fig. Paris)

I

5 (Phot. Archives Photographiques, opposite p. I

Portrait of Airardus from the Lost Bronze Doors of the Carolingian Abbey Church of St.-Denis (after the engraving in J. Mabillon, Annales Ordinis S. Benedicti, 11, Paris, I 704, p. 2 53) p. I 6 I Suger's New Altar for the Relics of St. Denis and His Companions (Reconstruction of the groundplan, cross section, and side elevation, amended after Viollet-leDuc, Dictionnaire Raisonni de l' Architecture Fran(aise, u, Paris, I 8 59, p. 2 5 ff.) pp. I74-I75 Lost Crystal Vases (after the engraving in Felibien, Pl. u, L)

p.

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St.-Denis, Longitudinal section of crypt and upper choir (preliminary reconstrucp. 239 tion by S. McK. Crosby)

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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Following p. 285

St.-Denis, Plan of the Carolingian nave and transept as reconstructed by S. McK. Crosby, and of Suger's still extant narthex and choir (drawing lent by S. McK. Crosby) 1. St.-Denis, Former Abbey Church. West Fa~ade prior to I837· Engraving by Adolphe and Emile Rouargue (after Crosby, Front;spiece) 2. St.-Denis, Former Abbey Chu~ch. Interior of Narthex, viewed from northwest to south-east (Phot. Archives Photographiques, Paris)

3· St.-Denis, Former Abbey Church. West Photographiques, Paris)

Fa~ade,

central portal (Phot. Archives

4-· Destroyed Jamb Figure (so-called Clothaire III), formerly on the West Fa