Suger at the feet of the Virgin, in the Annunciation scene from the Childhood of Christ window, 1144. © O. Rolland
In 1122, he was elected abbot of Saint-Denis. In response to the criticisms of the Cistercian
Bernard de Clairvaux Bernard de Clairvaux (1090 - 1153)
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The lord of Puiset (Eure-et-Loir), who rebelled against Louis VI, who subjugated him in 1108. , he began by imposing strict observance of the Benedictine rule on the monks, and re-erected the wall that prohibited visitors from entering the cloister.
Detail from the door of the basilica's central portal. Suger is shown kneeling before the pilgrims of Emmaus. Drawing by Roger de Gaignières (1642-1715), BNF Cabinet des manuscrits.
Suger at the feet of Christ, on the tympanum of the central portal, 1140.
© UASD / O. Rolland.
At the same time, in return for the sum of 200 pounds, he freed the inhabitants of Saint-Denis and the village of Saint-Marcel from certain obligations connected with serfdom, in particular the practice of
mortmain Mortmain
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Assets belonging to a serf to which a lord was entitled; a tax levied at the time of succession., a tax levied at the time of succession. Following this, he began work on the reconstruction of the monastery's buildings and the expansion of the abbey-church.
Suger was a very influential counselor to the kings Louis VI the Fat (1108-1137) and Louis VII the Younger (1137-1180), and even became regent of the kingdom in 1147. His Life of Louis VI the Fat launched the abbey's historiographical tradition, and he wrote two accounts that tell of his work as an administrator of the monastic lands and the consecration ceremonies for his church.
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