History:

The Abbey of St. Denis was a royal abbey, site of both the coronations and burials of French kings. The church was founded by Dagobert I (circa 630), and in the crypt some arches remain from that structure.

Consecrated before Charlemagne, in the twelfth century the abbey offered refuge to the middle-aged philosopher Abelard after he was castrated for his sexual relationship with his young adolescent student Heloise. Later, Jeanne d'Arc offered her sword and armor upon the altar of this church,

and Henri IV abjured Protestantism there. The abbey school trained princes and the most important aristocrats, and it was there that the future Abbot Suger was educated alongside the future King Louis VI.

As abbot, Suger's two aims were to strengthen the Capetian crown and aggrandize the abbey. He served as regent from 1147-1149 when Louis VII went on the Second Crusade, and did so well at controlling the turbulent vassals that the king bestowed upon him the title of "Father of the Country". Abbot Suger used his connections at court to assist in raising funds for a new abbey church, which was the first example of true Gothic architecture. The ribbed vaults and flying buttresses allowed more open space for stained glass windows, which Suger used (along with precious stones) to express the notion of divine light, believing that "the dull mind rises to truth through that [refracted light] which is material".(De Administratione, XXVII)