"Suger, abbot of the French abbey of Saint-Denis, lived from 1081 to 1151. This book of essays about his life and achievements grew out of a symposium sponsored by the International Center of Medieval Art and by Columbia University ... For the symposium, twenty-three medieval scholars from all parts of the world, representing a wide range of humanistic disciplines, were brought together to discuss the varied nature of Suger's activities. Suger has been best known for his contributions as a patron of art and architecture ... As the essays in this volume devoted to Suger's political activities and historical writings demonstrate, he was, in addition to being a brilliantly innovative patron of architecture, an important architect of the French state. Only by bringing together differing humanistic perspectives on Suger and Saint-Denis has it been possible to achieve, for the first time, a fully rounded appreciation of a man who was, at the same time, a patron of the arts and literature, a politician who adroitly used his ecclesiastical position to enhance the growth and power of the monarchy, and a churchman consistently devoted to the promotion of the cult of Saint-Denis, the patron saint of his abbey and of France"--From publisher's description.

Translated with Introduction and Notes by Richard Cusimano and Eric Whitmore Suger, the twelfth century abbot of Saint-Denis, has not received the respect and attention that he deserves. Bernard of Clairvaux and Peter the Venerable have garnered more attention, and students of medieval history know their names well. In one respect, however, Suger has earned due praise, for his architectural innovations to the church of Saint-Denis made it truly one of the most beautiful churches in Europe. Students of history and architecture know Suger best for his work on Saint-Denis, the burial site of medieval French kings, queens, and nobility. The abbot enlarged, decorated, improved, and redesigned the building so beautifully that it is safe to say that he became the foremost church architect of twelfth-century France. The man, however, was so much more than an architect. He served as a counselor and member of the courts of King Louis VI and VII, who sent him across Europe on diplomatic missions. He represented those kings at the papal curia and imperial diets. He was also a close friends and confidante of King Henry I of England, whom he often visited on behalf of French royal interests. Never shy, Suger seems almost obsessed that his works and deeds not be forgotten. He acquired numerous properties and estates for his abbey, as well as improved the ones it already possessed. He built new buildings, barns, walls for villages, and increased the return of grain from all the abbey’s lands. Readers interested in the medieval agricultural system and way of life will also enjoy these texts. Suger’s texts also provide a wealth of information about the events of his era as well as a large amount of biographical material on his accomplishments. This translation of his writings intends to enhance his reputation and make his name better known by students at all levels and among those interested in medieval topics.

In this collaborative work seventeen international scholars use contemporary methodologies to address the ways in which we understand Gothic church buildings today. Artistic Integration in Gothic Buildings discusses major monuments that have traditionally stood at the core of medieval art-historical studies: the cathedrals of Durham, Wells, Chartres, Reims, Poitiers, Strasbourg, and Naumburg, the abbey of Saint-Denis, and the Sainte-Chapelle of Paris. The contributors approach the subject from different specialties and methodologies within the field of art history, as well as from the disciplines of history, liturgical studies, and theology. Willibald Sauerl)nder's overview acknowledges that since the early nineteenth century scholars have been confronted with monuments that no longer perform their original functions. The moment of the creation of these great cages of stone, filled with images in metal, paint, glass, stone, and textiles, has passed as surely as Villon's `snows of yesteryear.' Artistic intentions shifted continuously over the centuries as these great buildings were adapted to new situations, historical, cultural, and religious. Once the settings for complex and diversified rituals of religious, social, and political dimensions, the buildings today stand in a completely different time frame and are experienced by a different audience. This volume addresses the hermeneutics of the development of scholarship concerning the Gothic church, reviewing the variable, but largely exclusive, agendas from the early nineteenth century to the present, including those of Viollet-le-Duc, Lef¦vre-Pontalis, M+le, Sedlmayr, Von Simson, Panofsky, Grodecki, and Bony. The conclusion is that there is no way to return to the original Gothic cathedral or the original audience. Artistic Integration in Gothic Buildings reassesses the traditional canon through a new pluralism of approaches and presents the Gothic church as an intricate and complex living monument that has been evolving over eight centuries and more.

Dionysius the Areopagite is the pseudonymous author of an influential body of early (about 500 AD) Christian theological texts. Paul Rorem here explores the profound influence of these texts on medieval theolgy in the East and the West.

(The open access version of this book has been published with the support of the Swiss National Science Foundation.) The book proposes a reassessment of royal portraiture and its function in the Middle Ages via a comparative analysis of works from different areas of the Mediterranean world, where images are seen as only one outcome of wider and multifarious strategies for the public mise-en-scène of the rulers’ bodies. Its emphasis is on the ways in which medieval monarchs in different areas of the Mediterranean constructed their outward appearance and communicated it by means of a variety of rituals, object-types, and media. Contributors are Michele Bacci, Nicolas Bock, Gerardo Boto Varela, Branislav Cvetković, Sofia Fernández Pozzo, Gohar Grigoryan Savary, Elodie Leschot, Vinni Lucherini, Ioanna Rapti, Juan Carlos Ruiz Souza, Marta Serrano-Coll, Lucinia Speciale, Manuela Studer-Karlen, Mirko Vagnoni, and Edda Vardanyan.

Medieval Art and Architecture after the Middle Ages explores the endurance of and nostalgia for medieval monuments through their reception in later periods, specifically illuminating the myriad ways in which tangible and imaginary artifacts of the Middle Ages have served to articulate contemporary aspirations and anxieties. The essays in this interdisciplinary collection examine the afterlife of medieval works through their preservation, restoration, appropriation, and commodification in America, Great Britain, and across Europe from the sixteenth to the twentieth century. From the evocation of metaphors and tropes, to monumental projects of restoration and recreation—medieval visual culture has had a tremendous purchase in the construction of political, religious, and cultural practices of the Modern era. The authors assembled here engage a diverse spectrum of works, from Irish ruins and a former Florentine prison to French churches and American department stores, and an equally diverse array of media ranging from architecture and manuscripts to embroidery, monumental sculpture, and metalwork. With applications not only to the study of art and architecture, but also encompassing such varied fields as commerce, city planning, education, literature, collecting and exhibition design, this copiously illustrated anthology comprises a significant contribution to the study of medieval art and medievalism.

Early Music History is devoted to the study of music from the early Middle Ages to the end of the seventeenth century. It demands the highest standards of scholarship from its contributors, all of whom are leading academics in their fields. It gives preference to studies pursuing interdisciplinary approaches and to those developing novel methodological ideas. The scope is exceptionally broad and includes manuscript studies, textual criticism, iconography, studies of the relationship between words and music and the relationship between music and society. The office of the cantor in early Western monastic rules and customaries: a preliminary investigation; Montecassino and the Old Beneventan chant; and Music and ceremonial in the Low Countries: Philip the fair and the Order of the Golden Fleece.