Inscriptions on Light and Splendor from Saint-Denis to Rome and Back

Abstract

The verse inscription celebrating the new choir at Saint-Denis engages the issue of light in ways that have previously been associated with the writings of Dionysius the Areopagite and that have even served as proof of Abbot Suger’s close knowledge and direct use of those texts. Yet comparisons with not only ancient and early medieval poetry on buildings, but also especially with the inscriptions of early medieval apse mosaics in Rome, suggest that Suger’s emphasis on light is rooted in a tradition much older than the light metaphysics of Pseudo-Dionysius. Considering that Suger had also acquired a direct knowledge of the city of Rome and that both the arts and the ideology of that city played a major role in shaping Suger’s ambitions concerning Saint-Denis, the choir inscription should most likely be directly associated with the early medieval apse inscriptions. What spurred Suger’s interest in these shimmering texts in the first place, however, may have been some knowledge of Pseudo-Dionysian light metaphysics as transmitted by his contemporary, Hugh of Saint Victor.