“For Bright is that which is brightly coupled with the bright/ and light is the noble edifice which is pervaded by a new light”. AS. 

Abbot Suger (1081-1151), created the first truly Gothic building in Europe, the Cathedral of Saint-Denis in Paris. Saint Denis is the patron of Paris and France. The Cathedral is renowned for being the burial place of French kings, and where French queens were crowned. Started in 1135 and completed in 1144, the Cathedral introduced the rib vault that allowed for greater height and unusually large stained glass windows. 

The equilateral arch, or Gothic Arch, is created by two intersecting circles, the Vesica Pisces, which in turn gives rise to the equilateral triangle. As every aspect of the Gothic cathedrals were infused with symbolism, the equilateral triangle represented the Holy Trinity. This association evolved to become the All-Seeing Eye found inside of a triangle. 

Abbot Suger was inspired by Pseudo-Dionysius of Areopagite, a 6th century Christian mystic that associated light with the Holy Spirit. The school of Chartes also influenced this new architecture as their perspective on cosmology emphasised mathematics, particularly geometry, and the aesthetic outcomes that arise from the convergence of the two. 

He was a contemporary of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, and was made the regent of France when King Louis VIII and Queen Eleanor participated in the failed Second Crusade. Gothic architecture borrowed ideas from Islamic architecture, an art form which was highly developed compared to European methods. 

Suger was not the actual builder of the Cathedral, an unknown master Mason was. Architects were at that stage still under appreciated, a dynamic that slowly changed over time. As the Crusades and the infatuation with knights and the Grail legends started to fade, architects and the magnificent cathedrals they were creating took on a more enhanced role in society. 

It was during this period that the seeds of Freemasonry were planted as the Architect became associated with the Great Architect of the Universe, God.