But as soon as the Parisian dynasty of the Capets came to the
throne, they were almost without exception buried at St. Denis. Hence the
abbey came to be regarded at last mainly as the mausoleum of French
royalty, and is still too often so regarded by tourists.
But tho the exquisite Renaissance tombs of the House of Valois would well
deserve a visit on their own account, they are, at St. Denis, but
accessories to the great Basilica. Besides the actual tombs, too, many
monuments were erected here, in the 13th century (by St. Louis) and
afterward, to earlier kings buried elsewhere, some relic of whom, however,
the abbey possest and thus honored. Hence several of the existing tombs
are of far later date than the kings they commemorate; those of the Valois
almost alone are truly contemporary.
At the Revolution, the Basilica suffered irreparable losses. The very
sacred reliquary containing the severed head of St. Denis was destroyed,
and the remains of the martyr and his companions desecrated. The royal
bones and bodies were also disinterred and flung into trenches
indiscriminately.
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