From the year 1000 on, the abbey's policies were favorable to the town's development. Certain bakers' ovens were exempted from customary rights Customary rights
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Regional usages, as opposed to written law in the Roman tradition. and the inhabitants were freed from mortmain Mortmain
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Assets belonging to a serf to which a lord was entitled; a tax levied at the time of succession . In 1112, Louis VI (Louis the Fat) allowed five Jews and their families to settle inside the fortified borough. The early twelfth century also witnessed the development of the royal Lendit fair. In 1124, the king granted to the abbey all of the resources associated with the fair, including justiciary rights, taxes, stall rental, and so on.

This period of economic expansion coincided with significant construction activity. Between 1135 and 1144, abbot Suger extended the abbey-church Abbey-church
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The main church of an abbey.to the west with a new façade (or west front West front
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The western part of a church placed opposite the choir and usually consisting of a porch or narthex, chapels on an upper floor, and towers. ) and to the east by the addition of a choir with radiating chapels. The abbot had planned to flank the Carolingian nave with double side aisles, but this construction campaign was left unfinished. In the monastery, Suger built a new guest house and began to construct the galleries for a sumptuous cloister.

To the north of the basilica, two new parish churches were built in the cemetery: Saint-Michel-du-Degré and Saint-Jean-Baptiste. At the same time, the canons Canon
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A member of a religious order who lives according to the "Rule of Saint Augustine", and whose chapter is attached to a collegiate church. of Saint-Paul rebuilt their church along the lines of a basilica, with a columned nave flanked by side aisles. As the abbots were benefactors of this community, they ceded Saint-Pierre and Saint-Jean-Baptiste, a cemetery church which cannot be located with any accuracy.

Gradually, secular housing spread across the full surface of the castellum Castellum sancti Dionysii
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fortification built by Charles the Bald in 869 around the abbey of Saint-Denis; the zone delimited by the walls of this castellum.. Despite widespread excavation, it is difficult to get an accurate idea of how the monastic town was organized. The concentric layout of the streets, which converge towards the monumental core, structured the growing town and became fixed from the year 1000. On the other hand, the layout of secondary streets remained in flux until the thirteenth century, since housing plots had not yet stabilised. The structures uncovered during excavations correspond to houses made of wood. Stone was only used for building collective wells. The floor plans of the houses are too fragmentary for us to attempt a reconstruction. The town's housing was accompanied by various annexes. These include weaving workshops-built partly below ground level-in which the marks left by the looms are still visible, and a tanning pit. which indicates that furrier prepared animal hides. The presence of a number of grain-storage pits, show that the population maintained some agricultural activities.

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