Lautenbach - Collégiale Saint Gangolph

Manegold of Lautenbach, a celebrity of his time, lived here in the 11th. century. During the Investiture Controversy, Manegold sided strongly with Pope Gregory VII. Emperor Henry IV was so annoyed about this, that he sent an army, to destroy the monastery and churches. That ended the monastery 1084. About 50 years later Augustinian Canons settled here - and rebuilt the church, reusing a lot of old material. Many changes took place in and around the building (now the parish church) over the time, but the ground floor of the westwork seen here, seems still unchanged.


Having seen the delicate structure of the narthex with slim pillars -and fine capitals, the friezes (left and right of the entrance) are kind of shocking. The naiv style of these carvings differs totally from the others. These carvings may have been part of the church destroyed 1086 - and be reused here.
I am not really sure about the theme, I will follow Robert Will´s interpretation (from "Alsace romane", Éditions Zodiaque), though in some details I doubt that. He sees the whole frieze under the theme of adultery.

Unfortunately I did not take a photo of the complete left frieze, to have an overview, but pierrepaul43 did a really good one:

www.flickr.com/photos/13149473@N04/3577866581/

This is the first "frame" of the left frieze, starting to the right, as the frieze "reads" from inside outside

Seen here from right to left is a (small) standing lady in a coat, holding a baby. The head of the lady is in a very strange position - and she seems to smile. Next is a sitting naked man, waving at her. Behind this man sits a four legged animal with a very human face, that could be an hare (ears!), further to the left, next to the animal´s ear - an oval object.

Robert Will sees a man (naked) trying to seduce a woman, which is married (the kid!). The animal in the man´s back stands for "temptation" or "prurience". Will does not mention the oval to the left.