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 Lautenbach, to destroy the monastery and churches. 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, both friezes are kind of shocking. The naiv style of these carvings differs totally from the others. These friezes may have been part of the church destroyed 1086 - and be reused here.

As you see, this frieze consists out of three frames, of which two are nearly identical - and one is rather large. I will start from inside.

Robert Will does not mention the first two "frames", so there is no help from "Alsace romane", Éditions Zodiaque.

There are two men. Wrestling. The anatomy of the two bodies is strange, maybe even bumbling..
It is not clear, why these men are wrestling. I do not know, what "to wrestle" did mean within the 11th century. I can imagine, that wrestling was not a "knightly" form of fighting. Sofar I have seen fighting men, wearing armours and having weapons of any kind. Some even on horses. Here the men, that look like twins are naked. Obviously the wrestling takes place "outside", as there are leafs around the heads.

Or - are these naked men not wrestling at all? Are they kissing each other? That would of course add some very different flavour!

Please note, that the two profiles of the wrestlers form one "full" face. An idea, that Picasso had later as well.

This "frame" is very cryptic. The strangest is, that next to this - is the same frame again.

So if there is someone, who knows, what this could mean - write a comment please.