Wala (Carolingian)
Wala (* probably 773; † August 31, 836 in Bobbio ) was a Frankish aristocrat . At first he was one of Charlemagne's closest advisers , and later he appeared at the side of the successor candidate Bernhard of Italy . After its failure, Wala retired to the Corbie monastery , which he headed as abbot from 826 in personal union with the Corvey monastery . From 834 until his death he held the office of Abbot of Bobbio . Radbertus Paschasius reports on Wala's person and work in the Epitaphium Arsenii , also known as Vita Wala ( Life of Walas ).
Wala was the son of the Carolingian Bernhard, an illegitimate son of Karl Martell and thus a cousin of Charlemagne. The mother's name is not known. On the basis of a different remark by Radbertus Paschasius in the Vita Wala , it has been assumed that Wala's mother could be a Saxon . Wala had a brother Bernarius, a monk at the Abbey of Lérins , a sister Gundrada, friend of Alcuin , and a much older half-brother Adalhard , predecessor Walas as abbot of Corbie and Corvey.
Wala was married to Rothlindis, a daughter of Saint William of Gellone , Count of Toulouse and Margrave of Septimania . He became Count in Saxony and in 811 Count Palatine , but in 814, after the death of his wife, he gave up all secular offices and entered the church service. In 824 he is said to have written the Constitutio Romana together with Emperor Lothar I.
From 826 to 831 he was abbot of Corbie and Corvey , from 834 abbot of Bobbio , in whose monastery church he was also buried.
literature
- Bernhard von Simson: Wala . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 55, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1910, pp. 354-357.
- Lorenz Weinrich : Wala - count, monk and rebel . Lübeck and Hamburg 1963 (historical studies 386), ISBN 978-3-7868-1386-6
- Mayke de Jong: Epitaph for an Era: Politics and Rhetoric in the Carolingian World. , Cambridge 2019
Remarks
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| Adalhard |
Abbot of Corvey 826-831 |
Warin I. |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Whale |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Saxon count and later abbot |
| DATE OF BIRTH | at 773 |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 31, 836 |
| Place of death | Bobbio |