Wala of Corbie

Who was Wala of Corbie?

Wala of Corbie was the son of Bernard, son of Charles Martel, and one of the principal advisers of his cousin Charlemagne, Charlemagne's son Louis the Pious, and his son Lothair I. He succeeded his brother Adalard as abbot of Corbie and Corvey in 826 or 827.

Wala, originally a comes attached to the palace under Charlemagne, was forced to enter the monastery of Corbie in 814 as part of a purging of palace rivals and hangers-on by Louis the Pious. In 816 he and Adalard were given the responsibility of organising the government of the convent of Herford, recently passed into Louis's hands at the Council of Aachen. In the 820s Wala become a strong opponent of royal/imperial control of church benefices. He was back at court in 822 as a concillor. According to Paschasius Radbertus, Wala alleged on one occasion that the "army of clerics" resident at the Palace of Aachen served only for personal gain and did not form a legitimate ecclesiastical institution. In 831 Wala left Corbie; in 834 he was abbot of Bobbio.