[3] After gaining his abitur in 1947, Wagner studied German philology under Ernst Schwarz, and also history and English, at the University of Regensburg.
[3] Wagner transferred to the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich in 1948, where he studied under Otto Basler and other scholars.
Wagner received his Ph.D. in 1955 at the University of Würzburg under the supervision of Franz Rolf Schröder.
Wagner completed his habilitation at Würzburg in 1967 under the supervision of Kurt Ruh [de].
Wagner subsequently served as Professor at the Institute for German Philology at the University of Würzburg.