[1] 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.
According to Paschasius Radbertus, Wala alleged on one occasion that the "army of clerics" (i.e. chaplains) resident at the Palace of Aachen (and perhaps itinerant with the emperor) served only for personal gain and did not form a legitimate ecclesiastical institution.
[16] Although nearly all Charlemagne's old advisors were removed from the royal sphere of influence,[17] in 821 Louis recalled Adalard from his exile at the abbey of Corbie and sent an invitation to Wala to once again attend the Frankish court.
[18] Furthermore, in 822, realizing the rage caused by his maltreatment of his father's old advisors, he expressed public penance for his dismissal at Attigny-on-the-Aisne among his people.
[21] Wala was a strong advocate for the unity of the Frankish empire and on several occasions aided Lothair I, the eldest son of Louis the Pious, in rebellions against his father.
In May 830, a short-lived rebellion involving those of both clerical and lay orders, as well as three elder sons of Louis, succeeded in forcing Empress Judith into monastic confinement at St. Radegunda in Poitiers and in sending her brothers to monasteries.
In an uprising caused by Louis's decision to remove the holding of Aquitaine from Pippin and give the same to Charles,[24] Lothair kidnapped his father.
According to Radbertus, Wala was content with the ordinary clothes and shoes of the region, and he considered it unnecessary that a monk should dress more smartly than the conprovintiales amongst whom he lived.
[28] Moreover, Wala's military abilities from the earlier days of his life prevented Saxon bandits from invading the lands to be taken up by new monastery.
[30] Moreover, during his stay in Italy to guide the emperor's son, Lothair, Wala also acquired a copy of the Roman antiphonary for his abbey of Corbie.
[33] In a letter addressed to him and Archchaplain Hilduin in 826, Bishop Agobard observed that Wala was always at court as one of the very godly advisers of Louis the Pious.