WALTHER von SPEYER (GUALTIERO di SPIRA). - German poet and religious, b. c. 965, disciple of Bishop Walderich in the monastery of S. Gallo.
Having been educated in the 7 liberal arts and become a subdeacon, he wrote in 983 a Life of St. Christopher in 5 books (1,272 verses) and 29 chapters, preceded by 271 hexameters recounting his course of studies in the cloister. In 1014 he accompanied Emperor Enrico II di Sassonia to Rome for the coronation; around that time he became bishop of Spira. It had been thought that W. was the bishop who attended the ceremony at which, in 1030, Corrado II il Salico laid the foundation stone of the cathedral of Spira; recent studies, however, state that he died in 1027. His style, laden with learning and rhetorical ornamentation, is typical of the medieval culture of the cloisters, revealing knowledge of the Latin classics, including Virgilio, the object of mystical veneration. Such enthusiasm for antiquity, opposed by the more zealous clergy as the work of the devil, continued to flourish at Spira under Emperor Corrado II il Salico.