He studied at Leipzig from 1479. From Martin Polich, his master, a convinced Thomist, he learned to love philosophy. With the favour of Duke George the Bearded he obtained the appointment as rector (1494) and then dean (1495) of the Faculty of Philosophy in that city and later vice-chancellor of the University. Meanwhile, having entered the ecclesiastical state, he had also devoted himself to theology, obtaining a licence in 1502. From 1500 he entered into discussion with Polich on the relationship between poetry and theology, defending the supremacy of the latter over the former. In 1503 Cardinal Legate Raymond Peraudi granted him the title of doctor of theology at Leipzig. In turn, a few weeks later at Wittenberg, Polich also received his doctorate from Staupitz: a rivalry thus arose between the two universities which was to drag on for a long time. In 1505 W. was called by Elector Joachim of Brandenburg to found and direct the University of Frankfurt on the Oder. Among his pupils he had in 1518 the preacher Johann Tetzel, together with whom he later took part in the struggle against the Reformation. In 1518 he published a De divae Annae triumbo et trium filiarum eius asseveratione libri tres, to defend the legend of the three Maries, daughters of St Anne, against Johann Wildenauer.
When Luther on 31 Oct. 1517 affixed his 95 theses to the door of the church at Wittenberg, Tetzel, particularly singled out, had recourse to his master for a refutation which he brilliantly delivered at the University of Frankfurt on the Oder. The lecture was printed and widely circulated, eight hundred copies of which were burned by the students of the University of Wittenberg, enthusiastic supporters of Luther. Luther had already recognised the true author in W., and criticism is unanimous in this attribution.
His principal work was: Sectarium, errorum, hallucinationum et schismatum... anacephaleseos (= the Reformation) librorum partes tres (Frankfurt on the Oder 1528). In 1529 he collaborated in the composition of the Christian Institution against the Confession of M. Luther, the Catholic response to the 17 articles of Schwabach. He also contributed to the refutation of the Augsburg Confession (1530). W. remains a valuable witness to the first Catholic reaction to the Protestant Reformation.