 During the absence of Conrad III in Outremer (1147–49), Wibald was the tutor of the king's young son Henry Berengar, but seems to have had little to do with the political affairs of Germany during that period.Conrad's successor, Frederick I Barbarossa, esteemed Wibald highly and sent the abbot on a mission to Constantinople in 1154 and again in 1157.His sudden death at Bitolia in Paphlagonia in 1158 while returning from the second mission gave rise to the suspicion that he was poisoned by the Byzantines.