He was educated at his court and became the librarian and councillor of Louis the Pious, king of Aquitaine, son of Charlemagne.
But in 833 he joined the insurrection and on 13 November presided over the synod in the church of Saint Mary in Soissons which deposed Louis and forced him to publicly confess many crimes, none of which he had, in fact, committed.
When Lothair had to flee to Italy, however, Ebbo was too ill with gout to follow and took shelter with a Parisian hermit.
He was brought to the Synod of Thionville (2 February 835) and made to admit, in front of 43 bishops, that Louis had never committed the crimes of which he had accused him.
Louis made him Bishop of Hildesheim (between April 845 and October 847) and it was in this position that he died on 20 March 851, in the seat of his diocese.
He also assembled artists at Hautvillers who transformed Carolingian art into a new movement and founded the so-called Reims school.