Eckbert was born in the early part of the twelfth century of a distinguished, devout family named Hartwig, along the Middle Rhine.
His younger sister Elizabeth, whose health had never been strong, had first entered the women's convent many years earlier as a student at the age of twelve.
Despite objections from other members of the family, at Elizabeth's urging to come and record her visions, in 1155 he became a Benedictine at the monastery in Schönau.
He drew from Augustine of Hippo's discussion of the Manichæans to describe what he believed to be their origins, but distinguished the contemporary sect from the earlier version.
[6] On the death of Eizabeth in 1164, he wrote the mournful treatise De obitu dominae Elisabeth.