Erkanbald was a member of the family of the counts of Ölsburg and was thus related to Bernard III of Sommerescheburg, Bishop of Hildesheim.

He supported the election of Henry IV, Duke of Bavaria, as King of Germany and was rewarded for it in 1011 when the ancient see of Mainz became vacant.

Several times he appeared as Intervenient in the documents of the emperor, and he consecrated the bishops of Verden and Prague to his church province Mainz.

Indications, according to the restorer Anja Bayer, were a chasuble made of blue-coloured silk, which ended with a gold border on the neck of the deceased.

Bayer analyzed the elaborately crafted shoes together with Jutta Göpfrich, former head of restoration at the German Leather Museum.

Studies by anthropologist Carola Berszin showed that the 1.82 m tall, 40 to 60 year old man weighed about 70 kg and that he suffered from gout in his feet and ankylosing spondylitis.