[1] He was born in the vicinity of Troyes, in around 1085 in France to his father Meir ben Shmuel and mother Yocheved, daughter of Rashi.
Mordecai ben Hillel says that he was so absent-minded that once, while traveling, he almost climbed into a wagon loaded with cattle.
[4] It is also known that around 1150, he taught in Rouen (Hebrew רדום - Rodom, capital city of Plantagenet Normandy Duchy) at the Yeshiva whose remains were discovered in 1976.
This synod was led by the Rashbam, his brother, Rabbeinu Tam, and Eliezer ben Nathan (the Ra'avan).
Thus Rashbam (on Genesis 1:5) maintained that the day began at dawn and not from the previous sunset (as later Jewish custom assumed).
Another famous interpretation was Rashbam's view that the much disputed phrase in Genesis 49:10 must be rendered "Until he cometh to Shiloh," and refers to the division of the kingdom of Judah after Solomon's death.
Even my grandfather Solomon was an adherent of this school; and I had an argument with him on that account, in which he admitted that he would revise his commentaries if he had time to do so."
Several scholars feel that the reason his commentary on Genesis was missing for a long time and not fully recovered until the late 1800s had to do with controversial remarks regarding when the day begins.