Eckbert of Schönau
Eckbert (c.1120 - 1184) was a Benedictine abbot of Schönau, a writer, and brother of the mystic Elisabeth of Schönau, whose life he recorded. Life Eckbert was born in the early part of the twelfth century of a distinguished, devout family named Hartwig, along the Middle Rhine. He was the brother of Elisabeth of Schönau (1129-1164), whose life he wrote and whose works he published. He studied in Paris, and was for a time canon in the collegiate church of Sts. Cassius and Florentius at Bonn. The monastery of St. Florin in Schönau im Taunus was a double monastery. 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. While a canon at Bonn he often had occasion to speak with Cathars, and after his monastic profession, was invited by Rainald of Dassel, Archbishop of Cologne, to debate publicly with the leaders of the sect in Cologne itself. Around 1155 several tombs were discovered in