Of the early life of Erkembode, who lived in the late 7th and first half of the 8th centuries, nothing is known. It has been surmised that he was an Irish monk who travelled with several companions to Sithiu, now Saint-Omer in northern France where he lived in the monastery. He was a disciple of the abbot at Sithiu, saint Bertin († c.709), himself a disciple of saint Columbanus of Luxeuil, the Celtic abbey in the French Vosges mountains. Later Erkembode was elected by the clergy and people as bishop of Thérouanne, while remaining abbot of his abbey. In later times that abbey of Sithiu became part of the Order of Saint Benedict after the Carolingian reforms of Benedict of Aniane.