Marbodius, Bishop of Rennes, ecclesiastical writer and hymnologist, b. about 1035 at Angers, France, d. there 11 September, 1123. He received his early education at Angers under Rainaldus, a disciple of Fulbert of Chartres. After teaching some time at the cathedral school of Angers, he was put at the head of the educational system of the city and Diocese of Angers by Bishop Eusebius Bruno in 1067. Later he became archdeacon and in 1096 Urban II appointed him Bishop of Rennes. In his youth he indulged in many excesses, but from the time he became bishop his life was without reproach. In 1104 he was present at the Council of Tours, and in 1109 Bishop Rainaldus of Martigne made him administrator of the Diocese of Angers while he himself made a journey to Rome. At the age of eighty-eight he resigned his diocese and withdrew to the Benedictine monastery of St. Aubin at Angers where he died soon after. His works were first published at Rennes in 1524. A new and enlarged edition was published by Beaugendre (Paris, 1708), reprinted in P. L. They comprise many lives of saints, various epistles and some elegantly written hymns. A French translation of his hymns was edited by Ropartz (Rennes, 1873).
ERNAULT, Marbode, évéque de Rennes, sa vie et ses ouvrages (Rennes, 1890); Ferry, De Marbodi rhedonensis episcopi vita et carminibus (Paris, 1899); Histoire Littéraire de la France, X, 343-392. Concerning his hymns see BLUME AND DREVEs, Analecta hymnica, I (Leipzig, 1907), 388 sq.
Michael Ott.