Samuel ben Meir (known as the
Rashbam) was the son of Meir ben Samuel and the grandson of Rashi.
He was born in 1083 in Ramerupt and died in 1174. He studied with
both of them. Apparently, there were some occasions when Rashi accepted Rashbam's opinions and amended his commentary
accordingly.
Rashbam raised sheep and wine
grapes. He was one of the teachers of his brother, Rabbenu Tam.
Although he wrote a commentary to
the entire Bible, only his Torah commentary is extant. He was a text literalist and objected to his
grandfather's use of midrash and exegesis. He viewed his
commentary as complementary to Rashi's.
Rashbam wrote numerous piyyutim,
and he was also one of the first Tosafist. In two places (where
his grandfather did not have commentary), Rashbam's explanations are
printed where Rashi normally appears. Unlike his grandfather, his
explanations tended to be long. His additional discussions (tosafot)
to the Talmud were
influenced by Alfasi's code.