Other historians, including Richard Abels, P. Grosjean, and Alan Thacker, state that Deusdedit died on 14 July 664. The main argument was put forward by Grosjean, who claimed that Bede had the consecration date wrong, as 26 May was Maundy Thursday in 655, not a date that would normally have been chosen for a consecration. Grosjean argues that the best method for resolving the conflicts is to just take 14 July 664 as the date of death, and figure backwards with the length of reign given by Bede, which gives a consecration date of 12 March 655. Thacker and Abels agree generally, although Thacker does not give a specific consecration date beyond March. Abels adds to Grosjean's arguments Bede's association of Deusdedit's death with that of King Eorcenberht, which Bede gives as occurring on the same day. Bede states that the plague of 664 began soon after the eclipse on 1 May. Nothing in Bede contradicts the date of 14 July 664 for Eorcenberht; therefore, Abels considers that date to be the best fit for the available data. The historian D. P. Kirby agrees that Deusdedit died in 664, although he does not give a precise date within that year.