Bodo spent some of his youth in southern Germany, where he was raised at the court of Count, later Duke Eberhard II of Württemberg, the brother of his stepmother.

Bodo's historic significance, however, does not lie in any specific service that he did for any particular prince, but primarily in his relationship with the largest prelate of the empire: Cardinal Albert, who was archbishop of Magdeburg and Mainz.

Apart from his service to Cardinal Albert, Bodo also acted as councillor to Emperors Maximilian I and Charles V, who thanked him with special ceremonies in 1518 and 1521, respectively.

In 1521, Charles V proposed to make him a member of the second Imperial Government at Nuremberg, but Bodo declined the offer.

After Eberhard died childless in 1535, Königstein, including Eppstein, was inherited by Bodo's sons Louis (d. 1574) and Christopher (d. 1581).