[1] Bosbach was born in Bornheim, a small town situated on the left bank of the Rhine, between Cologne and Bonn.
He received his doctorate from Bonn University in 1981 for a piece of analytical research on the longer lasting effects of the 1648 Peace of Westphalia.
[2] His habilitation (higher academic qualification), also from Bonn followed in 1986, this time for a piece of work entitled "Monarchia Universalis.
Ein politischer Leitbegriff der frühen Neuzeit" ("Universal monarchy: a political precept for the early modern period").
His term in office ended in 2014, since which time he has remained at the university as a professor of early modern history.