 He studied jurisprudence, and in the early 1590s was a close friend of Johannes Kepler.Besold asked permission of the classical scholar Vitus Müller (Veit Müller, 1561–1626) to defend theses based on Kepler's dissertation (on astronomical topics); he was denied the chance.Later, when Katharina Kepler, Johannes Kepler's mother, was prosecuted on witchcraft charges, Besold was one of the jurists dealing with the case, which was dropped.