Etxepare lived through a period of war and upheaval from 1512 onward with the Castilian conquest of Upper Navarre. In one of his poems, "Mossen Bernat echaparere cantuya", he confesses to having spent time in prison in Béarn, although the reasons for his detainment are not very clear. According to some, he was accused of having taken the side of Castile in its conflict with Navarre, not least of all due to religious reasons. Others, however, think that the reasons for his incarceration were moral rather than political. Either way, Etxepare maintained that he was innocent.