Bernard Etxepare

Bernard Etxepare
The title page of Etxepare's book
Born	Bernard D'echepare ca. 1470, Bussunarits-Sarrasquette, Navarre
Died	DOD unknown
Occupation	Priest
Notable works	Linguæ Vasconum Primitiæ

Bernard Etxepare (pronounced [berˈnart eˈtʃepaɾe]) was a Basque writer of the 16th century, most famous for a collection of poems titled Linguæ Vasconum Primitiæ ("Beginnings of the Basque Language") he published in 1545, the first book to be published in the Basque language.

His first name is also spelled Bernat or Beñat in Basque, he himself used Bernat. His surname is spelled Etxepare in modern Basque but the variant Detxepare is also occasionally encountered, in Basque or Dechepare in Spanish, both based on the French spelling D'echepare. He himself used Dechepare.

Very little is known about his life. He was born c. 1470–1480 in the area of Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port in Lower Navarre. His birthplace is the Etxeparia farmhouse in Bussunarits-Sarrasquette and to have spent the majority of his life in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, working as rector in Saint-Michel at the church of Saint-Michel-le-Vieux and vicar in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port.

Etxepare's 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.

The date of his death is unknown.

In 1545 he published a book in Bordeaux, the Linguæ Vasconum Primitiæ, generally assumed to be the first book ever printed in Basque. It contains a collection of poems, some religious in nature, some love poems, one about his life, some extolling the virtues of the Basque language and others. It has been suggested by Oihenart in his L´art poétique basque from 1665 that some of his prestigious contemporary Basque writers such as Joan Etxegarai and Arnaut Logras who were famous for their pastorals might have been published too. However, if they were, any evidence has been lost.