Translation talk:Pope Urban II's letter to Bologna

sine conniventia

Peters (2011) seems to have made some errors in his translation of the sentence Juvenibus etiam conjugatis providendum est ne temere tantum iter sine conniventia uxorum suarum aggrediantur. He rendered it as "Nor should young married men rashly set out on the journey without the consent of their spouses". I mostly take issue with 'without the consent' and 'spouses'. To start with the latter: 'uxor' is simply 'wife'; there is no reason to go for a gender-neutral term in this case. Moreover, the phrase sine conniventia cannot be reasonably translated as 'without the consent': it is literally 'without the closing of [their eyes to] their wives'. Because of the English grammar required to translate the sentence, especially the words ne temere ('not rashly'), dictates the avoidance of a double negative that the word sine ('without') would make it, the most reasonable translation is therefore: "Care must also be taken for young married men not to rashly embark on such a journey while turning a blind eye to their wives." In order words, the young married men should not neglect the well-being of their wives before they depart (and while they are away). How this well-being is to be covered is not said, but there is no explicit suggestion that each man needs to talk to his wife about his participation in the crusade, and how this will affect her, the household and any children they might have, let alone that his wife needs to agree/permit/consent him to go given the circumstances in which he will leave her. In order words, 'not turning a blind eye to their wives' is a unilateral consideration of another person's interests, not a bilaterally negotiated agreement. A man following Urban II's instructions would only have been required to tell his wife: 'Hey honey, I'm going on a crusade to Jerusalem, I put 100 florins in the bank, that should be enough to cover your expenses while I'm gone, right? Bye!' She wouldn't have needed to give her consent, as she had no authority over her husband. These and other nuances should be taken into account when using Peters' translation to interpret the Latin text. Nederlandse Leeuw (talk) 13:30, 7 March 2022 (UTC)