Hello all.
I have just started my final year dissertation (Master of Arts in History) and settled on the above subject. It's early stages yet but I am pretty interested in comparing Crusading, Religious and Marriage Vows and their development in Canon Law. I have been mainly reading, J. Brundage's book Medieval Canon Law and the Crusader but I was wondering if any one had any advice on other publications, areas I could look into or just any general advice on writing dissertations? I have kind of hit a dead end and slightly worried this will turn into a theology dissertation. Its minimum 10,000 words (not too bad!)
Thanks! :)
Although this is ostensibly a historiography question, and therefore totally acceptable for this subreddit, I do want to HIGHLY encourage to you talk about this with your thesis advisor. I'm sure you can get some good advice from around here, but it may not be advice that your advisor agrees with or is interested in. So I guess I am focusing on the other part of your question, which is essentially a question about navigating your MA program. However, given that your MA thesis is eventually going to be either approved or denied by someone(s), you really need to work closely with them to figure out this sort of direction.
The Brundage Canon Law book is a great book, but I recommend his other equally important book for your subject specifically:
Also, David D'Avray is important here:
D'Avray, David, Medieval Marriage: Symbolism and Society (Oxford, 2005)
D'Avray, David, Medieval Marriage Sermons : Mass Communication in a Culture without Print: Mass Communication in a Culture without Print (Oxford, 2001)
D'Avray, David, Medieval Religious Rationalities: A Weberian Analysis(Cambridge, 2010)
The above will give you plenty, plenty of avenues to explore.
One word of advice: 'medieval' wedding vows don't exist. The vows and sacraments developed over time, changing, transforming, evolving in nature, power, and use over hundreds of years. For your study to be effective, you can't generalize to 'something something medieval marriage'. Marriage in 9th c, 12th c and 15th century really only have the word 'marriage' in common. For example, the Church 'owning' the sacrament of marriage was a development in the high middle ages when it began to be enforced, and it actually resulted in a lot of conflict at many levels, not just monarchs and high nobility. It was part of the steady march of the high medieval Church into all aspects of daily social life.