Vows: the modern genius of an ancient rite

Part I: Foundations. My troth?

Promises

The evolution of the marriage vows

How Thomas Cranmer brought love to marriage

Part II: Six wedding vows. A brief biography of love

A mutual admiration society

On our own: love and law

No matter what

Fidelity and its discontents

Love against death

Part III: The social life of love. Love and monogamy: The world they make

Mores and manners

Happy ending

Appendixes. Welcome and prefatory remarks, Sarum Missal, Ordo Sponsalia ad Facienda (1506)

Welcome and prefatory remarks, Book of common prayer, consents and vows compared

To have and to hold: The poetics of binomials in the wedding vows

Credits

Acknowledgments

A note on sources.