4 sources

1. Haldon, John F. The Social History of Byzantium. Chichester, U.K.: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009. Print. 
 This book is really hard to skim through because it is describing the nuances of a culture that is not alive         today. naturally, looking at Byzantine art will make more sense if I understand social nuances. I think I will end up just reading the whole thing though because it is really interesting. 
2. Evans, Helen C., and William D. Wixom. The Glory of Byzantium: Art and Culture of the Middle Byzantine Era, A.D. 843-1261. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1997. Print.
This would be a really good coffee table book. It is huge and really comprehensive of the range of Byzantine artifacts we have today.
3. Evans, Helen C., and William D. Wixom. The Glory of Byzantium: Art and Culture of the Middle Byzantine Era, A.D. 843-1261. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1997. Print.
This does a more specific analysis of theformal aesthetics of Byzantine art, and even information on how it was done. I don't know that any of this information will show up in the background and literature section of my proposal, but it is an obvious read for what I am doing. 
4. Madden, Thomas F. Crusades: the Illustrated History. Ann Arbor, MI: Univ. of Michigan, 2004. Print.
This is an illustrated history of the Crusades. I actually don't know much about the Crusades other than they take place during the age of Byzantium,  are bad, and involve Christians being barbaric.