Religion

Topics represented

Religion (351) · Buddhist traditions (97) · Hindu traditions (62) · Chinese traditions (61) · Judaism (43) · Islam (42) · Christianity (34) · Empire and state (20) · Daoist traditions (19) · Catholic Christianity (17) · Sunni (16) · Roman Empire (14)

Records and sources

Ordered by start date. Long lives and processes may begin before the period you want to study.

1. 1227

   Dogen and Soto Zen

   Dogen returned from China to Japan in 1227 after receiving Rujing’s approval. His teaching and subsequent monastic communities were foundational for the Soto tradition.

2. 1236–1271

   Medieval patronage of Sri Pada

   Sri Lanka’s nomination submitted to UNESCO attributes pilgrimages, village grants, and a canopy for the footprint to Parakramabahu II during his reign. This documents medieval patronage of the shrine, not the origin date of all Asian footprint cults.

3. 1236–1251

   Tripitaka Koreana

   Goryeo’s second woodblock edition preserves a major canonical corpus and monumental editorial technology.

4. c. 1238–c. 1264

   Sun Temple at Konark

   The Surya temple illustrates regional devotion, art, and patronage in Odisha.

5. c. 1238–c. 1317

   Madhva and Dvaita Vedanta

   Madhva founded a dualist Vedanta lineage continuing in southern Vaishnava communities.

6. 1250–1517

   Mamluk Sultanate

   Egypt and Syria became a political, economic, artistic, and religious center, with control of Mecca and Medina during part of the period.

7. 1253

   Nichiren and a new Japanese teaching

   In 1253 Nichiren began the teaching from which Nichiren-shu grew. This current coexisted with Tendai, Zen, and Pure Land.

8. 1258

   Mongol sack of Baghdad

   The assault ended the Baghdad Abbasid caliphate and closed a chapter of Islamic political and intellectual history.

9. 1260

   Phagpa, Kublai, and court patronage

   After Kublai took power in 1260, Phagpa received preceptor titles and served as a religious instructor at court; this is a specific teacher-patron relationship, not a complete description of all Tibetan or Mongol communities.

10. 1271–1368

    Tibetan patronage under Yuan

    The Mongol court linked political authority with patronage of Tibetan teachers, including Phagpa. This court relationship alone does not describe the practices of all communities under the Yuan.

11. 1271–1368

    Daoist orders and Yuan plurality

    Mongol rulers supported different Daoist orders according to their political needs. Daoist, Buddhist and Confucian communities exchanged ideas and visual forms within changing patterns of patronage and competition.

12. c. 1299–c. 1922

    Formation and duration of the Ottoman Empire

    A far-reaching empire whose religious history includes Sunni institutions and communities of many faiths; its borders repeatedly changed.

13. 1315

    Yuan examinations and Zhu Xi’s commentaries

    Yuan authorities adopted Confucian texts interpreted through Zhu Xi’s commentaries as the basis of national examinations. The official curriculum did not eliminate social disagreement or unequal access.

14. 1336–1646

    Vijayanagara and pilgrimage centres

    Vijayanagara patronized diverse temples and ritual centers; avoid a Hindu-bloc-versus-Islam narrative.

15. 1378–1417

    Western Schism

    For nearly four decades, rival papal obediences coexisted in Rome and Avignon, later Pisa. The Council of Constance helped end this fracture; it should not be confused with the East–West schism.

16. 1392

    Joseon transition

    The Joseon state reorders patronage toward Neo-Confucianism; Buddhism persists in monastic and popular forms.

17. c. 1400

    Kabir and shared bhakti idioms

    Poetry attributed to Kabir crosses devotional and social boundaries and belongs exclusively to no one tradition.

18. c. 1400–c. 1600

    Timbuktu as a center of Islamic learning

    Sankore and other madrasas made the city an intellectual and spiritual center for the diffusion of Islam in Africa.

19. 1403–1424

    Buddhist art under Yongle

    Arhat paintings, sculptures, and sutra containers document Buddhist production during Yongle’s reign. The ensemble draws on Chinese, Tibetan, and Nepalese repertoires.

20. 1403–1424

    Ming Wudang building campaign

    The Yongle emperor, Zhu Di, sponsored a major building campaign at Wudang during his reign. Palaces, monasteries, convents, and temples linked Ming power to Daoist sacred geography.

21. 1409

    Ganden and Gelug formation

    Tsongkhapa’s 1409 foundation of Ganden lays the basis for what would later be called the Gelug order; this entry does not stand for all Tibetan Buddhisms.

22. 1414–1418

    Council of Constance and conciliar authority

    The Council of Constance sought to end the Western Schism and issued Haec Sancta and Frequens, central texts for conciliarist formulations. The authority and reception of Haec Sancta remained contested; this records an ecclesial constitutional dispute, not an uncontested rule for the whole Church.

23. 1416

    Wudang Golden Hall

    The Golden Hall on Tianzhu Peak was built in 1416 during the Ming Yongle reign. Its cast and gilded bronze architecture illustrates the resources and craftsmanship devoted to the Daoist sacred complex at Wudang.

24. 1419

    Wudang Forbidden City

    The stone-walled city within the Wudang complex made the scale of Ming patronage visible in a Daoist sacred landscape.

25. 1445

    Ming Daoist Canon

    The Ming compilation of the Daoist canon established a large textual collection alongside continuing oral, local and noncanonical traditions.

26. 1453

    Ottoman conquest of Constantinople

    The city became an Ottoman imperial capital; its urban and religious transformation is narrated alongside effects on existing Christian and Jewish communities.

27. 1478

    Spanish Inquisition as a crown-controlled tribunal

    Sixtus IV’s bull Exigit Sinceras Devotionis Affectus established the Spanish Inquisition in Castile in 1478. Unlike other inquisitions run by mendicant orders at papal behest, it operated under crown control; its scope, tribunals, and practices changed over time and should not be reduced to one image.

28. c. 1479–c. 1531

    Vallabha and Pushtimarg

    Pushtimarg organized Krishna devotion with western Indian centers and later diasporas.

29. 1486–1533

    Chaitanya and Gaudiya Vaishnavism

    Chaitanya became central to Krishna bhakti in Bengal and Odisha; later expansion created transregional networks.

30. 1491

    Conversion of the Kongo court

    King Nzinga a Nkuwu was baptized after diplomatic contact with Portugal, beginning a Central African history of local appropriation and negotiation of Catholicism. It was not a uniform or passive conversion of all Kongo people.