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[BLANK-1] was one of the many people in China during the Han Dynasty who felt the spiritual call of Buddhism and joined a monastery. He abandoned his wife in order to live a monastic existence among his Buddhist order; his wife followed suit and entered a religious order as a Buddhist nun.

The concept of Yin and Yang developed in China ca. 900 B.C.E. and was first detailed in a divination manual called [BLANK-1]. This text helped cement a longstanding misogyny in China, as the concept of Yin, which is dark, receptive, negative, and weak was a feminine construct, while the concept of Yang, which is bright, assertive, creative, positive, and strong, was a masculine construct.

[BLANK-1] was founded after the defeat of the Philistines ca. 1025 B.C.E. Despite being one of the weaker Mesopotamian societies in terms of political, economic, and military power, it was nonetheless extremely important due to the foundation of Judaism – the first truly monotheistic religion. After the death of three powerful rulers (Saul, David, and Solomon), this kingdom was divided in half, with Israel in the North and Judah in the South. Israel was quickly defeated by the Assyrians around 722 B.C.E., but Judah persisted until a Babylonian invasion during the sixth century, B.C.E. Although the political institution never recovered, the Jewish faith persisted and informed other Abrahamic religions later on, including Christianity and Islam.

[BLANK-1] is defined as a politically organized territory or state headed by (a usually hereditary) monarch. This political organization is one of the first to develop in early human civilization.

In the Muslim world, assimilated Christians who spoke Arabic, adopted Arabic dress (including the veil for women), appreciated Arabic poetry and music, interacted with Muslims socially, and held haram food taboos were called [BLANK-1]. These Christians did not attach much importance to the religious differences between Christianity and Islam. Religious leaders and scholars of the time disagreed. On both sides, the Christian and the Muslim, religious leaders looked unkindly on these assimilated Christians.

Around the 2nd-4th centuries, the Christian Church formalized its leadership structures and centralized church authority. It borrowed Emperor Diocletian’s plan for geographical administrative divisions called dioceses, and assigned a leader to each of these dioceses called [BLANK-1]. These church officials were responsible for organizing preaching, overseeing the community’s goods, maintaining orthodoxy, and delegating responsibilities for preaching and teaching. The center of their authority was a huge church structure called a cathedral. Most of these church officials lived lives similar to the Church Father St. Ambrose of Milan and came to their positions in a similar manner. Ambrose was a rich and powerful Roman aristocrat who held high office in the state, converted to Christianity, and subsequently was named to this high church office. He was educated in classical law and rhetoric and became a notably eloquent preacher.

During the Kamakura Shogunate, Buddhism was spread to ordinary Japanese people by energetic preachers. One new sect of Buddhism was [BLANK-1] which was named after a fiery and intolerant preacher who lived from 1222-1282 and who claimed that in order to be saved, people had only to sincerely evoke the Lotus Sutra

Conflicts and complications between France and England existed since the Norman Invasion of England by the (French) Norman, William the Conqueror in 1066, and was exacerbated in the following decades and centuries. However, this muddled situation of political legitimacy for France and England reached its height in 1337, when the English King, [BLANK-1], claimed the right to inherit the French throne because he was the grandson of the French King. This began the Hundred Years’ War, which would eventually be won by the French after 116 years of intermittent combat.

[BLANK-1] is the longest-tenured non-governmental institution in world history. It is separate from other Christian institutions due to its commitment to Petrine Doctrine (the idea that Peter – the first pope – was given a privileged position in church hierarchy) and its insistence that the pope is the ultimate and infallible church authority. By the fifth century, popes of this Christian faith began to exercise a great deal of secular authority. They made treaties with political leaders and groups, charged taxes, enforced laws, and organized armies.

Beginning around 100, accelerating around 340, and slowing down by ca. 500, a large and diverse group of European tribesmen called [BLANK-1] migrated across Europe, generally moving West and North. This group included large factions known as Germans (including the Franks, Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Vandals, Burgundians, Anglo-Saxons, etc). and the Celts (whom the Romans called Gauls). These groups were under population pressures, first from Roman expansion and later from the invasion of the Huns; they were also searching for valuable land, goods, and food supplies due to the slight global cooling experienced in late antiquity. They received their name because they did not speak Greek or Latin, and the Greeks and Romans perceived them to be speaking nonsense syllables (akin to blah-blah or yada yada). These groups would set up patriarchal and hereditary kingdoms in some lands (France, England, Germany, North Africa, etc.) and would blend their culture with that of the Romans. For instance, many of these groups would convert to Christianity in large numbers. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the cities established by Rome declined and these groups were unable to maintain much of the technology and knowledge that had been common in Roman times (for instance, they did not know how to make glass or roof tiles) and they failed to maintain Roman roads and aqueducts. Most of the kingdoms these groups established were short lived; the obvious exception to this rule was the Frankish Kingdom, which reached its height with the rule of Charlemagne.