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A Condensed History of Magical Europe and the Middle East, Concentrating Mainly on the Magical Community of Great Britain
The origins of magic have long been lost to time. The most that is known is that magic-users seemed to have appeared publicly in the middle of the 6th century BC. Many myths which feature heroes (such as Bellerophon and the Chimera) are assumed to be true tales of magicians, but there are no proofs of this. These magic-users apparently were accepted as holy men, priests, heroes or shamans. It appears the end of them came with the rise of Christianity. The new religion, apparently founded by wizards, feared other wizards would recognize their tricks, and so embraced the idea of witch and wizard killing. This seems to be the time where wizards went into hiding.
With the rise of the Greek and later the Roman Empire, the wizards of the Mediterranean spread far across Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. This continued from around 200 BC until 400 AC. With the death of Theodosius I, the Roman Empire split up, and the spread of wizards grew less.
The 5th century was a time of chaos, and so, not many records of the time remain. However, it is assumed by most historians that the wizards took this time to build up their strength, in preparation for what would happen in the 6th century.
The 6th century, evidently, was the rise of wizards. Wizards either supported a likely muggle candidate to the throne, and became his chief advisor, or took the throne themselves. This led to the rise of many small kingdoms in Europe. Examples of these wizard backed kings include the Merovingian Dynasty, Beowulf, Hrodgar, and
Muhammad. Most famous of all, King Arthur, whose personal wizard, Merlin, is considered the founder of the united magical community in Britain. After Merlin's unexpected death, no leader could be agreed upon, leading to the formation of The Gemott (meet), a ruling council of the 12 strongest families, who later became known as the Most Ancient and Noble Houses: Gryffindor, Clag, Gamp, Bragge, Potter, Abbot, Bones, Black, Longbottom, Boot, Scamander, and Corner.
By the 7th century, the wizarding-led/backed kingdoms had started to decline, and by the end of the 8th century, they were almost totally gone. By this time, the wizards had gone from ruling back to hiding. Some became nobles, using their magic in hidden ways to help them, and others remained common. However, at no point were wizards serfs.
There is not much to say of the 9th and 10th centuries – these were the darkest of the Dark Ages, and though the Wizards suffered less, no great progress was made. The only noteworthy occurrence was the uniting of England into one kingdom, thus widening the gap between the Scottish wizards and the English, a gap which would not be closed until the 13th century.
The Magical Community of England: 11th Century
In 1066, William, Duke of Normandy, invaded England. With him came several Norman wizards, ranging from noblemen to clerks. The English wizards, some of whom were noble, supported Harold Godwinson. Indeed, some of the families fought at the Battle of Hastings. While most escaped alive, having been protected by magic, the current Lord Gryffindor died on the field of battle from an arrow to the eye after the shield-wall was opened. Wanting to participate in the charge, he apparently brought his (magical) shield down, and fell with his countrymen in William's trap.
After the coronation of William, some hostilities between the English wizards and Norman wizards commenced. After some five years of fighting, with casualties on both sides, the leaders of each group agreed to meet. They met at Bristol, which was neutral ground, in front of muggles, to ensure no side used magic. At the meeting, peace was agreed to, and the Gemott was joined by eight new members from the Norman wizards, becoming the Wizard's Council. The members, henceforth, would be: The 12, Most Ancient and Noble Houses: Gryffindor, Clagg, Gamp, Bragge, Potter, Abbot, Bones, Black, Longbottom, Boot, Scamander, Corner.
And The 8, Most Noble Families: Slytherin, Muldoon, Prince, Rosier, Malfoy, Nott, Selwyn, Lestrange.
Peace returned to the land, and the wizards remained unaffected by the fighting between William's heirs. During Henry I's reign, peace was widespread. However, there was a growing resentment building up from the Norman families, especially the noble ones. The English considered themselves superior, being native to the land. And the fact that the Normans were only 40 percent of the Wizard's Council and thus could be effectively blocked by the English families only increased these feelings.
With the death of Henry I, The Anarchy began, 19 years of civil war and general lawlessness. The Norman noble families found this the opportune time to attack.
Under the guise of the civil war, another war, this one magical, was fought between the Houses. The Wizarding population had a sharp drop in population. After 19 years, with the end of the Anarchy and the rise of Henry II to the throne, peace returned, and the English Wizards made peace with Norman Wizards. Part of this was expressed in the rash of marriages between the Normans and English, which happened for two reasons: making peace, and the lack of eligible wizards and witches after the fierce culling of the war. However, some English Wizards still favored feelings of superiority, which would occasionally be expressed in the future.
The Founding: 12th Century – 13th Century
The peace achieved Henry II was prolonged in the wizarding community, and would remain constant until the English Civil War of the 17th Century. However, a great event happened towards the end of the 12th century. This was, of course, the meeting of the four great wizards of Britain at the time: Godric Gryffindor, Salazar Slytherin, Rowena Ravenclaw and Helga Hufflepuff. They each came from highly different backgrounds, with highly different personalities, highly different idols, and initially, highly different goals.
In 1174, William I of Scotland was captured in a raid by the English, accepted the feudal lordship of the English crown and did ceremonial allegiance at York. As a consequence, several Scottish nobles were sent to the English Court. Among them was Lady Rowena Ravenclaw, the heir to the Clan of Ravenclaw, who owned land on the Border. In court, she met Queen Eleanor of England, and became one of her ladies-in-waiting. This was not a position that gave her much influence at the time; Eleanor was essentially a prisoner of her husband after rebelling against his rule. But Rowena was not interested in politics. She wished to acquire knowledge, and was intrigued by the idea of such a powerful woman, at the time when women had barely any rights. And so, for many years she served Queen Eleanor, learning how to manipulate and gain power in the world of men, and acquiring knowledge.
Godric Gryffindor was the lord of Gryffindor. He was a brash, courageous man, who enjoyed battle and drink. He was a baron, owning land in the Welsh Marches. He became a personal friend of Richard the Lionheart, joining him on the Crusade, and being his personal standard-bearer. He was greatly impressed by Richard's bravery and courage, and tried to emulate him in these traits. After the death of Richard, he kept to his estates, fighting the Welsh. However, he returned to Court after some time.
Salazar Slytherin was a Norman baron. He was often found in the French Court, and learned from Phillip Auguste, the King of France. When John, Earl of Gloucester, came to the French Court, Salazar immediately started studying him. He greatly admired his ambition, cunning, resourcefulness, determination, a certain disregard for the rules, and became a loyal follower. When John became king, he gave him lands in Lincolnshire and on the Border of Scotland. His cunning was famous – before Normandy was conquered by the French, he made a deal with a noble wizard neighbor, wherein each would 'conquer' the others lands if war happened, and care for them until peace returned. Another tale was told that he had once sold the same piece of land to three separate owners.
Helga Hufflepuff was a Welsh witch and midwife. She was actually a commoner, but her skill as a midwife was so famed, she was often found at court, working for the noble ladies. She was an accomplished cook as well. She believed in hard work, as shown by her choice of career – at the time, midwives would have to stay awake for as long as 18 hours until the baby was born. Perhaps because of her status, she did not harbor any ideas of class distinction.
They all met at the court of King John I in around 1200. They all realized they were powerful wizards and witches, and decided to found a school for all. To do this, they went to Scotland – it was less populated, and both Salazar and Rowena owned land there. They started building the school, and named it Hogwarts. By the time it was built, it was around 1204. At this time, Helga returned to Gwynedd, her homeland – Llewellyn, Prince of Gwynedd had married a bastard daughter of King John, Joan. Helga was loyal to her homeland, and felt the obligation to make sure Joan was a good woman, and would not ruin Gwynedd. She stayed there for around 11 years, and was quite impressed by Joan, growing to admire her for her loyalty to both her father and husband, and her attempts to secure peace between them. She attended at least two of Joan's births – Elen in 1207 and Dafydd in 1215. After Dafydd's birth, and seeing that peace had come, at least for a short time, she returned to Hogwarts, having added more standards to her beliefs: loyalty, honesty, acceptance and peace. But instead of coming back to a school filled with students, she returned to chaos.
Helga had always been the calm, steadying influence among the Founders. With her gone, many tensions erupted. It began with the argument between Salazar and Godric, regarding who to let in the school. Godric wished to open the school to all. Salazar believed only nobles could have the proper mind, and muggleborns would not have enough knowledge to succeed, besides the danger of exposing Wizarding society to Muggles. Rowena was of the opinion that only those who wished to learn should be allowed to, claiming that without drive, they would learn nothing. It became even worse soon after – Salazar asked Godric for his sister's hand in marriage, seeing this as an important alliance, and a way to integrate the Norman wizards with the English. Godric refused because of the superiority he felt towards the 'French interlopers'. Again, Rowena did not help, only making the matter worse. For on one hand, she was Salazar's lover, and so supported him. Yet on the other hand, being Salazar's lover, she did not wish him to marry, and so supported Godric. When Godric gave his sister to the current Lord Potter, Salazar was incensed. He immediately left for his lands, and commissioned the Chamber of Secrets. As the castle was not yet completed, this could be done. Rowena was no less annoyed, angry at the idea of women being traded as chattel.
This was what Helga found when she returned. She managed to broker a compromise, one which she herself was against. She suggested dividing Hogwarts into four houses, one for each Founder. Each House would have the traits of its' Founder. In an ironic twist, Helga decided that the point of Hufflepuff would be to promote unity among the Houses. The Founders agreed, and so Hogwarts was founded.
Helga left again for a year in 1230, after hearing of Joan's infidelity, in order to try and make peace. When Llewellyn returned Joan to her position, she came back. Helga remained unwed, though she had some lovers and a few bastards (who nevertheless had full rights under Welsh Laws). Godric married, and had children, though his line eventually died out. Rowena had lovers and bastards (including two with Salazar), and later married, though her line died out as well. Salazar eventually married as well, though his family became extinct in the male line. It is interesting to note that while none of the Founders left legitimate heirs, they all left bastards, and that by Welsh law, Helga's bastards could be her heirs.
Later Developments
Not much else happened in Wizarding Britain after the Founding. The Scots had some representatives on the Council, but only in the reign of King James I, with the uniting of England and Scotland would they truly join, adding to the Council The 6 Ancient and Noble Clans: Ravenclaw, Cornfoot, Macmillan, Macdougal, and Flint.
The last truly important development happened in the Civil War. The common wizards of England had grown angry at the fact that only the nobles decided for them, and so, when the Civil War erupted, they joined in, killing many noble wizards. By the end of the war, only 17 Houses remained. Those extinct were: Gryffindor, Clagg, Gamp, Bragge, Slytherin, Muldoon, Ravenclaw, and Cornfoot. At the end, the Council was expanded to about 50 members, and renamed the Wizegamot. The Houses would keep their ancestral seats forever, unless the House was deemed left without suitable heirs. Following the Civil War, many Houses changed their inheritance laws, allowing women to inherit as long as they kept their maiden name so that the House would not die out and lose its' power. The other members would be of the common people, nominated by them and chosen by the Minister. To appease the nobles, they were given the power to veto any decision as long as a majority of them were against it.
Later, in the first rise of Voldemort, two more houses were deemed left without suitable heirs: Rosier and Prince, bringing the number of Noble Houses to 15. They are still a powerful force, and it is rare for them to marry outside of their families.
Note: It is possible that those families which have been left without heirs still exist elsewhere, and have disappeared because they fear for their safety. If so, it is assumed that they live in other parts of Europe, and send their members to learn at Durmstrang.