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Overview:
The Wizards Council was the name that the Wizarding Government in Britain chose
for it's first conclusive name. Throughout history, documents can be found in
regards to treaties, but with no definable name attached to it. The first
records we have of the Wizarding Counil begin in the year 990, when the
Wizarding World first began to withdraw and hide from the Muggle World.
It was at this time that the Wizarding Council in Britain agreed to help the
initial funding of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. In accordance
with the terms of negotiations and agreements, the Wizarding Council was not
allowed to interefere with school policy, except in extreme emergencies or
threats to the students in attendance. (As we learn later, there is a loophole
in this law that has been exploited numerous times).
The Wizarding Council was a governmental body very similar to our current
Ministry of Magic (to be discussed in lesson two). The key difference was that
the Chief of the Council had to ability to pass some laws without a vote from
the different department heads. It was the Wizards Council's job to not only
begin hiding the existence of the wizarding world from muggles, but to maintain
the illusion as well as keep the peace within Britain.
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Important People in the Wizards Council:
Barberus Bragge 1262 - 1300
Burdock Muldoon - 1448 - 1450
Elfrida Clagg - 1450 - 1500
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While only three people are listed, there were approximately 12 Chiefs of the
Wizards Council between the years of 990 and 1600. Everyone must remember that
the life span of a wizard is vastly different than that of a muggle, which is
why this is possible. Also, almost always a wizard or witch appointed to this
position remained in the position unless voted out by the other council
members, retirement, or death. The three listed above however, have not only
the clearest history described about their tenure in the council, but also
changed the most laws of the wizarding world, or made horrible blunders.
Barberus Bragge introduced the popular sport of Snidget hunting to the game of
quidditch in 1262. It was at this time that he changed the face of quidditch
forever. Before his interference, no snidget (nor snitch) was used to end the
game. He offered 150 galleons to whichever seeker caught the Golden Snidget.
Unfortunately, it was impossible to catch the small, round, bird without
killing it due to its fragility.
Many people were displeased with Bragge's actions (most notably Modesty Rabnott
- who was fined 10 galleons and bankrupted) in regards to the introduction of
the Golden Snidget, but the excitement it brought to the sport of Quidditch
cannot be forgotten. It added an extra element of excitement to the game,
making it what it is today. However, it wasn't until two hundred years later
that the use of the Golden Snidget in quidditch was banned. Well after Bragge
had died.
During the time of Bragge's service in the Council, it was relatively peaceful.
In hindsight, this is a good thing, considering Bragge spent most of his time
in office setting up quidditch games, attending them, or out for a spot of
Snidget Hunting. During his reign, no new laws regarding the government were
passed. He stepped down as Chief of the Wizards Council in the year 1300.
Burdock Muldoon was the bumbling idiot of the Wizard's Council, his tenure
lasting merely two years, which to date is the shortest reign in office. This
is due in most part to the definition of "beings" that he created. Muldoon
stated that, "Any creature who walked upon two legs qualified as a being, and
was therefore entitled to share in governing and have legal rights." This
declaration was certainly not restrictive nor a clear enough definition of a
being. For instance, pixies, fairies, hags, yeti's and trolls, are all walk on
two legs and are bipedal, but have extremely limited, or no mental capacity to
make decisions for the whole of the wizarding world. In addition, there are
also beings such as the hags, banshees and vampires, while being bipedal, only
wish to hunt or harm wizards.
The first meeting of all the magical creatures termed as beings was an utter
disaster. Many of the magical birds were given status as beings, even though
they had no understanding of English, nor the means to communicate with the
wizards. As wizards attempted to get through all the paperwork, fairies and
pixies interefered, often snatching the paper from the wizards. The trolls
broke out into fights and began to smash apart the chamber that was being used.
At that point Muldoon stood up to open the meeting, slipped on a pile of
Porlock dung and ran cursing from the hall. [adapted from FB, pg xi]
This definition that Muldoon created, threw the wizarding government into
chaos. Not only was the government having to deal with the pressure from its
own people that the definition produced, but it almost succeeded in creating a
war between the wizards and magical creatures (most notably the centaurs, who
were deeply insulted by the definition). No new definition was set, as Muldoon
forswore any further attempts to intergrate non-wizard members of the magical
community into the Council. With the amount of tension that was created,
Muldoon was voted out of office, with Elfrida Clagg chosen as his successor.
Elfrida Clagg attempted to redefine beings once she was placed in office.
"Beings were those who could speak the human tongue and could make themselves
understood to Council members." With this redefinition, another meeting was
held. However, there were still some problems with this definition, namely the
centaurs refusing to attend the meeting since merepeople were excluded.
However, it did create a workable environment. This defintion held until 1811,
when the current and most accepted definition was decreed by Grogan Stump.
Clagg was not only known for coming close to a workable definition of beings,
but also for changing the way the game of quidditch was played. Once Bowman
Wright of Godric's Hollow invented the golden snitch, Clagg decreed the Golden
Snidget an endangered species and put an end to its use in quidditch games, as
well as banning Snidget Hunting. She also formed the Modesty Rabnott Snidget
Reservation in Somerset, named after the witch who defied Bragge many years
previously.
Clagg was also responsible for starting the Wizarding Examinations Authority
back in 1489, which is still in use today. This practice is to test witches and
wizards before they leave school for placement into the ministry (council
during that time). Placement into the ministry usually requires a set standard
number of OWLs or NEWTs, dependent upon where the candidate wants to be placed.
Some jobs outside the ministry also require this. If you are from a muggle
background, think of it as getting your graduation from highschool, or G.E.D.
Very little happened between the 1500's and 1600's, when the Wizarding Council
was dissolved, and the Ministry of Magic took its place.
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Important Events during the Wizarding Council (990-1600):
Opening of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Quidditch, the beginnings of, and redefinitions (1362, 1368, 1419, 1538)
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Three years after the Wizard's Council was first formed, they passed a motion
allowing four reknowned witches and wizards to create Britain's first boarding
school for future witches and wizards. The founders of the school were: Godric
Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw and Salazar Slytherin. The
school was meant to provide equality in education to all witches and wizards.
No longer would one wizard benefit from poor teaching or great teaching, all
would have that option.
At the time of the school's opening, the Wizard's Council did nothing more than
offer a bit of land in Scotland and set the muggle repelling charms that the
school would need in order to keep it a secret. Over the first few years of the
school's opening, other measures were implemented by the Wizard's Council, with
the approval of the founders' of the school. These measures included such
things as: Offering aid when students were in trouble of a threat, imposing
restrictions on which spells could be accepted, and which were banned. No true
intervention between the Ministry and Hogwarts appeared again for quite some
time.
The next "interefernce" from the Wizards Council occurred in 1294 when
permission was granted for Hogwarts to host the first every Triwizard
Tournament against the two other wizarding schools Beauxbatons and Durmstrang.
The Council provided and gave permission for dangerous creatures to be used as
well as placing a few judges on the judging panel that included the heads of
each respective school. The tournament was to be played every five years, but
it did not last long due to the high death toll in regards to the participants.
The Wizard's Council also created the Wizarding Examinations Authority in 1489,
almost 500 years after Hogwarts first opened its doors. This originally
happened because it became obvious over time, that with each different
headmaster and teachers in the school, that different levels of learning were
taking place. With that occurring, the Wizard's Council was receiving wizards
unfit for use in the Council. They created a test and used it to measure and
mark individual student's growth twice in their magical education. This ensured
that the witches and wizards that the Council approached for employment
opportunities could decide what employment they wanted, and spend their last
years in school being cultivated for it.
We've already commented on two important changes to the face of quidditch
earlier in this lesson accomplished by Barberus Bragge and Elfrida Clagg, but
there are other important instances that had the Wizard's Council involved in
quidditch. There might be a small amount of wander to some students out there
as to why such a high importance is placed on quidditch, the answer quite
simply is - It is the sport of Warlocks. It's our sport as witches and wizards,
something that is shared by the many different nations in the world. It is the
one thing that connects us all together, so of course there is a high value on
it.
These following dates held important turning points in quidditch, and the
Wizards Council intereference or lack thereof regarding the game. After years
of reports being given by muggles regarding people flying on broomsticks the
Wizards Council imposed its first law. In 1362 the Wizards Council deemed it
illegal to play quidditch within 50 miles of a muggle town. Barely six years
later in 1368, the ban is reissued, but this time no one is to play quidditch
within 100 miles of a town. During this time there was a large movement to hide
the magical world from the muggles, which resulted in these stricter
enforcements. That decree lasted for a good 50 years until 1419, when the
Wizard's Council issued its famously worded decree that Quidditch should not be
played "anywhere where there is the slightest chance that a Muggle might be
watching or we'll see how well you can play whilst chained to a dungeon wall."
After that decree, spottings by muggles dwindled to almost zero.
Lastly, in the year 1538, the Wizard's Council interfered one last time in the
rules of quidditch, creating a ban on using wands against the opposing team.
This was done before the department for magical games and sports was created.
By doing this, the number and variety of potentially lethal and dangerous fouls
was dramatically decreased. On the whole, while the Wizard's Council did place
some restrictions on the game of quidditch, they did not touch the actual game
itself, leaving it mostly intact unless you count the first few changes that
occured with Bragge and Clagg.
While other changes and events occurred during the time of the Wizard's
Council, not many are noteworthy. Most of the really interesting stuff did not
begin occurring until the Wizard's Council started transitioning into the
Ministry of Magic we have today.
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