Hey everyone,
Welcome to Harry Potter Theory.
Today, we’re going to be taking a look at muggle/wizard affairs throughout history.
When we crack open our history books, and take a look at famous events and conflicts
between muggles and the wizarding world, you might be surprised at what you find.
Before the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy, which was established in the year
1692, wizards weren’t exactly unknown.
Although, even at that time, many considered the concept of witches and wizards outlandish…
There were plenty of people who had firsthand experience with members of the wizarding world.
In fact, in different corners of the world, at varying times, entire countries were swept
into anti-magic crazes that threatened to destroy almost every magic-using man, woman,
and child in their community.
Today, we’re going to take a look at some of these events, and their long-lasting legacy,
as we discuss the history of muggle and wizard affairs.
If you think of the modern world, then the fact that Muggles and the wizards don’t
intermingle is a foregone conclusion.
After all, the ministry of magic had worked tirelessly, for centuries, in order to keep
their constituents a secret.
But when we look back in time, to the earliest records, we find a very different landscape.
In the official history of the wizarding world, the earliest date documented is 382 B.C.
That’s the year that a Roman ancestor of Garrick Ollivander, the wandmaker from Diagon
Alley in Great Britain, created their first branch in ancient Rome.
There’s more than a 1,000 year gap between that date, and the next listed event in official
wizarding records.
So, if we were to try and guess what happened, and how the wizarding world might have interacted
with muggles of that time, we’ll have to rely on our detective skills.
Sometime around the 10th century, all four founders of Hogwarts were born.
After meeting, they founded the school in a remote region of Scotland, but their union
was short-lived.
Eventually, Salazar Slytherin’s intolerance, and his hatred for Muggles and Mudbloods,
rose to a boiling point.
When the other 3 founders decided they could tolerate no more, Slytehrin took it upon himself
to leave, and continue his study of magic on his own.
But when we look closer at Slytherin’s life, we’ll find that his hatred of the non-magical
people of Britain was more complicated than a simple prejudice, and was a direct reaction
to what was happening around him.
In Muggle records of that time, they almost exclusively wrote about magical creatures,
wizards, and witches as evil beings.
And with the eventual rise of Christianity across Europe, Muggle histories were taken
up by monks and theologians.
Not willing to allow another power structure stand in the way of the growing authority
of the church, these clergies took pagan writings even further… and declared many magical
beings were connected to Satan.
Even before the Salem Witch Trials of the 17th century, the penalty for magic was often
death.
So Salazar’s prejudice, although problematic for enrolling Mudbloods at Hogwarts, wasn’t
without reason.
Through the Dark Ages, and later Middle Ages, witches and wizards continued to straddle
the line between communities.
The laws regarding concealing yourself from Muggles weren’t as iron clad as they would
later become in the 18th century, when the Ministry of Magic was founded.
In this early time, non-magical humans seemed to be painfully aware of the magical world.
Often, Muggle sources described dragons, manticores, and other ferocious beasts that preyed on
their communities.
Even the official histories of the Ministry of Magic cite that a reason for relocating
many magical creatures to wildlife reserves, was….
at least partially…
due to their predation on non-magical people.
While wizards and witches could easily defend themselves with their mastery of spells and
potions, pre-Industrial Muggles rarely had access to weapons that could slay magical
beasts.
As the years passed, and occasional witch hunts rose and fizzled out across the world,
the international wizarding community became more and more connected.
While trying to build their international collective, their leadership couldn’t help
but worry about the increasing number of hunts and executions that targeted witches and wizards.
In the 1300’s, in response to the popularity of burning witches at the stake, the flame
freezing charm was developed.
Prior to this, wizards and witches were just as vulnerable to death by burning as anyone
else.
But if they used this charm, they were invulnerable to fire, and in fact, it made the flames feel
pleasant.
Much later, in 1492, Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington found himself on the wrong end of an ax.
Just a day prior, he had been standing in line behind a noblewoman, LAdy Grieve.
And when he tried to fix the poor woman’s teeth, he gave her massive tusks instead.
It was easy for the local authorities to spot that he was a wizard, so they arrested him,
threw him in jail, and then planned to chop his head off in the morning.
As the students of Hogwarts would learn much later, when the ghost of Nicholas recounted
his tale, it took the Executioner forty-five attempts to cut Nicholas’s noggin off.
But even then, a strand of flesh held it to his neck.
Only fifty years earlier, a French woman, named Lisette de Lapin, was also discovered
using magic, and sent to the executioner’s block.
But unlike Nicholas, Lisette wasn’t stripped of her wand before being tossed into jail.
As she awaited her death, she transformed herself into a white rabbit, and leapt out
of the cell.
As these hunts for magic users continued, the persecution of wizards and witches by
the non-magic community presented other problems.
During this time, Quidditch became the most popular sport amongst wizarding youth.
But the sight of young men flying around in the sky, aboard their broomsticks, often would
create hysteria amongst nearby Muggles.
And this, eventually, would lead to more witch hunts and executions.
In order to combat this, local Quidditch officials declared that no match could be played within
50 meters of a Muggle’s dwelling.
When this proved to be insufficient, it was increased to 100 meters.
But even that didn't stop wandering muggles from spotting the games.
The 100 meter limit was eventually increased to the maximum: Quidditch could not be played
in any area where Muggles could see it.
And the penalty for breaking this rule was quite harsh, even by medieval standards.
Although, for many witches and wizards of this era, they would have chosen no other
time to live.
In the 15th century, a cunning witch named Hannah Cockleford used her ability to cast
charms to sabotage local nobles.
At one point, during a public jousting match between the despicable Earl of Paunchley and
a child, Hannah cast a charm, shielding the boy.
The blunt force of the impact sent the Earl flying, and reduced his mental capacities
to that of a toddler for the rest of his life.
Their ability to intervene in the affairs of muggles must have been gratifying.
Had witches like Hannah lived much later, during the time of the Ministry of Magic,
they would have been far more constrained in their ability to dole out justice.
By the 17th century, the clash between the wizarding world and muggles seemed to be at
all time highs.
In the New World, the Salem Witch trials were in full swing.
For 2 full years, the Puritans who lived in Salem condemned nearly 2 dozen witches of
horrible crimes.
Although many of the people who faced death weren’t actually members of the wizarding
world, a few of them were, in fact, witches.
And this, in addition to the witch hunts back home in Europe, weighed heavily on the minds
of leadership in Britain.
At the same time, some of Mary Lou Barebone’s ancestors paraded around the continent as
members of the Scourers.
These were renegade wizards who would take any job for money: ranging from bounty hunting,
to selling innocent witches to crazy puritans who wanted to kill magic users.
Within the same century, a criminal wizard terrorized muggles in England.
Using a special unlocking charm, a thief named Eldon Elsrickle went on a robbery-spree in
London, stealing more than he could ever need, before ultimately dying at the hands of his
own Nundu.
All of these events eventually drove the wizarding community to sign the International Statute
of Wizarding Secrecy, which declared all magical beings must conceal themselves from muggles.
This was the last, desperate plea by the leaders of the wizarding world to try and protect
themselves, and their children, from persecution at the hands of the non magical community.
After all, they had pleaded with William III and Mary II to enact new laws to protect witches
and wizards, but they refused.
With the passing of the new statute, violence against wizards dropped significantly.
The long list of new rules, which included wearing muggle clothes when out in public
and barring wizards from participating in Muggle sports, dulled the lives of many wizards
and witches.
Many notable families, including the Malfoys, complained that they shouldn’t have to live
like this… hiding from the people they considered to be their inferiors.
But the results didn’t lie.
For the first time in centuries, witch hunts started to decline.
And arrests for use of magic were at all time lows.
The newly formed Ministry of Magic in Britain, and its sister agencies in countries around
the world, made sure that every nation kept their magical communities concealed.
And although there were a handful of breaches, it was nothing that a few forgetfulness charms
couldn’t solve.
From the 18th century, to the modern era, the lives of Muggles and Wizards were successfully
separated…
so much so, that Muggles, by and large, consider wizards, witches, and magical creatures as
nothing more than fairytales.
And that’s it for this video!
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Until next time
Remember
It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live