A guide to the history behind the world of Harry Potter--just in time for the last Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part II) Harry Potter lives in a world that is both magical and historical. Hogwarts pupils ride an old-fashioned steam train to school, notes are taken on parchment with quill pens, and Muggle legends come to life in the form of werewolves, witches, and magical spells. This book is the first to explore the real history in which Harry's world is rooted. Did you know that bezoars and mandrakes were fashionable luxury items for centuries? Find out how Europeans first developed the potions, spells, and charms taught at Hogwarts, from Avada Kedavra to love charms. Learn how the European prosecution of witches led to the Statute of Secrecy, meet the real Nicholas Flamel, see how the Malfoys stack up against Muggle English aristocrats, and compare the history of the wizarding world to real-life history. Gives you the historical backdrop to Harry Potter's world - Covers topics ranging from how real British boarding schools compare to Hogwarts to how parchment, quills, and scrolls used in the wizarding world were made - Includes a timeline comparing the history of the wizarding world to Muggle ""real"" history Filled with fascinating facts and background, Harry Potter and History is an essential companion for every Harry Potter fan. Were Voldemort and the Death Eaters similar to the Nazis? How did Muggles use mandrakes, bezoars, cauldrons, and love potions? Would a woman have more rights as a witch or a Muggle? How do the Malfoys compare to Muggle English aristocrats? Who was the real Nicolas Flamel? You'll find the answers and more inside this book, the first to explore the real history behind the world of Harry Potter. From Dementors to the Dark Mark, from Hogwarts to house-elves, Harry Potter and History takes a revealing look at the historical backdrop of J. K. Rowling's novels, with a timeline comparing the key events of the wizarding world to actual human history. You'll learn how real British boarding schools compare to Hogwarts, where the Wizengamot and the Ministry of Magic came from, how the magical books and quills used by Harry and his friends were made, and the history of werewolves before Professor Lupin and Fenrir Greyback. You'll also discover the historical origins of the spells, charms, and lessons Hogwarts students learn, from Avada Kedavra to Levicorpus. This book takes every Harry Potter fan even deeper within the series, describing the rich historical background of the characters and their wizarding world. Nancy R. Reagin is a professor of history and women's and gender studies at Pace University, who has published several books in modern European history. She's also an active fan who has worked on fan archives and websites, and she has helped build fan organizations. She is appalled by Professor Binns's teaching methods and would enjoy using pensieves, Veritaserum, and Time-Turners in her own research. Harry Potter and History By Nancy Reagin John Wiley & Sons Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd All right reserved. ISBN: 978-0-470-57472-0 Chapter One Magic for Daily Use and Profit Mandrakes, Charms, Bezoars, and Love Potions in the Muggle and Wizarding Worlds Birgit Wiedl When someone harms people or brings them trouble by magic, one should punish them with death, and one should use the punishment of death by fire. When, however, someone uses magic and yet does no one any harm with it, he should be punished otherwise, according to the custom of the case. — Constitutio Criminalis Carolina , 1532 "I'm a what ?" gasped Harry. — Sorcerer's Stone , 51 When eleven-year-old Harry Potter learns from Rubeus Hagrid about his magical abilities, he is completely stunned and incredulous, despite the signs of magic he had already shown earlier in his life before anyone had taught him how to perform magic. The question of whether magical abilities are inherited through the wizarding family or are a spontaneous occurrence in an otherwise Muggle family notwithstanding, a person in the wizarding world either has magical abilities or doesn't; no school could ever teach magical skills to a Muggle (or a Squib) and succeed. This concept is the exact opposite of what the Muggle world of the Middle Ages and Early Modern Times believed magic to be: those cultures thought that magic was something that could be acquired by studying or passed down in oral tradition. Unlike the wizards of Harry's world, Muggles in medieval and Early Modern Europe thus believed that anyone who chose to be a sorcerer, a magician, a warlock, or a witch could become so, provided that he or she got the right education and training. Examining the practice of magic in earlier times poses, first and foremost, the problem of how we define magic : while to Severus Snape, Lucius Malfoy, Albus Dumbledore, and their lot, it is quite self-explanatory as to what magic