Timeline

A timeline of important events in wizarding history. Many thanks to the Harry Potter Wiki for most of this information.

B.C.

  • c. 800-140 B.C.: Herpo the Foul first hatches the Basilisk and devises the ritual to create a Horcrux.
  • c. 800-140 B.C.: First recording of an Animagus — Falco Aesalon.
  • 382 B.C.: The Ancient Roman, Ollivander, starts the family's wand-making business.

1st Century

  • 79: Zaccaria Innocenti casts the Dancing Feet Spell on himself and dances inside Mount Vesuvius. The volcano also erupts in this year, killing 1,500, presumably including Innocenti.

10th Century

  • c. 962: Primitive broomsticks are first used for transport.
  • c. 993: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is founded by Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw and Salazar Slytherin. Peeves is apparently "created" at this time, and becomes the school's poltergeist.

11th Century

  • Year Unknown: Gertie Keddle watches and writes about one of the first primitive games of Quidditch.
  • 1066: The Battle of Hastings takes place. Armand Malfoy, a wizard, arrived in Britain as part of William the Conqueror's invading army. Malfoy is given a prime piece of land in Wiltshire when William the Conqueror is made King, and there he establishes Malfoy Manor, where his descendants have lived for ten consecutive centuries.

14th Century

  • Witch burnings increase due to Muggle fear of magic.
  • Year Unknown: Hunting the Golden Snidget becomes illegal. Bowman Wright invents the Golden Snitch as a replacement for the now endangered Golden Snidget.
  • c. 1327: Birth of Nicolas Flamel.
  • Late 1340s: The Black Death spreads throughout Europe, killing 30-60% of the Muggle population. Nicholas Malfoy is believed to have killed many Muggle tenants during this time, later disguising their deaths as plague victims. If this is true, it has never been conclusively proven, as Malfoy escaped censure by the Wizards' Council.
  • 1362: The Wizards' Council bans all Quidditch matches within fifty miles of a town or village.
  • 1368: The Wizards' Council bans all Quidditch matches within one-hundred miles of a town or village.

15th Century

  • Early Fifteenth Century: Beedle the Bard is born in Yorkshire, England.
  • Year Unknown: Azkaban is built (but would not become a prison for several hundred years).

16th Century

  • 1500: The Leaky Cauldron is built by Daisy Dodderidge.
  • c. 1527: Last recorded sighting of a basilisk in the British Isles.

17th Century

  • 1612: The Goblin Rebellion of 1612 takes place in the vinicity of Hogsmeade, the village serving as the wizard headquarters.
  • 1612: The Appleby Arrows Quidditch team is founded.
  • 1631: The Wizards' Council bans all magical beings other than wizards and witches from carrying a wand.
  • 1637: Birth of Armando Dippet.
  • September 1666: The Great Fire of London razes much of the city. While the common belief among Muggles is that the fire started in a bakery on Pudding Lane, the actual cause may have been a young Welsh Green Dragon kept in the basement of the house next door.
  • 1689: The International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy is first signed. Wizards retreat into hiding and start forming "communities within a community".
  • 1692: The International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy is passed.

18th Century

  • 1707: The British Ministry of Magic is founded, replacing the earlier Wizard's Council. Ulick Gamp is elected the first Minister for Magic.
  • 1709: The Warlock's Convention outlaws dragon breeding.
  • 1717: The Killing, Cruciatus and Imperius Curses are first declared Unforgivable by the Ministry of Magic.
  • 1718 or later: Azkaban is turned into a prison by Minister for Magic Damocles Rowle.
  • 1750: The Ministry of Magic passes the first official set of rules of Quidditch, even though the Department of Magical Games and Sports was only established in the 1810s. The International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy is changed, adding Clause 73 to the code: "Each nation is responsible for keeping the Magical Creatures within their nation secret from Muggles.
  • 1752: A goblin rebellion occurs in Great Britain. Due to mismanaging this rebellion, Minister for Magic Albert Boot resigned. His replacement, Basil Flack, lasted in office only two months, resigning when the goblins allied themselves with the werewolves. Hesphaestus Gore was then elected Minister.
  • 1772: Levina Monkstanley develops and uses the Wand-Lighting Charm for the first time.

19th Century

  • 1865: The Knight Bus is first put into operation.
  • 1865: The Ministry of Magic agrees to leave Gringotts entirely in Goblin control.
  • 1875: The Ministry of Magic passes the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery.
  • 1876: Hogwarts caretaker Rancorous Carpe devises an elaborate trap to capture and contain Peeves, the resident poltergeist. The trap fails and causes Peeves to come into possession of several dangerous weapons, which leads to an evacuation of the school. After three days, an agreement between Peeves and Headmistress Eupraxia Mole is reached, resulting in Peeves gaining new privileges.

20th Century

  • 1912: Archer Evermonde is elected Minister for Magic.
  • Between 1914 and 1918: Minister Evermonde passes emergency legislation preventing wizards from taking part in the Muggle World War, to prevent massive infractions of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy; large numbers of wizards are known to have ignored this, and discreetly helped where they could.
  • 1923: Lorcan McLaird becomes Minister for Magic. An exceptionally taciturn man who preferred to communicate in monosyllables and expressive puffs of smoke that he produced with his wand.
  • 1925: Minister McLaird is forced out of office in 1925 out of sheer irritation. Titania Gambol is elected Minister for Magic.
  • 1927: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, written by Newt Scamander, is first published.
  • Early 1930s: The Pure-Blood Directory is published by an anonymous author (presumed to be Cantankerus Nott).

1937

  • Rumours spread of Gellert Grindelwald's growing popularity.
  • Cassius Malfoy first publicizes his "Unity" agenda, advocating the dismantling of the Statute of Secrecy.
  • September: Tom Marvolo Riddle starts at Hogwarts and is sorted into Slytherin House.

1938

  • May: The Triwizard Tournament ends before it begins when the Magijugend of Durmstrang attempt to capture the entourages from Hogwarts and Beauxbatons. The conflict ends with the death of the Hogwarts Champion Leander Fox, and the revelation that Grindelwald is at Durmstrang. Hogwarts Headmaster Armando Dippet and three Hogwarts students are held hostage.
  • November: Gellert Grindelwald publishes Für das Allgemeinwohl (For the Greater Good).

1939

  • July: The "Burning Death" attacks. Dark potions are used to infect victims in the Mysticked District with an horrific curse that causes them to burn alive from the inside out. The Army of Truth is implicated, but eventually Thomas Carrow is arrested, and confesses to framing the Army of Truth. Due to the attacks, the Wizengamot approves the postpostment of the Ministerial Election until early 1940.
  • September: The British Muggles declare war on Germany.
  • November: The Durmstrang hostages are rescued as part of a plan concocted by Armando Dippet and Durmstrang student Valda Rozenblats.

1940

  • January: The Unity Act passes the Wizengamot. The controversial law will lead to the dismantling of the Statute of Secrecy, and the joining of the wizarding and Muggle worlds.
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