Harry Potter : A History of Magic

The Formation Of The Ministry Of Magic

  Before the creation of any official wizarding
governing body in Britain, witches and wizards lived among Muggles in plain
sight. While they certainly did not publicize their existence, Muggles knew of
them and, to a certain extent, tolerated them. When it became apparent in the
turn of the first millennium that Muggles were incapable of interfering in
wizarding affairs, a brief (if not reluctant) understanding arose between
wizards and Muggles. However, this was not enough to keep wizards from
interfering in Muggle affairs. Early Muggle sporting events were rigged for the
benefit of the occasional gambler, and the results of these events were
tampered with for reasons ranging from petty revenge to mere amusement. It was
eventually a game of Cuaditch (pre-Quidditch) in which the Bludgers escaped the
confines of the pitch and caused 29 Muggle casualties that spurred the creation
of the Wizards' Council in the following year, 1269.

The Wizards' Council's first acts were to establish
rules and regulations in regards to wizard sporting events. This goal was
theoretically meant to detract from wizard involvement in Muggle sports and to
prevent further harm on the Muggle population. The Wizards' Council's first
Chief Warlock was Barberus Bragge, best known for his release of a Golden
Snidget onto the field of a Cuaditch match and offering 150 galleons for its
capture. Bragge was primarily ruled by his fondness for hunting, his tendency
to look down on Muggles as inferior beings, and a love for fruit ganache. Thus
began the rocky road of British wizarding politics.

For the majority of his
four year term as Chief Warlock, Bragge's advisor Eadlac Earl worked behind the
scenes to establish the first British Wizard Census, an official compilation of
English spells and enchantments that was based off of the Standard Book of
Spells written in the year 132 AD, and The Wizarding Entities' Decree of
Unlawful Magic in 1273, or WEDUM. WEDUM was the first British document to
outline a system of punishments and fines for using magic that would harm,
endanger, or kill other humans. The decree was later revised to include goblins
in 1285 (though this was later revoked during the goblin rebellions), merpeople
in 1294, and other human-like creatures (including vampires and hags) in 1301.
Efforts were made to include centaurs and leprechauns, though none were
successful, namely because centaurs thought themselves too intelligent for
wizards, and leprechauns wouldn't stop laughing long enough to sign anything.
Eadlac Earl went on to become Chief Warlock for twenty years (from 1273 to
1293) after Bragge's accidental death, in which he was pecked to death by a
flock of Golden Snidgets when his wand snapped on a hunting excursion.

Burdock Muldoon, Chief
Warlock from 1388 to 1402 was the first to attempt to establish an official
electoral process, and the majority of his two year term was spent establishing
which magical creatures would be responsible for governing the beings of the
wizarding world. This first required that the Wizards' Council define 'being.'
Muldoon initially defined it as anything or anyone who walked on two legs. On
14 September 1391, Muldoon extended an invitation to all magical 'beings' to
gather in Stockport, a village just to the south east of Manchester. The
goblins–with whom there was already increased hostility–took advantage of this
definition and took it upon themselves to invite every imaginable two-legged
creature, from trolls to pixies to diricrawls and the only Occamy at the time
residing in Great Britain. The entire village was closed off for three weeks
and its residents evacuated until such a time that the Occamy could be
relocated back to its nest. Muldoon's successor, Elfrida Clagg attempted
several times to convene another meeting of magical beings, this time altering
the definition of 'being' to include anyone or anything which could speak in
human languages. As an added precaution the meeting was held in a magically
closed off area in northern Britain, in Cove Bay, Aberdeen on 2 July 1404.
However, with the revised definition, creatures such as Jarveys attended, causing
equal mayhem.