Wizards' Council

Wizards' Council
Organisation information
Dissolved	1707
Leader(s)	Council Chief
Intentions	Governing body of the magical community of Britain before the founding of the Ministry of Magic
Affiliation	Wizengamot

The Wizards' Council was the longest-serving (though not the only) body to govern the wizarding community of Britain, before the establishment of the Ministry of Magic

Upon the signature of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy in 1692, the wizarding community needed a more highly structured, organised and complex government structure, to support and regulate the community in hiding. Thus, in 1707, the Wizards' Council disbanded to be replaced by the Ministry of Magic. The first Minister was Ulick Gamp, who, in the days of the Council, had served as Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot.

Known Wizards' Council members

• Barberus Bragge (Chief, c. 1269)
• Burdock Muldoon (Chief, 1448-1450)
• Elfrida Clagg (Chief, fourteenth or seventeenth century)
• Ulick Gamp (Head of the Wizengamot, early eighteenth century)

Known Wizard's Council Actions

• 1340s: Does not censure Nicholas Malfoy, who was widely believed to have been killing Muggle tenants and disguising their deaths as Black Death victims.
• 1362: Made it illegal to play Quidditch within 50 miles of towns.
• 1368: Amended the ban on Quidditch by outlawing all playing within 100 miles of a town.
• 1499: Decreed that Quidditch should not be played anywhere where there is the slightest chance a Muggle could see and that violators of that decree would be chained to the wall of a dungeon.
• 1631: Passes the Code of Wand Use (which Clause Three is the infamous Wand Ban, forbidding non-Human magical Beings such as house-elves or goblins to carry a wand).
• 1637: Develops the Werewolf Code of Conduct, in hopes that werewolves sign it. Unsurprisingly, none were willing to show up before the Council and admit to being a werewolf.
• 1692: Signed the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy.
• 1707: Disbanded, to be replaced by the Ministry of Magic.

Behind the scenes

• Since wizardkind was fully integrated members of Muggle society prior to the Witch-hunts and subsequent imposition of the International Confederation of Wizards' Statute of Secrecy, it stands to reason that the Wizards' Council, at least initially, existed solely because the Crown permitted the magical members of their kingdom(s) to manage their own affair. Even so, the Wizards' Council would still have been subject to the authority and, at least partially, served at the pleasure of, the Monarchy.
• It is known that the Department of Mysteries was already in operation in at least 1672, so it is probable that before the inception of the Ministry of Magic in 1707, it was a division of the Wizards' Council, but possibly under a different name.
• In Elfrida Clagg's entry on Pottermore's Timeline of the Wizarding World, the Wizards' Council was originally incorrectly referred to as the "Warlock's Councils". The mistake has since been corrected.
• The Wizard's Council likely governed Ireland as well as Great Britain.

See also

• Ministry of Magic

Appearances

• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (video game) (Mentioned on a Famous Wizard Card)
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (video game) (Mentioned on a Famous Wizard Card)
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (video game) (Mentioned on a Famous Wizard Card)
• Quidditch Through the Ages
• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
• Pottermore (Mentioned only)