ANCR-301 Lessons

Now that we have seen a large amount of non-magical literature last week, we will take some time to focus on the other side of the coin. Additionally, there will also be a guest lecture from Emma Hart, who will introduce us to the significance of magical runic literature and, in particular, The Tales of Beedle the Bard. To start with, however, I want to tell you a little of why runes remained in use among the magical community for much longer than in the Muggle world, particularly in Britain.

Magical Runic Writings
During the early Middle Ages-- the period in which the three runic alphabets were at their peak of popularity-- wizards and priests were the main source of all forms of writing in Northwestern Europe due to prevalent illiteracy. While some individuals who were not wizards or priests may have been capable of writing their name and perhaps a few other things in the runic script of the day (we will look at some evidence of this next week), the majority of writing was done by those of either the magical or religious community.

You will remember from last year that the spread of Christianity in Scandinavia forced the Nordic magi, the wizards that served as priests and council leaders to the pagan community, into hiding. Their runic writings were given to Rowena Ravenclaw for safe-keeping here at Hogwarts, and this is where they still remain to this very day. Hogwarts was a sensible choice for this, not just because of the impressive safety measures in place, but also because all of the four founders (as well as many other learned witches and wizards of the age) were literate in both the Roman and runic scripts. This meant that they knew of the secrets contained in some of these works, and were able to store them safely for future generations while not endangering any of the students or staff.

During this period in Britain, things were not as difficult. The Anglo-Saxons had been Christianised several centuries earlier, and by the 10th century C.E., relations between wizards and the church had reached a slightly frosty, but not antagonistic, plateau. However, things took a turn for the worse in the 11th century, when the Norman Conquest impacted badly on the political landscape in Britain; Anglo-Saxon leaders in all areas were replaced by Normans brought over from the continent at William the Conqueror’s request. Although the change was gradual and Old English literature, as well as runes, were sometimes still used in the 12th century, the wizarding community took precautions and, following the example of the Nordic magi, moved many of their written materials to the safety of Hogwarts castle.

Rivalries between the wizarding communities of Anglo-Saxon Britain and the newly arrived Franco-Normans actually led to a strengthening of the runic writing traditions in Britain. In an attempt to keep their magical secrets out of Norman hands, the Anglo-Saxon wizards decided to use runes almost exclusively for their magical texts and other writings, knowing the invaders and their magic practitioners would not be able to parse out the secrets contained within. Although the following centuries eventually softened the rivalry-- and intermarriages between Norman and Anglo-Saxon wizarding families did the rest-- the specifically British tradition of writing any texts related to magic in runes continued, which later proved useful when the church began to crack down on anything magical.

Since runes were known as an ancient alphabet, texts written in the Anglo-Saxon Futhork were automatically dismissed by Muggles as texts from the past. They were not considered of any major importance by the Church throughout the Middle Ages. It wasn’t until the Age of the Reformation and increased efforts to stamp out anything even potentially related to magic did runes become associated with sorcery -- and therefore the devil's work -- in the eyes of the Church. Eventually, this meant that the use of the runic symbols was forbidden in 1639 by the Catholic Church in order to eradicate superstitions and belief in magic, which the church believed to be dangerous to the souls of all good Christians.

The Great Debate Revisited
You hopefully remember our discussion from the beginning of the year which touched upon the debate in the magical world surrounding the two younger runic scripts and their magical uses (or lack thereof). It is around this time -- the 1600s --when runes were completely outlawed. Those few modern scholars that believe in the Younger and Anglo-Saxon Futhark’s magical abilities suggest as this period the height of enchanted runes.¹ Due to the clandestine nature of runic communication at this time (and indeed, anything related to magic), anything recorded in runes had to be rather short in order to be easy to conceal. It was at this point that the magical communities moved away from long, detailed texts and withdrew in on themselves.

The magic of this time period was very much categorized by discretion: simple talismans and hidden runes carved into corners of windows, doors, the bottoms of staffs, and the back sides of jewelry were very en vogue. Additionally, because the inscriptions had to be short to remain hidden, runes naturally had to take on a more condensed meaning. Where once an entire string of runes would be used, one or two had to suffice, while still capturing the same meaning and essence. Those of you who have not been drooling on your tables will find this to be similar to our discussion of ideograms early on last year. And, as you know, ideograms are the perfect match for magic.

Unfortunately for the proponents of this theory, as we discussed earlier this year, there is very little in the way of proof, and what little does exist is highly contested for various reasons. The reason for the scarcity of evidence is the same reason ideograms were needed in the first place: anything overtly and obviously magical was being destroyed. Therefore, despite the pains witches and wizards went to in order to hide these runes, most were eventually discovered (though some took centuries) and then immediately destroyed.

The Tales of Beedle the Bard
One thing that certainly has persisted over the centuries, though, is the text that is the subject of today's guest lecture. This book was written in the period that just preceded the Reformation and the period during which magical practitioners went “underground.” As you can see from the copies of The Tales of Beedle the Bard on your desks, this text was originally written in ancient runes -- in this case, the Anglo-Saxon Futhork. This proved a sufficient disguise in the 1400s for those rare cases when the book might fall into the hands of unsuspecting Muggles. The few copies that somehow found their way into Muggle hands usually ended up in monastic or church libraries. Many of these libraries suffered significant damage when, roughly a century later, Henry VIII declared himself head of the English Church and dissolved the monasteries in Britain. Although with the help of witches and wizards living in the monastic communities, some of the most important documents from the previous centuries were saved, and any magical texts that could be located were furtively removed before they could be destroyed or seized by the royal inspectors.

After the Statute of Secrecy came into place, all remaining copies of the runic Tales were traced and then removed from Muggle hands as unobtrusively as possible, although in some cases more drastic means proved necessary, such as in the case of the library of Sir Henry Cotton. This kerfuffle had the unfortunate side effect of damaging some priceless artefacts of Muggle literature, especially pieces written prior to the Norman Conquest. However, the wizarding community of the time considered this an acceptable price for keeping Muggles in the dark about magic.

But now I won't keep you waiting any longer. Time for Emma Hart, a renowned expert on magical literature, to tell us more about The Tales of Beedle the Bard.

Guest Lecture
Hello everyone! My name is Emma Hart and I am Obscurus Books’ lead magical literature specialist. Professor Wessex kindly asked me to drop in during her class today to cover The Tales of Beedle the Bard — a text which was originally written in runes! First, however, let’s provide a bit of historical context and explanation. It was written sometime in the 15th century by an unfortunately rather mysterious figure known as Beedle the Bard. It was originally written in the Anglo-Saxon Futhork and was a well-loved children’s storybook with tales such as the “Warlock’s Hairy Heart” and “Babbity Rabbity and Her Cackling Stump” among others.

Sometime after Harry Potter’s defeat of You-Know-Who, the Headmistress of Hogwarts at the time, Minerva McGonagall, gave permission for the publication of her predecessor Albus Dumbledore’s set of notes to The Tales of Beedle the Bard. What made the publication all the more special was that these were published alongside Hermione Granger’s translation of the text. The runic letters Granger translates, as Professor Wessex has told me she pointed out earlier, are part of an ancient tradition of Anglo-Saxon wizards guarding their culture and their magical texts from their Norman conquerors as well as Muggles.

Because of the turbulent times in which Anglo-Saxon wizards lived, much of what we know about runes does not come from the bone, horn, stone, and wooden surfaces on which Anglo-Saxons recorded their history. Instead it comes from the books that eventually replaced these traditional textual surfaces while retaining and preserving many of the textual traditions. Such books include the 10th century manuscript, MS Cotton Otho B. x, as well as the copy of the Tales Dumbledore bequeathed to Granger.

The book’s runic text serves three purposes. First, the text, in all its layers (original runes, commentary, translation), represents how literary works transform over time and the ability of literature to shape the world around us. Given that Granger received not just any ordinary copy of the Tales, but Dumbledore’s own personal copy, Dumbledore’s commentary not only helped shape her translation of the text, but also her understanding of the tales themselves. Dumbledore’s commentary, especially on “The Three Brothers,” was shaped by his own life experiences as well as the looming war. Although at the time of writing his commentary, Dumbledore might not have necessarily known the part that the tale of the “The Three Brothers” would play in the Second Wizarding War, his retrieval of the Elder Wand was part of the impetus to the Hallows versus Horcruxes race. Therefore, his commentary is not only a literary and philosophical analysis of the text, but also, and perhaps most importantly, a historical one. After all, those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

Second, the text affirms many scholars’ hypothesis the author: that Beedle the Bard was, in fact, a wizard in the 15th century. This is believed for a few reasons, but the most important is based on the history of magic in England. The 15th century, which lasted from 1401 C.E. to 1500 C.E. was the last century in which openly practicing magic was permitted in England and was part of everyday life. The year 1400 was also the year that marked the beginning of the transition period from Middle English (1066-1470) to Early Modern English (1470-1660). A major factor separating these two forms of English was known as the “Great Vowel Shift,” a radical change in language involving the alteration of spelling of some words in order to reflect the change in pronunciation. Some examples include: “stan” to “stone,” “rap” to “rope,” “derk” to “dark,” etc. Given that the Bard wrote the Tales in the 15th century, Granger’s translation of his text mainly involved transcribing the runes and  modernizing some of the Bard’s spellings and words rather than muddling through Old English words that do not always resemble our modern language.

Moreover, the text displays the debate surrounding growing wizarding sentiment in that era to “Let the Muggles manage without us!”. Some magical folk began to separate slightly from Muggles at this time, though the study of ancient texts in the 15th century shows their continued coexistence, at least in certain circles. An example of the latter is the Huntington Library manuscript HM 1336, which describes Symon Wysbech copying medical recipes for a practitioner of medicine. This manuscript reveals the mingling of magical and non-magical materials in these recipes in a way that highly suggests that during Beedle’s lifetime, magic was just an ordinary part of social existence in medieval England. In fact, from the ancient magical texts that have survived the ages, we can deduce that Hogwarts’ curriculum is not a far cry from what a Muggle scholar might have studied in the 15th century.

Said manuscript, HM 1336, contains evidence that knowledge of herbology, charms, transfiguration, divination, as well as potions would all be necessary to successfully make the recipes contained within its pages. In addition, although caring for magical creatures isn’t explicitly mentioned, readers of medieval bestiaries would find the aforementioned field of study useful for their understanding of unicorns, sphinxes, and griffins. Finally, in the attempt to preserve these medieval English manuscripts, let alone read them, one would need to have some experience with defense against the dark arts, as some of the texts themselves can be quite dangerous. The tradition of cursed books -- whether by activating hidden runes with ill intent, enchanting the books to serve as a defense against others reading them, or via traps set in the books that capture the reader in one way or another -- is not a recent one, and dates back nearly as far as the written word does.

Oh goodness, we got a bit far afield there, didn’t we? Well, back to what the runic text of the Tales has done for us. Finally, and something that played a crucial part in how the Second Wizarding War ended, the Tales’ runic language forced Granger to pay closer attention to the non-runic symbol at the top of the text’s first page. This discovery not only led to her conclusion that Dumbledore believed in the existence of the Hallows, but also eventually led Harry Potter, with Granger’s help, to discover his destiny: becoming the master of death and defeating He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named once and for all.

Like any puzzle, ancient runes require deciphering and decoding. In this way, runes have much in common with magical literature. Thank you for your time, and when in Diagon Alley next, you can feel free to stop by Obscurus Books and pick my brain. I’m always happy to share what I know! Books and the written word in any form are a fiercely held passion of mine. For now though, I must be going. Thank you for the invitation, Professor Wessex.

Closing
As always, the pleasure is mine, Emma.

I should hope you are not too distracted by the buffet of knowledge Ms. Hart has served up. You’ll need your wits about you to complete your assignments. You will have a quiz covering what we learned today as well as an extra credit assignment, where you will have the chance to translate a short passage of your choice into runic letters. By now, I am sure you do not need luck, as you have developed a fair amount of skill in this area. Next week, we will look in more detail at runic inscriptions on objects, particularly those that may have been enchanted.

Footnotes

1. That is to say, the height of magic for the Anglo-Saxon Futhork and Younger Futhark, specifically. This would not coincide with the height of magic use alongside the Elder Futhark, or any other form of script-based magic, such as hieroglyphics or Inca glyphs.

Vocabulary
HM 1336: a medieval manuscript from roughly the 15th century C.E. It is an example of magical knowledge that trickled into Muggle life and scholarly works around this time

Original lesson written by Professor Mathilda Stevens
Guest lecture by Emma Hart
Image credits here, here, and here