The Potterverse is one of staggering imagination, though that\u2019s not to say it is devoid of truth. From fantastic beasts to the mysterious science of alchemy, JK Rowling\u2019s world of witchcraft and wizardry is filled with historical and mythological influences just waiting to be uncovered\u2026<\/p>\n
Spoilers ahead for both films and series<\/em><\/p>\n In the first book (and film) of the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher\u2019s Stone<\/em> \u2013 Sorcerer\u2019s Stone<\/em> in the US \u2013 Harry eats his first chocolate frog on the train to Hogwarts and discovers a \u2018Famous Witch and Wizard\u2019 card, which describes a man called Nicolas Flamel. In the books, Flamel is a friend to Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore, and the man responsible for creating the titular Philosopher\u2019s Stone.<\/p>\n Flamel is not Rowling\u2019s invention, however \u2013 he really existed. Born in Pontoise, France, in <\/span>around 1330, he was a successful scribe and bookseller. After his death in 1418, rumours began circulating that he had learned alchemical secrets on a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, in north-western Spain.<\/p>\n Alchemy was considered to be one of the highest arts in the medieval and Renaissance periods, and many people did<\/em> study it. It is a kind of medieval chemistry, concerned with the transformation of matter (for example, turning base metals into gold).<\/p>\n Alchemists believed that nature had secrets to reveal, which could be discovered through careful experimentation. The practice taps into humanity\u2019s desire to seek more knowledge, and is now considered to be part of the history of science.<\/p>\n But despite the rumours, there is no real evidence that the real Nicolas Flamel had anything to do with alchemy.<\/p>\n Not only was it believed that the real Nicolas Flamel was an alchemist, it was also believed that he had discovered the legendary Philosopher\u2019s Stone. It is ruby red stone, so the first Harry Potter<\/em> story has it, that can turn metal into gold and can also produce the elixir of life, and it is something that scientists really<\/em> did quest to discover in the Middle Ages<\/a> and beyond.<\/p>\n In the 13th century, a vast number of Arabic works reached England and were translated into Latin, including treatises on alchemy, which told of an unrecognisable substance they called the Philosopher\u2019s Stone. The search continued well into the 17th century \u2013 we now know that Isaac Newton<\/a> secretly dabbled in alchemy \u2013 and although the Philosopher\u2019s Stone was never discovered, the science did lead to other significant discoveries. Distillation, laudanum, oil paints and inks were all discovered thanks to alchemy.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>Harry Potter, we discover in The Philosopher\u2019s Stone<\/em>, is a natural when it comes to flying on a broom \u2013 and that broom-flying is an essential skill in the game of Quidditch, the wizarding world\u2019s preeminent team sport.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>The image of a witch<\/a> flying on a humble broomstick has become an archetypal one, dating back to the 15th century, when it was believed that witches summoned demons that could enchant their broomsticks into flight. The records of French magistrate Claude Tholasan, who was involved in a series of witch trials spanning some 20 years in the early 1400s, are particularly illuminating. They reveal that the witches on trial claimed (under torture) that they went out at night in the company of devils and strangled children. They would then smear their broomsticks with the fat of their victims and fly to a banquet with the devil.<\/p>\n In the Harry Potter<\/em> canon, the fact that witches and wizards fly on broomsticks is their worst kept secret, popular as magical transport because they are portable, cheap and require no explanation to muggles \u2013 non-magic folk \u2013 as to why they were in possession of a broom.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>Early on in The Philosopher\u2019s Stone<\/em>, Harry is taken to Diagon Alley \u2013 the wizarding equivalent of Oxford Street \u2013 where among other things he acquires his own owl, Hedwig. Elsewhere we see students with cats, rats and, in the case of another character called Neville Longbottom, a toad.<\/p>\n But these are not akin to familiars as our medieval forbears would have understood them. The Oxford English Dictionary<\/em> defines a familiar as \u201ca spirit, often taking the form of an animal, which obeys and assists a witch\u201d. Alongside their broomsticks and pointed hats, witches and wizards have been associated with familiars from at least the 16th century; the earliest recorded usage comes from one of French reformer John Calvin\u2019s sermons in 1583.<\/p>\n It was believed that these animals were actually demons who sucked blood from the witches in return for service, and it was common practice to search accused witches for teats as a sign of their guilt. In the Salem witch trials<\/a>, one accuser claimed to have seen a woman sitting on the beams of the church, suckling a yellow bird, and the accused girl Dorothy\/Dorcas Good confessed to having and suckling a little snake.<\/p>\n Whilst familiars of this kind don\u2019t appear in the world of Harry Potter, there are plenty of animals, from Crookshanks to Mrs Norris, who share an affinity with their owners and seem to have their own innate powers and abilities.<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div> By the 12th century, bestiaries \u2013 a type of medieval encyclopaedia \u2013 were the \u2018bestsellers\u2019 of the medieval world. In these works, cats, pigs and rabbits rub shoulders with fantastical, mythological creatures such as the phoenix, the unicorn and the basilisk.<\/p>\n The manuscripts are a mix of fact and fiction that blend religious writings and folklore with hyperbolic accounts from returned travellers \u2013 at a time when far less was known about the world. As well as describing these animals, authors would use them as a form of moral instruction \u2013 warning against the hypocritical tears of a crocodile, for example, or encouraging readers to imitate the industrious bee.<\/p>\n A number of animals found in medieval bestiaries can also be found in the Potterverse \u2013 including centaurs, giants, werewolves and the three-headed guard dog, Cerberus. In the second instalment in the series, The Chamber of Secrets<\/em>, two of these fantastical creatures go head-to-head: the basilisk sealed inside Hogwarts by Salazar Slytherin and Dumbledore\u2019s pet phoenix, Fawkes.<\/p>\n According to medieval legend, the basilisk \u2013 also known as king of the serpents \u2013 is a cockerel with a snake\u2019s tail. It can kill birds with the fire from its mouth, and any human who locks eyes with the creature will drop dead. The phoenix, in bestiaries, is a purplish-red bird that is sometimes described as being the size of an eagle. The bird is immortal \u2013 every 500 years, it will build a pyre for itself and set itself on fire using the sun. Nine days later, it will rise again from the dead.<\/p>\n Although both animals will be familiar to Harry Potter<\/em> fans, Rowling\u2019s creations are slightly different to their medieval counterparts. Her basilisk can also kill with a glance, but it is more like a giant snake than a snake-cockerel hybrid. According to medieval bestiaries, only a weasel can defeat a basilisk<\/a>, but in Harry Potter and<\/em> the Chamber of Secrets<\/em>, Fawkes helps Harry to destroy the creature by pecking out its eyes.<\/p>\n Bezoar stones act as an antidote for a wide range of poisons in the wizarding world. Professor Snape writes \u201cjust shove a bezoar down their throats\u201d across a list of antidotes in his copy of Advanced Potion Making<\/em>, and Harry finds this advice to hold true when he saves Ron\u2019s life with a bezoar stone in the sixth instalment, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince<\/em>.<\/p>\n Rowling takes her inspiration for this antidote directly from history. Bezoar stones were one of the most desirable objects for European collectors in the 16th and 17th centuries, due to their reputation as an effective medicine, believed to help treat range of illnesses from melancholia to the plague.<\/p>\n According to the 16th-century natural historian Nicholas Monardes, the stones were formed from the tears of goats, shed after eating poisonous snakes. Although by the 18th century they were largely disregarded, in 2007 the auction house Christie\u2019s sold a bezoar stone for a whopping \u20ac33,600, suggesting that they still hold some power over our imaginations.<\/p>\n The study of ancient runes at Hogwarts introduces students to a subject that has long been associated with magic.<\/p>\n Evidence of runes inscribed on ordinary objects as charms to protect the wearer has been discovered all over Europe, and the ancient Goths used the word haliurunnae<\/em> (Hell-runer) to refer to a sorceress.<\/p>\n The Germanic word rune<\/em> translates as \u2018mystery\u2019 or \u2018secret\u2019, and the origins of this ancient written communication are similarly mysterious. Whilst many believe they were inspired by ancient Greek<\/a> and Roman<\/a> alphabets, Norse mythology tells a more compelling story, in which the god Odin sacrifices himself in return for the knowledge of the runes: he injures himself with a spear and then hangs on a \u2018windy tree\u2019 for nine days and nights without food in return for their secrets.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>Whilst divination teacher Sybill Trelawney claims that divination is \u201cthe most difficult of all magical arts\u201d, her students are less impressed by the subject. Hermione calls the art of foreseeing the future \u201cwoolly\u201d, whilst Harry and Ron make up outlandish prophecies, tinged with tragedy, to pass their exam. The fact that their fictional prophecies turn out to accurately predict the trials Harry will face in the Triwizard Tournament during the fourth instalment The Goblet of Fire<\/em> may well be Rowling\u2019s comment on how dismissive we can be of a practice that is thousands of years old.<\/p>\n In the 2017 Harry Potter<\/em> exhibition at the British Library, the oldest items on display were Chinese oracle bones, also known as dragon bones, more than 3,000 years old. Questions about topics as various as the weather to the outcome of major battles were engraved on the bones and then heat was applied with metal sticks. The bones cracked under the heat and \u2018diviners\u2019 could then interpret the patterns for answers and predict the future.<\/p>\n The aforementioned Trelawney, descended from the famous (in the wizarding world) seer Cassandra Trelawney, is the professor of divination at Hogwarts. Despite this, she only makes two true predictions that readers ever know of.<\/p>\n Yet her name is a historical nod to that latent talent, as is that of her grandmother. Cassandra was a Trojan priestess of Apollo, the Greek god of truth and prophecy, who would grant the gift of prophecy to women as a sign of his favour, but then punish them if they refused his sexual advances. For Cassandra, that punishment was that she was cursed never to be believed, even when she predicted the destruction of Troy during the Trojan War<\/a>.<\/p>\n Sibyll is another allusion. In Greek legend and literature, sibyls were prophets, strong female seers who had great influence over their communities and rulers. They too were usually associated with Apollo.<\/p>\n The denouement of The Philosopher\u2019s Stone<\/em> \u2013 in which Voldemort is revealed to be living on the back of Professor Quirinus Quirrell\u2019s head \u2013 is perhaps predictable if you have a strong grasp of Roman deities.<\/p>\n His very name references the Roman god of doorways, transitions, and new beginnings: Janus Quirinus. Janus is famously depicted as having two faces, one looking into the past and one looking into the future, much like Quirrell when he reveals Voldemort\u2019s face from under his turban. We also have Janus to thank for the month of January, the entryway into the new year.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>Quirrell is not the only character with a direct analogue in mythology \u2013 the same could be said of Cedric Diggory, who is killed towards the end of The Goblet of Fire<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>Rowling has revealed that the moment in which Harry retrieves Cedric\u2019s body is inspired by a series of events in Homer\u2019s famous epic The Iliad<\/em>. In this account of the Trojan war, Patroclus \u2013 the best friend and, many believe, lover of Achilles \u2013\u00a0is killed by Hector.<\/p>\n Achilles retrieves Patroclus\u2019s body from the Trojans and takes it back to his tent, where he delays the funeral for as long as possible because he is too grief stricken to let go of his friend\u2019s body \u2013 something nodded to in the film when we see Harry clinging to Cedric\u2019s body until he is forcibly removed.<\/p>\n Herbology is one of the many classes taught at Hogwarts, in which students learn about the properties of both mundane and magical plants, and how to care for them and use them properly.<\/p>\n One of these plants, which appears in almost every book, is the mandrake. The plant has a root that looks like a human and, when it matures, its cry can be fatal to anyone that hears it.<\/p>\n Mandrakes pop up first in classical literature and are then documented in medieval herbals, in illustrations which depict a man-shaped root. Medieval herbals are a certain type of manuscript, which collect together the medicinal, culinary, aromatic and magical properties of different plants and, like bestiaries, they are a mix of fact, fiction, and folklore.<\/p>\n In one herbal from the 12th century, now housed in the British Library, readers are instructed on how to collect real mandrakes, which are allegedly very useful in medicine, without damaging their hearing or losing their lives.<\/p>\n In the wizarding world, mandrakes are used as a restorative draught for those who have been \u2018petrified\u2019 (stunned into a comatose state by a creature such as a basilisk). In medieval herbals, however, they are recommended for pre-operative patients, to make them soporific and minimise their pain.<\/p>\n Want to learn more about medieval medicine? Here are some of our most popular articles\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p><\/div> <\/section> A number of healing practices used in the medieval period sound suspiciously like \u2018magic\u2019 to us, and were even described as such at the time.<\/p>\n For example, sympathetic magic, a type of \u2018natural magic\u2019, was used in the medieval period to cure various ailments. For eye problems, a doctor might prescribe the eye of a vulture, wrapped in the skin of a wolf, to be worn around the patient\u2019s neck. Plant-based poultices, meanwhile, would be coupled with a charm, or spell, to increase the chances of success. Although some of these practices were labelled as \u2018superstitious\u2019 in the later Middle Ages, they weren\u2019t associated with demonic magic until the dawning of the witch hunts in the 15th century.<\/p>\n Similarly, many of the plants that Hogwarts students learn about in their Herbology lessons are used for medicine as well as in potions and spells. Rowling\u2019s exploration of plant-based healing, and the blurring of magic and medicine, therefore has a direct relation to medieval \u2018natural magic\u2019, which was considered at the time to be a branch of science.<\/p>\nNicolas Flamel was a real person<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\""Coloured\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/7\/2021\/11\/GettyImages-526776510web_readyl-e650c0e.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"Coloured\\"")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>The Philosopher\u2019s Stone<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Broomsticks
Familiars
![\""This\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/7\/2021\/11\/GettyImages-534340048_web_ready-adc433d.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"This\\"")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Dont miss our brand new podcast series: Investigating the Salem witch trials<\/a>, episodes available now<\/h4>\n
![\""Salem\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/7\/2021\/11\/Salem-Square-bbee73f.jpg?quality=45&resize=556,556"\" "\\"\"Salem\\"\/")
<\/div><\/div> <\/div> <\/section>Basilisk versus phoenix \u2013 a medieval legend made flesh<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\""Illustration\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/7\/2021\/11\/GettyImages-1157996767web_ready-dc3cb1c.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"Illustration\\"")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Bezoar stones really were regarded cure-all, but not just for poison<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Runes<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Divination and oracle bones<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Seers and sibyls <\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\""'The\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/7\/2021\/11\/GettyImages-463984155_web_ready-62c126b.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"'The\\"")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Quirinus Quirrell, the Roman god <\/strong><\/h3>\n
Cedric Diggory, best friend of Achilles<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Mandrake was considered a cure, but not for \u2018petrification\u2019<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\""Medieval\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/7\/2021\/11\/default_web_ready-58ca4c2.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"The\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Magic was used as medicine (in a fashion)<\/strong><\/h3>\n