The Oxford English Dictionary defines a familiar as “a spirit, often taking the form of an animal, which obeys and assists a witch”. Elsewhere we see students with cats, rats and, in the case of another character called Neville Longbottom, a toad.īut these are not akin to familiars as our medieval forbears would have understood them. FamiliarsĮarly on in The Philosopher’s Stone, Harry is taken to Diagon Alley – the wizarding equivalent of Oxford Street – where among other things he acquires his own owl, Hedwig. In the Harry Potter 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 – non-magic folk – as to why they were in possession of a broom. They would then smear their broomsticks with the fat of their victims and fly to a banquet with the devil.
They reveal that the witches on trial claimed (under torture) that they went out at night in the company of devils and strangled children.
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. The image of a witch 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. Harry Potter, we discover in The Philosopher’s Stone, is a natural when it comes to flying on a broom – and that broom-flying is an essential skill in the game of Quidditch, the wizarding world’s preeminent team sport. Distillation, laudanum, oil paints and inks were all discovered thanks to alchemy. The search continued well into the 17th century – we now know that Isaac Newton secretly dabbled in alchemy – and although the Philosopher’s Stone was never discovered, the science did lead to other significant discoveries. 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’s Stone.
It is ruby red stone, so the first Harry Potter story has it, that can turn metal into gold and can also produce the elixir of life, and it is something that scientists really did quest to discover in the Middle Ages and beyond. Not only was it believed that the real Nicolas Flamel was an alchemist, it was also believed that he had discovered the legendary Philosopher’s Stone. The practice taps into humanity’s desire to seek more knowledge, and is now considered to be part of the history of science.īut despite the rumours, there is no real evidence that the real Nicolas Flamel had anything to do with alchemy. It is a kind of medieval chemistry, concerned with the transformation of matter (for example, turning base metals into gold).Īlchemists believed that nature had secrets to reveal, which could be discovered through careful experimentation. (Photo by adoc-photos/Corbis via Getty Images)Īlchemy was considered to be one of the highest arts in the medieval and Renaissance periods, and many people did study it.
Coloured engraving depicting French scrivener and manuscript seller Nicolas Flamel, who developed a posthumous reputation as an alchemist due to his reputed work on the Philosopher’s Stone.