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HOGWARTS LIBRARYA WARNING: If you rip, tear, shred, bend,fold, deface, disfigure, smear, smudge, throw,drop or in any other manner damage, mistreator show lack of respect towards this book, theconsequences will be as awful as it is within mypower to make them.Irma Pince, Hogwarts LibrarianQuidditchThroughTheAges AW.indd 123/11/2016 11:34

PRAISE FOR‘ Kennilworthy Whisp’s painstaking researchhas uncovered a veritable treasure trove ofhitherto unknown facts about the sportof warlocks. A fascinating read.’Bathilda Bagshot, author, A History of Magic‘ Whisp has produced a thoroughly enjoyablebook; Quidditch fans are sure to find it bothinstructive and entertaining.’Editor, Which Broomstick?‘ The definitive work on the origins and historyof Quidditch. Highly recommended.’Brutus Scrimgeour, author, The Beaters’ BibleQuidditchThroughTheAges AW.indd 323/11/2016 11:34

‘ Mr Whisp shows a lot of promise. If hekeeps up the good work, he may well findhimself sharing a photoshoot with me one ofthese days!’Gilderoy Lockhart, author, Magical Me‘ Bet you anything it’ll be a bestseller. Go on,I bet you.’Ludovic Bagman,England and Wimbourne Wasps Beater‘I’ve read worse.’Rita Skeeter, Daily ProphetQuidditchThroughTheAges AW.indd 423/11/2016 11:34

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in inassociationwithassociation with129B bDDI AiagonG O N A lleyL L E Y, , LLONDON129ondonQuidditchThroughTheAges AW.indd 723/11/2016 11:34

Bloomsbury Publishing, London, Oxford, New York, New Delhi and SydneyFirst published in Great Britain in 2001 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc50 Bedford Square, London WC1B 3DPwww.bloomsbury.comBloomsbury is a registered trademark of Bloomsbury Publishing PlcThis edition published in 2017Text copyright J.K. Rowling 2001Cover illustrations by Jonny Duddle copyright Bloomsbury Publishing Plc 2017Interior illustrations by Tomislav Tomic copyright Bloomsbury Publishing Plc 2017The moral rights of the author and illustrators have been assertedText design by Becky ChilcottHarry Potter characters, names and related indicia aretrademarks of and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.All rights reservedAll rights reservedNo part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted by any means, electronic,mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisherA CIP catalogue record of this book is available from the British LibraryHARDBACK ISBN 978 1 4088 8073 91 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2PAPERBACK ISBN 978 1 4088 8308 21 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2Printed and bound in Great Britain by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon CR0 4YYComic Relief (UK) was set up in 1985 by a group of British comedians to raise fundsfor projects promoting social justice and helping to tackle poverty. Money fromworldwide sales of this book will go to help people living incredibly tough livesacross the UK and in some of the world’s poorest communities.Comic Relief (UK) is a registered charity:326568 (England & Wales); SC039730 (Scotland).QuidditchThroughTheAges AW.indd 823/11/2016 11:34

With thanks to J.K. Rowling for creatingthis book and so generously giving all herroyalties to Comic ReliefQuidditchThroughTheAges AW.indd 923/11/2016 11:34

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CONTENTSForeword by Albus Dumbledore1. The Evolution of the Flying Broomstick2. Ancient Broom Games3. The Game from Queerditch Marsh4. The Arrival of the Golden Snitch5. Anti-Muggle Precautions6. Changes in Quidditch since theFourteenth Century:PitchBallsPlayersRulesReferees7. Quidditch Teams of Britain and Ireland8. The Spread of Quidditch Worldwide9. The Development of the Racing Broom10. Quidditch TodayAbout the AuthorQuidditchThroughTheAges AW.indd 111713212939454752566168718910911912923/11/2016 11:34

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QUIDDITCH THROUGH THE AGES is oneof the most popular titles in the Hogwartsschool library. Madam Pince, our librarian, tellsme that it is ‘pawed about, dribbled on and generallymaltreated’ nearly every day – a high complimentfor any book. Anyone who plays or watchesQuidditch regularly will relish Mr Whisp’s book, asdo those of us interested in wider wizarding history.As we have developed the game of Quidditch, so ithas developed us; Quidditch unites witches andwizards from all walks of life, bringing us togetherto share moments of exhilaration, triumph and (forthose who support the Chudley Cannons) despair.3QuidditchThroughTheAges AW.indd 323/11/2016 11:35

QUIDDITCH THROUGH THE AGESIt was with some difficulty, I must own, that Ipersuaded Madam Pince to part with one of her booksso that it might be copied for wider consumption.Indeed, when I told her it was to be made available toMuggles, she was rendered temporarily speechlessand neither moved nor blinked for several minutes.When she came to herself she was thoughtful enoughto ask whether I had taken leave of my senses. I waspleased to reassure her on that point and went on toexplain why I had taken this unprecedented decision.Muggle readers will need no introduction to thework of Comic Relief, so I now repeat my explanationto Madam Pince for the benefit of witches andwizards who have purchased this book. Comic Reliefuses laughter to fight poverty and injustice.Widespread amusement is converted into largequantities of money (over one billion pounds sincethey started in 1985). By buying this book – and Iwould advise you to buy it, because if you read it fortoo long without handing over money you will findyourself the object of a Thief’s Curse – you too willbe contributing to this magical mission.4QuidditchThroughTheAges AW.indd 423/11/2016 11:35

FOREWORDI would be deceiving my readers if I said that thisexplanation made Madam Pince happy abouthanding over a library book to Muggles. Shesuggested several alternatives, such as telling thepeople from Comic Relief that the library hadburned down, or simply pretending that I haddropped dead without leaving instructions. WhenI told her that on the whole I preferred my originalplan, she reluctantly agreed to hand over the book,though at the point when it came to let go of it, hernerve failed her and I was forced to prise her fingersindividually from the spine.Although I have removed the usual librarybook spells from this volume, I cannot promise thatevery trace has gone. Madam Pince has been knownto add unusual jinxes to the books in her care.I myself doodled absent-mindedly on a copy ofTheories of Transubstantial Transfiguration last year and nextmoment found the book beating me fiercely aroundthe head. Please be careful how you treat this book.Do not rip out the pages. Do not drop it in thebath. I cannot promise that Madam Pince will not5QuidditchThroughTheAges AW.indd 523/11/2016 11:35

QUIDDITCH THROUGH THE AGESswoop down on you, wherever you are, and demanda heavy fine.All that remains is for me to thank you forsupporting Comic Relief and to beg Muggles not totry Quidditch at home; it is, of course, an entirelyfictional sport and nobody really plays it. May I alsotake this opportunity to wish Puddlemere Unitedthe best of luck next season.QuidditchThroughTheAges AW.indd 623/11/2016 11:35

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NO SPELL YET DEVISED enables wizards to flyunaided in human form. Those few Animagiwho transform into winged creatures may enjoyflight, but they are a rarity. The witch or wizard whofinds him- or herself Transfigured into a bat maytake to the air, but, having a bat’s brain, they aresure to forget where they want to go the momentthey take flight. Levitation is commonplace, but ourancestors were not content with hovering five feetfrom the ground. They wanted more. They wantedto fly like birds, but without the inconvenience ofgrowing feathers.We are so accustomed these days to the fact that9QuidditchThroughTheAges AW.indd 923/11/2016 11:35

QUIDDITCH THROUGH THE AGESevery wizarding household in Britain owns at leastone flying broomstick that we rarely stop to askourselves why. Why should the humble broom havebecome the one object legally allowed as a means ofwizarding transport? Why did we in the West notadopt the carpet so beloved of our Eastern brethren?Why didn’t we choose to produce flying barrels,flying armchairs, flying bathtubs – why brooms?Shrewd enough to see that their Muggleneighbours would seek to exploit their powersif they knew their full extent, witches and wizardskept themselves to themselves long before theInternational Statute of Wizarding Secrecy cameinto effect. If they were to keep a means of flightin their houses, it would necessarily be somethingdiscreet, something easy to hide. The broomstickwas ideal for this purpose; it required no explanation,no excuse if found by Muggles, it was easily portableand inexpensive. Nevertheless, the first broomsbewitched for flying purposes had their drawbacks.Records show that witches and wizards in Europewere using flying broomsticks as early as ad 962.10QuidditchThroughTheAges AW.indd 1023/11/2016 11:35

THE EVOLUTION OF THE FLYING BROOMSTICKA German illuminated manuscript of this periodshows three warlocks dismounting from theirbrooms with looks of exquisite discomfort on theirfaces. Guthrie Lochrin, a Scottish wizard writing in1107, spoke of the ‘splinter-filled buttocks andbulging piles’ he suffered after a short broom ridefrom Montrose to Arbroath.A medieval broomstick on display in the Museumof Quidditch in London gives us an insight intoLochrin’s discomfort (see Fig. A). A thick knottyhandle of unvarnished ash, with hazel twigs boundcrudely to one end, it is neither comfortable noraerodynamic. The charms placed upon it aresimilarly basic: it will only move forwards at onespeed; it will go up, down and stop.11QuidditchThroughTheAges AW.indd 1123/11/2016 11:35

QUIDDITCH THROUGH THE AGESAs wizarding families in those days made theirown brooms, there was enormous variation in thespeed, comfort and handling of the transportavailable to them. By the twelfth century, however,wizards had learned to barter services, so thata skilled maker of brooms could exchange themfor the potions his neighbour might make betterthan himself. Once broomsticks became morecomfortable, they were flown for pleasure ratherthan merely used as a means of getting from pointA to point B.QuidditchThroughTheAges AW.indd 1223/11/2016 11:35

As Dumbledore writes in his introduction, moneyraised from the sale of this very special book will goto the UK charity Comic Relief to help peopleliving incredibly tough lives across the UK and insome of the world’s poorest communities.Since 2001, the books that J.K. Rowling kindlywrote especially for Comic Relief, Quidditch Throughthe Ages and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, haveraised nearly 20 million – a magic amount ofmoney that is already hard at work changing lives.Money raised through the sale of this newedition will be invested in children and youngpeople around the world, preparing them to beQuidditchThroughTheAges AW.indd 13123/11/2016 11:35

ready for the future – to be safe, healthy, educatedand empowered. We are particularly interested inhelping those children who start their lives in themost difficult circumstances, where there is conflict,violence, neglect or abuse. We will be able to helphundreds of thousands of children in institutionsaround the world regain their right to a family andreceive a decent education to help them achievetheir potential and build a brighter, better future.Thank you for your support. To find out moreabout Comic Relief go to comicrelief.com, follow uson Twitter (@comicrelief) or like us on Facebook!QuidditchThroughTheAges AW.indd 13223/11/2016 11:35