The name "Quidditch" is supposedly derived from Queerditch Marsh,
the location of the first recorded game. The first ball to be
introduced was the Quaffle, then a leather ball quite similar to the
modern Quaffle, and hence the only playing positions were Chaser and
Keeper. Soon afterwards were included in the game flying boulders which
had been enchanted to attack players – the first Bludgers.
At first, the boulders had no human opponents on the pitch: Beaters
were introduced not long afterwards. As the heavy bats had the
unfortunate tendency to shatter the boulders into flying gravel, the
first metal Bludgers replaced them almost immediately. The were
original made of lead, but in the 15th century, magically reinforced
beaters bats. They are currently made of iron. The final modification
to the original "Kwidditch" was to set up three half-barrels
at either end of the pitch as scoring targets (previously trees had
been used for this purpose). The one missing element from this ancient
game was the Golden Snitch.
[edit] The history of the Snitch
The Golden Snitch, as seen in
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.
The back-story of the Snitch is the most elaborate of all the Quidditch balls, and its introduction (so it is described in
Quidditch Through the Ages) came as the direct result of a game played in 1269 in Kent. By this time, the game had attracted a cult following, and large crowds regularly attended matches.
Barberus Bragge, the Chief of the Wizards’ Council, attended the
1269 game. As a nod to the sport of Snidget-hunting, which was also
popular at the time, Bragge brought a Snidget to the game and released
it from its cage. He told the players that 150 Galleons
– then an enormous sum of money – would be awarded to the player who
caught the bird. As the promise of such a large reward would suggest,
the players thence totally ignored the game, and simply went off in
pursuit of the Snidget, which was kept within the arena by the crowd
using Repelling Charms.
A witch named Modesty Rabnott took pity on the Snidget and rescued it with a Summoning Charm,
but the connection with Quidditch had been made, and soon a Snidget was
being released at every game. Each team added an extra player –
originally called the Hunter, later the Seeker – whose sole job was to
catch and kill the Snidget, for which 150 points were awarded in memory
of the 150 Galleons offered by Bragge in the original game. The
popularity of Quidditch led to quickly declining Snidget numbers, and
in the middle of the 14th century it was made a protected species by
the Wizard's Council. This meant that the bird could no longer be used
for Quidditch purposes. The game, however, could not continue without a
substitute.
Whilst most people looked for a suitable alternative bird to chase, a metal-charmer called Bowman Wright from Godric's Hollow
invented a fake Snidget which he called the Golden Snitch: a golden
ball with silver wings, the same size and weight as a real Snidget,
enchanted to accurately follow its flight patterns. An additional
benefit was that the ball was also charmed to stay within the playing
area. The Snitch was also given a "flesh memory", allowing it to
remember who touched it first in order to leave no dispute as to who
caught it. The Snitch quickly became the approved replacement for the
Snidget, and the game of Quidditch has remained largely unchanged ever
since.
by Haley Kantal Mon Jun 15, 2009 3:28 am
