HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY
The First Sanctuary, the Last Stronghold of Old Albion
A History of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry:
It is important to know that prior to the Founding of Hogwarts School there was no formalized magical education in the British Isles. No Houses, no Sorting Hat, no grand stone staircases that moved when bored. Magic was taught the old way—in the shadows and the forests, master to apprentice, family to child, whispered from tongue to ear. The Druids kept their groves, the Picts kept their secrets, the Cymry sang their spells, and the Anglo-Saxons made quiet pacts with things in the mists. There were schools elsewhere in the world of course—ancient and glorious ones—but few Celtic wixen traveled so far.
By the late 10th century, the witch-burnings had begun in earnest. Muggle inquisitors. Witchfinders. Kings who feared omens. Churches who hated unchecked power in the hands of women and children.
Thus the Burning Times began, Wixen fled, hid, vanished. Many died.
And then one mad, bright, reckless idea was born.
The Founders (The Truth They Never Taught)
Godric ap Llewelyn, sometimes called Gawain of the Flame, was the spark that lit the match which burns still today.
A wandering Cymric battle-mage with too much courage and not enough patience, he’d fought alongside (and occasionally against) Merlin, whose “help” in this venture was equal parts inspiration and disaster. Godric dreamed (loudly) of a place where magic could stand without fear. He found allies...eventually.
Helga of Hwicce, also known as Helga Hlynsdottir, was the heart. Born of the Old Religion in the Midlands, daughter of a healer and a storm-priestess of the north, she believed magic was a birthright of everyone, not just legacies or warriors. Kind? Yes. But also relentless. She was the architect of belonging, of safety for all magical children no matter their origin.
Ronnat ingen Ruadhri, called Rohina of the Cliffs, was the backbone. A Pictish seer from the coasts of the far north, sharp as sea-salt and twice as deadly. She knew the land like it was her own skin, spoke with spirits, bargained with stone. It was Ronnat who found the temple, half-buried in earth and memory—Egwarthen, it's original name: The Bones of the Earth Where Magic Sleeps.
Their intent wasn't so much to create a massive semi-sentient magical school, but rather a sanctuary. A safe harbor for wizards and witches fleeing Christian persecution and the suspicious eyes of their neighbors.
Salazar ibn Saruk al-Sili arrived in 986 A.D. A desert-born scholar of Andalusian and Berber lineage, fluent in serpent-tongue and spell-script both. He did not come to conquer—he came seeking ancient northern magic. What he found were three exhausted, brilliant, half-feral Celts trying to turn a haunted ruin into a safe house.
Their first meeting was… dramatic, to say the least. Their second nearly destroyed a hillside. Their third? They started to understand each other.
Salazar brought wards, structure, languages, theory. Godric brought fire, courage, protection. Helga brought community, food, healing, hope. Ronnat brought the land itself, woken as if from a deep slumber to find itself Guardian once more, to the poor and weary and frightened.
Together, they did not build a school. They built a refuge. A fortress. A promise.
Egwarthen
The temple’s true name, Egwarthen, meant: “Where the Old Power Gathers Beneath the Bones.”
Students, over time. Orphans, runaways, survivors all of them, renamed it over time. 'Hogwarts', an eventuality that perhaps started as a joke. In any event no on really remembers 'Egwarthen' anymore.
Except for Professor Morwenna. But she's rather peculiar like that.
The Castle Grew Like a Living Thing
They did not sit down with blueprints. There were no official House crests or syllabi. Hogwarts grew piece by piece, spell by spell, year by year.
A tower here for star-watching (Ronnat’s doing).
A dueling hall there (Godric insisted).
Kitchens that never ran out (Helga’s miracle).
A sprawling network of hidden passageways (Salazar either built them… or they built themselves to appease him).
Over time, the wards thickened. Magic settled. The castle woke and found that it was needed.
Hogwarts stopped being merely a sanctuary. It became the beating heart of magical Britain. A place where the Old Religion survived. Where new magic was born. Where wixen stood tall once again.
