Gabrielle was a little more lenient to first years taking their time to get seated, but she didn't want to encourage bad habits. "Take your seats and get your note taking things out, please," she said, taking a long sip of water before getting started on her lecture. "Now, some of the most famous witches and wizards of history come from the medieval period, also known as the Middle Ages, being the time period from around the 5th Century to the 15th Century. Many of you will be familiar with the most well known wizard of that time. Who would that be?" she looked around, giving a smile and nod when one of the students gave the answer of Merlin. "Correct, thank you."
"Yes, today we're discussing Merlin. I suspect even if you are from a non magical background, you may well have a passing awareness of Merlin, of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table." Gabrielle had seen plenty of muggle media that adapted the story in various ways - in books, in movies, in TV shows. Many were rather dated, but interesting all the same. "Merlin worked for King Arthur, and for his father, King Uther Pendragon before him. Merlin was especially wise, and given that throughout history royal succession has always been perfectly smooth," Gabrielle's voice dripped with sarcasm at this point, "it was considered in the best interests of the young Arthur to be placed up for adoption, to be fostered and raised in secret until such time as he was old enough to claim his royal lineage - and strong enough to defend himself should that be challenged. At least, that is one telling of the tale." A lot of these tales got changed over time, or had different interpretations, but Gabrielle would not bog her students down with that just yet.
"I dare say many of you will know the tale of the sword in the stone. Now Merlin, powerful wizard that he was, added another protection to Arthur's birth right as king. When Uther Pendragon died, there was no clear successor as Arthur was still not yet ready take the crown. So Merlin enchanted a sword in a large stone, with an inscription stating that whoever pulled the sword out would be king. Many attempted, but were not able to do so. Arthur eventually pulled it free, and the rest, as they say, is history." Gabrielle gave a small snort of laughter at her lame joke, pausing to take a few breaths and let her students catch up. "This sword is often called 'Excalibur', by the way, but it's also argued that Excalibur was given to Arthur later, by the mysterious Lady of the Lake. Different swords? Same swords? Something you can look into. I suspect the mermaids in our lake don't hand out swords so freely, but you are more than welcome to ask them."
"Merlin was not the only magician that was involved in the story of King Arthur. While we will mostly be talking about her next year, please make a note of Morgan Le Fey, who was a powerful witch and most commonly known as Arthur's half sister. This may be something to recall for your exam," she added, with a wink. She'd waved her wand as she was talking, putting a few dot points to recall from her lecture that would help the students with notetaking, but she'd hoped they'd been listening more than just copying down what was on the board.
"Now, one last thing before we wrap up for the day. I mentioned at the start of the lesson that a majority of witches and wizards we have awareness of come from that medieval period in history. Some of you might be wondering why that is. Well, it's important to note that many records of people such as Merlin come from muggles - perhaps primarily romanticised versions of the story, but muggle records nonetheless. You should all, I hope, have at least a passing awareness of the International Statute of Secrecy, the laws that hide the magical from the non-magical. This was passed in to law in 1692. I would be a fool to say that that is the only cause of the reduction of records of notable wizards and witches...but it is easy enough to think that it played a major role, yes?" She knew she was pushing for time, but at least wanted to give the students a little more context. "And why do we have the Statute of Secrecy? Well, we'll go in to that next lesson."
The class time was up, and Gabrielle shifted on the spot, not realizing her legs had gone a bit numb. "Thank you all for listening, class, I know it was a long lecture but you've all done very well. For homework I would like you to write me a short essay on King Arthur, Merlin...or if you want to be really clever, anything you can relate back to Arthurian legend. You could talk about the Holy Grail, or the type of dresses Queen Guinevere wore, if fashion is your thing. I promise, there's so much there to work with and so many fascinating stories from that time you could have a look into. If you're struggling with it, please don't be afraid to come and talk to me." With that, Gabrielle opened the classroom doors once again and let the students go with a smile.
Homework
RP the lesson. First poster to answer the question gets bonus house points. Complete the homework assignment for extra credit. Does not need to be long, one or two paragraphs is fine, please list your sources!
"Yes, today we're discussing Merlin. I suspect even if you are from a non magical background, you may well have a passing awareness of Merlin, of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table." Gabrielle had seen plenty of muggle media that adapted the story in various ways - in books, in movies, in TV shows. Many were rather dated, but interesting all the same. "Merlin worked for King Arthur, and for his father, King Uther Pendragon before him. Merlin was especially wise, and given that throughout history royal succession has always been perfectly smooth," Gabrielle's voice dripped with sarcasm at this point, "it was considered in the best interests of the young Arthur to be placed up for adoption, to be fostered and raised in secret until such time as he was old enough to claim his royal lineage - and strong enough to defend himself should that be challenged. At least, that is one telling of the tale." A lot of these tales got changed over time, or had different interpretations, but Gabrielle would not bog her students down with that just yet.
"I dare say many of you will know the tale of the sword in the stone. Now Merlin, powerful wizard that he was, added another protection to Arthur's birth right as king. When Uther Pendragon died, there was no clear successor as Arthur was still not yet ready take the crown. So Merlin enchanted a sword in a large stone, with an inscription stating that whoever pulled the sword out would be king. Many attempted, but were not able to do so. Arthur eventually pulled it free, and the rest, as they say, is history." Gabrielle gave a small snort of laughter at her lame joke, pausing to take a few breaths and let her students catch up. "This sword is often called 'Excalibur', by the way, but it's also argued that Excalibur was given to Arthur later, by the mysterious Lady of the Lake. Different swords? Same swords? Something you can look into. I suspect the mermaids in our lake don't hand out swords so freely, but you are more than welcome to ask them."
"Merlin was not the only magician that was involved in the story of King Arthur. While we will mostly be talking about her next year, please make a note of Morgan Le Fey, who was a powerful witch and most commonly known as Arthur's half sister. This may be something to recall for your exam," she added, with a wink. She'd waved her wand as she was talking, putting a few dot points to recall from her lecture that would help the students with notetaking, but she'd hoped they'd been listening more than just copying down what was on the board.
"Now, one last thing before we wrap up for the day. I mentioned at the start of the lesson that a majority of witches and wizards we have awareness of come from that medieval period in history. Some of you might be wondering why that is. Well, it's important to note that many records of people such as Merlin come from muggles - perhaps primarily romanticised versions of the story, but muggle records nonetheless. You should all, I hope, have at least a passing awareness of the International Statute of Secrecy, the laws that hide the magical from the non-magical. This was passed in to law in 1692. I would be a fool to say that that is the only cause of the reduction of records of notable wizards and witches...but it is easy enough to think that it played a major role, yes?" She knew she was pushing for time, but at least wanted to give the students a little more context. "And why do we have the Statute of Secrecy? Well, we'll go in to that next lesson."
The class time was up, and Gabrielle shifted on the spot, not realizing her legs had gone a bit numb. "Thank you all for listening, class, I know it was a long lecture but you've all done very well. For homework I would like you to write me a short essay on King Arthur, Merlin...or if you want to be really clever, anything you can relate back to Arthurian legend. You could talk about the Holy Grail, or the type of dresses Queen Guinevere wore, if fashion is your thing. I promise, there's so much there to work with and so many fascinating stories from that time you could have a look into. If you're struggling with it, please don't be afraid to come and talk to me." With that, Gabrielle opened the classroom doors once again and let the students go with a smile.
Homework
RP the lesson. First poster to answer the question gets bonus house points. Complete the homework assignment for extra credit. Does not need to be long, one or two paragraphs is fine, please list your sources!
