Snapshots: Burial
Dec. 20th, 2008 04:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
The End of an Era
The Council of the Ten Tribes was founded in 1050, after the death of Helga Hufflepuff, in order to unite the barons of the land and help maintain Hogwarts. The original Ten had, as its members, the descendants of the Founding Four, as well as the scions of six other prominent Clans. Over the centuries, five of the original Tribes died out and five new Clans were admitted to the Council. The last new Clan to be admitted were the Bones’ in 1679. The five Tribes still remaining of the original Ten thereafter came to be known as the Five Famous Families and were nominated the senior members of the Council. All important decisions, in order to be taken, required the unanimous assent of the Families. The two most outstanding achievements of the Ten were the defeat of Lord Morgause de Malloy in 1375 by Lord Black and Lady le Fay, and the establishment of the Ministry of Magic in 1400. In fact, it is now thought that the rise of Lord de Malloy led the Council to realise that the time had come for Wizarding
The Ministry remained under the tutelage of the Council until 1467. Since then, the Council has surrendered most of its duties to the Ministry as and when it has judged the Ministry to be capable of shouldering those responsibilities. This has led several groups to claim that the Council has long outlived its usefulness and should now retire. But not even the staunchest supporter of democracy thought that the demise would occur in this fashion, or be announced by a devastated Mr. Malfoy, who is still mourning the death of some relatives and the imprisonment of others.
The Council of the Ten Tribes was founded by Harold Gryffindor, Cynric Slytherin, Brigida Hufflepuff, Freya Ravenclaw, Artorius du Lac, Seioris Black, Lucretia le Fay, Magnus Malfoy, Fiona Lestrange and Shamus Potter. The last meeting of the Ten, held in March, 1980, was attended by Sirius Black, Leila le Fay, Lucius Malfoy, Rodolphus Lestrange, James Potter, Frank Longbottom, Patrick Parkinson, Roxana Bulstrode (as regent on behalf of her daughter, Milicent), Brutus Yaxley and Edgar Bones.