The Noble and Most Ancient House of
BLACK
The arms of the family are given twice, and in very different form.
The arms depicted in the film-series are as follows -
And the motto thus -
TOUJOURS PUR
The arms of the family are given twice, and in very different form.
The arms depicted in the film-series are as follows -
Above the inverted chevron sable is a field gules spangled with seven-pointed stars or and bearing an armed hand or holding a wand. Below is a field argent with three crows or ravens proper. Seven is the most potently magical number (The Half-Blood Prince ch. 23), and the starry field either refers to or is the progenitor of the fact that many members of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black have been named for stars or constellations.
Whereas those drawn by Mrs. Rowling are thus --
Mrs. Rowling’s hand-drawn arms include a chevron, two mullets, an armed hand holding a dagger. Most interestingly, the supporters are two dogs – this provides an additional association for the name.
TOUJOURS PUR
The Gens nobilis antiquissima must be reckoned among the most ancient and most eminent members of the Sacred Twenty-Eight. Its noble motto has been well observed, for in upwards of a thousand years this noble stock has remained altogether pure.
Eminent among the House of Black since the time of Phineas Nigellus Black, Headmaster of Hogwarts (1847-1925) have been his sister Elladora Black (1850-1931, died unmarried), who instituted the familial tradition of culling those house-elves who could no longer serve by decapitation and the mounting of their heads and his grandson, by his first son Sirius, Arcturus Black III (1901-1991), OM (First Class).
Orion Black (1929-1979), son of the above Arcturus, was a great-grandson of Phineas Nigellus. He married first cousin Walburga nata Black (1925-1985), great-granddaughter of Phineas Nigellus and descended his second son Cygnus (1889-1943). Their son Regulus was born in 1961.
Walburga's brother, Cygnus Black II (1938-1982) married Druella Rosier, and had daughters Bellatrix (1951-, married Rodolphus Lestrange) and Narcissa (1955-, married Lucius Malfoy and had a son, Draco, 1980-).
The seat of this ancestral House is at 12. Grimmauld Place in the City of London. At the time of writing, horrible to relate, this storied house has fallen into the hands of a blood-traitor and must be regarded as temporarily lost.
12. Grimmauld Place possesses a handsome silver door-knocker ''in the form of a twisted serpent''.The house had been made unplottable and equipped with ''every form of security known to wizardkind'' by Orion Black during his residence to prevent invasion by Muggles.
Among the treasures of the House of Black are, in the drawing room, which was hung with ''moss-green velvet curtains'', the magnificent tapestry reckoning eight generations of pure witches and wizards (which had been in the family for ''seven centuries''). In ''glass-fronted cabinets'' on either side of the drawing-room mantelpiece are to be found ''a selection of rusty daggers, claws, a coiled snakeskin, a number of tarnished silver boxes....inscribed with [various]...languages, and... an ornate crystal bottle with a large opal set into the stopper'', the last filled with blood.
Also in the cabinets were many other mementoes and heirlooms, including a silver snuff-box filled with Wartcap powder which gave a ''bad bite'' to the intruder, a silver instrument resembling ''a many-legged pair of tweezers'' which possesses the power of movement and will puncture the skin of an unworthy intruder, a musical box which, when wound, played a ''faintly sinister, tinkling tune'' which rendered the hearer ''curiously weak and sleepy''. Also to be found in the cabinets are a heavy locket which the intruder could not open, ''a number of ancient seals'' and the Order of Merlin First Class awarded to Arcturus Black III (1901-1991) for ''Services to the Ministry''. Also kept in the drawing-room were the volume ''Nature's Nobility: A Wizarding Genealogy'' and a ''large golden ring bearing the Black family crest'' which had belonged in life to Orion Black (see above).
The drawing-room also possessed a ''spindle-legged table'' and also a ''writing-desk'' inhabited by a boggart.
Eminent among the House of Black since the time of Phineas Nigellus Black, Headmaster of Hogwarts (1847-1925) have been his sister Elladora Black (1850-1931, died unmarried), who instituted the familial tradition of culling those house-elves who could no longer serve by decapitation and the mounting of their heads and his grandson, by his first son Sirius, Arcturus Black III (1901-1991), OM (First Class).
Orion Black (1929-1979), son of the above Arcturus, was a great-grandson of Phineas Nigellus. He married first cousin Walburga nata Black (1925-1985), great-granddaughter of Phineas Nigellus and descended his second son Cygnus (1889-1943). Their son Regulus was born in 1961.
Walburga's brother, Cygnus Black II (1938-1982) married Druella Rosier, and had daughters Bellatrix (1951-, married Rodolphus Lestrange) and Narcissa (1955-, married Lucius Malfoy and had a son, Draco, 1980-).
The seat of this ancestral House is at 12. Grimmauld Place in the City of London. At the time of writing, horrible to relate, this storied house has fallen into the hands of a blood-traitor and must be regarded as temporarily lost.
At present, we have available to consult the following essays -
Gazetteer of Names of the House of Black
The Seat of the House of Black
12. Grimmauld Place possesses a handsome silver door-knocker ''in the form of a twisted serpent''.The house had been made unplottable and equipped with ''every form of security known to wizardkind'' by Orion Black during his residence to prevent invasion by Muggles.
Among the treasures of the House of Black are, in the drawing room, which was hung with ''moss-green velvet curtains'', the magnificent tapestry reckoning eight generations of pure witches and wizards (which had been in the family for ''seven centuries''). In ''glass-fronted cabinets'' on either side of the drawing-room mantelpiece are to be found ''a selection of rusty daggers, claws, a coiled snakeskin, a number of tarnished silver boxes....inscribed with [various]...languages, and... an ornate crystal bottle with a large opal set into the stopper'', the last filled with blood.
Also in the cabinets were many other mementoes and heirlooms, including a silver snuff-box filled with Wartcap powder which gave a ''bad bite'' to the intruder, a silver instrument resembling ''a many-legged pair of tweezers'' which possesses the power of movement and will puncture the skin of an unworthy intruder, a musical box which, when wound, played a ''faintly sinister, tinkling tune'' which rendered the hearer ''curiously weak and sleepy''. Also to be found in the cabinets are a heavy locket which the intruder could not open, ''a number of ancient seals'' and the Order of Merlin First Class awarded to Arcturus Black III (1901-1991) for ''Services to the Ministry''. Also kept in the drawing-room were the volume ''Nature's Nobility: A Wizarding Genealogy'' and a ''large golden ring bearing the Black family crest'' which had belonged in life to Orion Black (see above).
The drawing-room also possessed a ''spindle-legged table'' and also a ''writing-desk'' inhabited by a boggart.
