House of Black

The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black was one of the largest, oldest, and wealthiest pure-blooded wizarding families in Britain, and one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight. Many wizarding families in Britain are distantly related to the House of Black. Just like the Malfoy and Lestrange families, the House of Black is synonymous with elevated status and wealth.

The Black family tree is displayed in the drawing room of the family home at 12 Grimmauld Place in London, England on an intricate tapestry, as an ornate mural. It starts in the Middle Ages and shows the dominant line of the family up to the present day.

By the late twentieth century, the House of Black had become extinct in the male line with the deaths of Sirius and Regulus Black, neither of whom had children, in 1996 and 1979, respectively. The female line continued through the descendants of Narcissa Malfoy (née Black), Andromeda Tonks (née Black), Iola Hitchens (née Black), Belvina Burke (née Black), Callidora Longbottom (née Black), Charis Crouch (née Black), and Cedrella Weasley (née Black).

Family History
The Black family traces its origin back to the Middle Ages. They claim to have entirely magical ancestry, but as Sirius Black informed his godson Harry Potter, no true pure-blood families existed by the twentieth century. The pure-blood families like the Blacks simply removed Muggles and Squibs from their family trees.

The Blacks place a great importance on blood purity, considering themselves akin to royalty in the wizarding world and disdaining Muggles, Squibs, blood traitors, and Muggle-borns. The family motto, which can be found on the family crest, is Toujours Pur, which means "Always Pure" in French. Many members took this phrase very seriously.

Recent History
Because of their views, a large number of the Black family members practised the Dark Arts and supported Lord Voldemort during the First and Second Wizarding Wars. A few Blacks even became Death Eaters, while many others never took the Dark Mark but believed in the "purification" of the wizarding world nevertheless.

A few members of the family, however, disagreed with the traditional views of their family; Sirius Black, for example, joined the Order of the Phoenix, as did Andromeda Tonks, who married a Muggle-born, and Nymphadora Tonks, Andromeda's daughter. Others, such as Iola Hitchens and Cedrella Weasley, were supportive of different blood statuses due their own marriages.

Supportive of Voldemort at first, the family loyalists who did not become Death Eaters got cold feet when they saw the levels he would go to achieve his goals. Their hatred towards Muggles is such that some members who are not outright Death Eaters would go to lengths to persecute them, such as Araminta Meliflua who tried to pass a Ministry Bill to make Muggle-hunting legal. However, even those who originally supported Voldemort's actions to purge the Muggles got cold feet when they saw what he was willing to do for power.

Relatives by marriage

 * Bob Hitchens — husband of Iola Hitchens (née Black)
 * Caspar Crouch — husband of Charis Crouch (née Black)
 * Charlus Potter — husband of Dorea Potter (née Black)
 * Druella Rosier — wife of Cygnus Black III
 * Ella Max — wife of Cygnus Black I
 * Harfang Longbottom — husband of Callidora Longbottom (née Black)
 * Herbert Burke — husband of Belvina Burke (née Black)
 * Hesper Gamp — wife of Sirius Black II
 * Ignatius Prewett — husband of Lucretia Prewett (née Black)
 * Irma Crabbe — wife of Pollux Black
 * Jimbo Blishwick — husband of Misapinoa Blishwick (née Black)
 * Lucius Malfoy — husband of Narcissa Malfoy (née Black)
 * Lysandra Yaxley — wife of Arcturus Black II
 * Magenta Tripe — wife of Licorus Black
 * Melania Macmillan — wife of Arcturus Black III
 * Rodolphus Lestrange — husband of Bellatrix Lestrange (née Black)
 * Septimus Weasley — husband of Cedrella Weasley (née Black)
 * Ted Tonks — husband of Andromeda Tonks (née Black)
 * Ursula Flint — wife of Phineas Nigellus Black I
 * Violetta Bulstrode — wife of Cygnus Black II

Family tree

 * "En stirps nobilis et gens antiquissima Black."
 * —Latin inscription on the Black family tree tapestry

Blasted off the tapestry
The original tree described from Grimmauld Place was subject to some magical interference. According to Sirius Black, his mother Walburga blasted names of "blood traitors" off the tapestry without hesitation. The Black family motto of Toujours Pur ("always pure") was followed assiduously by family members; any who disagreed with the notion of blood purity or married Muggles or people of different blood statuses were disowned and blasted off the family tree, as were any Squibs. Thus, family members that remain on the tapestry can be assumed to have married fellow ("respectable") pure-bloods. Some even married their own cousins; Orion and Walburga Black, for instance, were second cousins. Generations of this practise resulted in inbreeding, which in turn has caused problems such as low fertility and emotional instability.

The known disowned members are Eduardus Limette Black (for an unknown reason); Iola Black, for marrying Muggle Bob Hitchens; Phineas Black II, for supporting Muggle rights; Marius Black, for being a Squib; Cedrella Black, for marrying blood traitor Septimus Weasley; Alphard Black, for giving gold to his runaway nephew Sirius; Sirius Black III, for running away from home; Altair Black, for being a Squib; and Andromeda Black, for marrying Muggle-born Ted Tonks. Thus, the Blacks are related to the Max, Blishwick, Flint, Hitchens, Gamp, Bulstrode, Burke, Yaxley, Macmillan, Crabbe, Potter, Longbottom, Weasley, Crouch, Prewett, Rosier, Lestrange, Meliflua, Tonks, Malfoy, and Lupin families (albeit most of them distantly) but are related to all wizarding families as all families were once pure-blood and all pure-blood families are related. Also, Muggle-born people are descendants of Squibs who are born into either a pure-blood family or a half-blood family (which is part pure-blood). Therefore, all wizarding families (and some Muggle ones) are related to the House of Black.

Family Traits
The Blacks were commonly described as having "great good looks" and a certain aristocratic elegance that reflected upon their personalities, for they considered themselves "practically royal".

The traditional look for the majority of the Black family is dark hair and dark eyes, though there were some exceptions: Sirius Black IIIand all of his siblings were grey-eyed, Andromeda Tonks née Black had light brown hair, and Narcissa Malfoy née Black was blonde-haired and blue-eyed. Despite these differences, each and every one of these cousins were still noted to be a beauty in their own right, being of tall and elegant stature, with attractive features. Besides this, even after Sirius and Bellatrix's incarceration in Azkaban and subsequent escape, both Bellatrix Lestrange and Sirius were described to have retained vestiges of these "great good looks", despite losing much of it in the depression of the prison.

Wealth
The Black family, as with many other pure-blood wizarding families like the Malfoy family, is considered to be very wealthy. This may be one of the reasons why the members of this family acted somewhat arrogantly.

The Blacks owned several vaults deep within Gringotts Bank, including one extremely large family vault, on the bank's deepest level, where they kept their paintings, fine jewellery, and other luxury items. They were the richest family in Wizarding Britain, with millions of galleons to their name, as well as properties all over Europe.

After the death of Lord Orion Black in December 1991, his wife, Walburga Black, became the richest woman in Wizarding Britain. Two years later, their son, Sirius Black III, escaped from Azkaban. Walburga's reign was rather short-lived, however- due to her failing health, she passed away in the early winter of 1994, which left the couple's underaged daughter, Aquila Black, the richest heiress in Britain, as the family's will formally disinherited the eldest son, Sirius.

Sirius Black III was by no means a poor man by himself. In 1993, Sirius Black III used money from Vault 711 to pay for Harry Potter's Firebolt. This vault was made up of a separate trust vault given to Alphard Black, who bequeathed the money to his nephew after his death, as well as all the money Alphard made in his lifetime. Alphard Black himself was a rich man, having accrued monetary wealth in the muggle world.

Etymology
Black can be considered a colour, and is the result of the absence of, or complete absorption of, light. In Western culture, the colour black has typically been associated with evil, darkness, and witchcraft, but also with prestige and sophistication — appropriate for the rich and House of Black. Black has also been associated with life and prosperity by other cultures. In ancient China, black was the symbol of the element of water, which also corresponds to Slytherin, the Hogwarts house of almost all members of the Black family. In English heraldry, black represents darkness and ignorance; a possible allusion to the prejudice common to members of the House of Black.

However, the English word black is derived from either the Old English blœc, meaning "black", or blac, meaning "pale". Pallor is associated with sickness and the colour white, which is usually held to symbolise purity in Western and Indian culture, and death in East Asian cultures. This mirrors the typical colouring of members of the House of Black — dark hair and pale skin.