House of Black

"Any time the family produced someone halfway decent they were disowned."

- Sirius Black on his family

The House of Black is one of the largest and oldest pure-blood wizarding families in Britain. Many wizarding families in Britain are distantly related to the House of Black. 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. 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 became extinct in the male line with the deaths of Sirius and Regulus Black, neither of whom had children. The female line is still extant through the Malfoy family and Teddy Lupin, though the latter descends from a Black who was disowned.

History
"...my parents, with their pure-blood mania, convinced that to be a Black made you practically royal..."

- Sirius Black to Harry Potter on his family's values

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 truly pure-blood family 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 and Muggle-borns. The family motto, which can be found on the family crest, is Toujours Pur, which means "Always Pure" in French.

Because of their views, a large number of the Black family members practice the Dark Arts and supported Lord Voldemort during the First and Second Wizarding Wars. A few Blacks 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 Nymphadora Tonks, a distaff member of the Black family. Both were murdered by Bellatrix Lestrange née Black, Sirius's cousin and Tonks's aunt, in battle.

With Sirius's death, the male line of the Black family ended; the female line continues through the descendants of his cousins Andromeda Tonks and Narcissa Malfoy.

Family Tree
"This is the Black family tree... I hated the lot of them."

- Sirius Black to Harry Potter

Legend: Names in grey were removed from the tree by Walburga Black. The published tree does not contain descendants of side branches of the family. See also:
 * Another Version of Black Family Tree, which shows the Blacks are additionally related to the families Longbottom, Weasley, Flint, Rosier, Macmillan, Yaxley, Prewett, Crabbe, and Crouch.
 * HP Lexicon Tree.

"Blasted Off"
"Blood traitor, abomination, shame of my flesh! …Filth! Scum! By-products of dirt and vileness! How dare you befoul the house of my fathers!"

- The portrait of Walburga Black screaming at her "traitor" son

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 pure-bloods. Some even married their own cousins; Walburga and Orion Black, for instance, were second cousins. Generations of this practice resulted in inbreeding, which in turn has caused problems such as low fertility and mental instability.

Etymology of Given Names
Most Black family members are named after stars or constellations. For example, the star Sirius is in the constellation Canis Major (the Dog). What's more, Sirius Black, an Animagus, could morph at will into a black dog named Padfoot. Another example is Bellatrix, the third brightest star in the constellation Orion, which is also the name of Sirius's father and Bellatrix's uncle. Cygnus, Andromeda, and Cassiopeia are also constellations, and Regulus, Alphard and Arcturus are stars as well.

Some members of the extended family have also chosen to follow this naming pattern. For example, Narcissa Malfoy née Black named her son Draco, which is the name of a constellation. In turn, he named his son Scorpius, which is one of the constellations of the zodiac, known as Scorpio in Western astrology.

Blood Relatives

 * Alphard Black — removed posthumously for leaving money to his disowned nephew
 * Andromeda Tonks née Black — removed for marrying a Muggle-born, Ted Tonks
 * Arcturus Black I
 * Arcturus Black II
 * Bellatrix Lestrange née Black
 * Belvina Burke née Black
 * Callidora Longbottom née Black
 * Cassiopeia Black
 * Cedrella Weasley née Black — removed for marrying a blood traitor, Septimus Weasley
 * Charis Crouch née Black
 * Cygnus Black I
 * Cygnus Black II
 * Dorea Potter née Black
 * Elladora Black
 * Isla Black — removed for marrying a Muggle, Bob Hitchens
 * Lucretia Prewett née Black
 * Lycoris Black
 * Marius Black — removed because he was a Squib
 * Narcissa Malfoy née Black
 * Orion Black
 * Phineas Nigellus Black
 * Phineas Black — removed for supporting Muggle rights
 * Pollux Black
 * Regulus Black I
 * Regulus Black II
 * Sirius Black I
 * Sirius Black II
 * Sirius Black III — removed for being a blood traitor
 * Walburga Black

Relatives by Marriage

 * Ursula Black née Flint — wife of Phineas Nigellus Black
 * Hester Black née Gamp — wife of Sirius Black I
 * Violetta Black née Bulstrode — wife of Cygnus Black I
 * Herbert Burke — husband of Belvina Black
 * Lysandra Black née Yaxley — wife of Arcturus Black I
 * Melania Black née Macmillan — wife of Arcturus Black II
 * Irma Black née Crabbe — wife of Pollux Black
 * Charlus Potter — husband of Dorea Black
 * Harfang Longbottom — husband of Callidora Black
 * Septimus Weasley — husband of Cedrella Black
 * Caspar Crouch — husband of Charis Black
 * Ignatius Prewett — husband of Lucretia Black
 * Druella Black née Rosier — wife of Cygnus Black II
 * Rodolphus Lestrange — husband of Bellatrix Black
 * Ted Tonks — husband of Andromeda Black
 * Lucius Malfoy — husband of Narcissa Black

Distant Relatives


Thus, the Blacks are related to the Flint, Gamp, Bulstrode, Burke, Yaxley, Macmillan, Crabbe, Potter, Longbottom, Weasley, Crouch, Prewett, Rosier, Lestrange, Tonks, Malfoy, and Lupin families.

Etymology
Black can be considered a colour, though it is more accurately the absence of colour. In Western culture, the colour black has typically been associated with evil, darkness, and witchcraft, but also with prestige and sophistication — appropriate for the 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 respresents 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 symbolize 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.

Behind the scenes

 * A hand drawn copy of the most recent section of the family tree was donated to a charity auction for Book Aid by J.K. Rowling, in February 2006. The drawing was purchased on behalf of Daniel Radcliffe for £30,000.
 * Another version of the family tree tapestry appeared in the Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film).
 * Many members of the House of Black have died at considerably younger ages than is the norm for wizards and witches. Of those whose dates of birth and death are shown on the family tree, none lived to be older than ninety, and most died between the ages of fifty and eighty.