The Black Knight is the title given to several characters in Western literature.
The Black Knight appears in different forms in Arthurian legend. In one tale he is a knight who tied his wife to a tree after hearing she had exchanged rings with Perceval. Perceval defeated the black knight and explained that it was an innocent exchange. A supernatural Black Knight is also summoned by Sir Calogrenant (Cynon ap Clydno in Welsh mythology) in the tale of Yvain, the Knight of the Lion. Calogrenant is bested by the Black Knight, but the Black Knight is later killed by Ywain (Owain mab Urien) when he attempts to complete the quest that Calogrenant failed.
A black knight is also the son of Tom a'Lincoln and Anglitora (the daughter of Prester John) in Richard Johnson's Arthurian romance, Tom a'Lincoln. Through Tom, he is thus a grandson of King Arthur, though his proper name is never given. He killed his mother after hearing from his father's ghost that she had murdered him. He later joined the Faerie Knight, his half-brother, in adventures.
A black knight is also mentioned as being killed by Gareth when he was traveling to rescue Lyonesse.
In the novel Ivanhoe, one of the characters is an unknown black knight who fights alongside Ivanhoe in a tournament and helps assault Front-de-Boeuf's castle. He is later revealed to be King Richard I.
The Arthurian black knight has survived past its appearance in the medieval Arthurian romances. A giant knight, clad in black, named Orgoglio (Pride) appears in The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser, whom Prince Arthur kills after first severing his arms and legs. Consequently, this black knight is part of a genre trope lampooned by the scene with the black knight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. In Conquests of Camelot the Black Knight of Glastonbury was a spirit that held Sir Gawain captive.
Famous quotes containing the words black and/or knight:
“When a Jamaican is born of a black woman and some English or Scotsman, the black mother is literally and figuratively kept out of sight as far as possible, but no one is allowed to forget that white father, however questionable the circumstances of birth.”
—Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960)
“The Knight of the Doleful Countenance.”
—Miguel De Cervantes (1547–1616)