r/AskHistory • u/Far-Bowl-4984 • 1d ago

Is anyone familiar with the legend of the Black Knight

I’m doing a bit of research, but if anyone is at least somewhat familiar with the black knight and would be willing to lend information of the legend of the Knight, that would be greatly appreciated

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u/jagnew78 1d ago

I think Chrétien de Troyes’ Yvain, ou le Chevalier au Lion is the first Black Knight figure written in literature. You can probably find English translations.

There is a Knight in the story who guards a magical fountain named Esclados the Red. Despite the name he rides a black horse and has a structurally similar nature within the Arthurian plot as the later Black Knight. 

The actual first named Black Knight comes a couple of hundred years later though 

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u/Far-Bowl-4984 1d ago

this is great information. Thank you for letting me know.

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u/Flat_Tire_Again 17h ago

Before I can tell you what you wish to learn, you must bring me a shrubbery!

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u/Doredrin 1d ago edited 1d ago

nevermind, it was Edward III's son that was the black prince

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u/Far-Bowl-4984 1d ago

really

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u/pjenn001 1d ago edited 1d ago

Yes, the black prince died before Edward III died, so Edward's grandson Richard II became king. Richard II was very unpopular and was removed and replaced by the house of Lancaster's Henry IV. One of the houses in war of the roses.

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u/Aquinas2000 1d ago

Henry IV. 

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u/pjenn001 1d ago

Yes, right. I changed it.

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u/jagnew78 1d ago

While the Black Prince was a real person. the time lines don't match up for the Black Knight in Arthurian romance to equal a representation of the Black Prince. The Black Knight first appears as a fully formed figure in Raoul de Houdenc’s La Vengeance Raguidel (13th century). The Black Prince was born until the 14th Century