Black Knight vs White Knight IRL?

The Ender

...I'm just curious:

Does the motif of black knights vs white knights have any sort of historical roots? Like, was there ever a major conflict between two houses where one house used a mostly black scheme for it's banners / uniforms while the other house used a mostly white scheme?

Gaslight

I seriously doubt it. Mankind has always used light and darkness as metaphors for good and evil, and since knights were the elite warriors of their day who represented countries, houses, and causes on the battlefield and through traditions of heraldry, it was natural and inevitable that people would conceive the idea of a knight who represents light/good or a knight who represents darkness/evil.

PedroAsani

Originally they weren't knights, just horses. And the colours weren't black and white, but any two opposing colours. Red, Green, Blue. Whatever helped differentiate the pieces.

Gaslight

PedroAsani wrote: »

Originally they weren't knights, just horses. And the colours weren't black and white, but any two opposing colours. Red, Green, Blue. Whatever helped differentiate the pieces.

You seem to be thinking about chess. I believe the OP is asking about real life, historical conflicts.

The Ender

Well, to be honest, my curiosity was sparked by the color representations in chess - so thanks for that, @PedroAsani‌ .

JebusUD

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_knight

looks like it lists a few people. Mostly known that way because of black armor, not because they were evil or something.

Enc

In the earliest forms of chess the Knight was actually representative of an entire unit of cavalry, rather than a single soldier. Pawns were infantry, bishops were elephants, and rooks were chariots.

Then France got involved.