Prince edmund blackadder



Prince Edmund Plantagenet, Duke of Edinburgh (August/September 1461 - December 1498) is a fictional character in the first series of the BBC sitcom The Black Adder.

Character overview
Edmund is (officially) the son of King Richard IV by his Queen Gerturde. Gertrude was at the time of his conception having an affair with Donald McAngus, 3rd Duke of Argyll. Which of the two men was his biological father is uncertain, although it seems that it was probably McAngus. A slimy, amoral schemer, he is a complete nonentity in the Royal family to everybody except for his mother and his brother, who show affection and loyalty towards him. The King despises him, frequently calling him by the wrong name and even more frequently forgetting that he exists at all, in contrast to the affection in which he holds his eldest son, Harry (Robert East). Edmund hatches a "cunning plan" in every episode to elevate himself to the throne over his brother; these plots invariably fail. He is assisted in his every scheme by his henchmen, Baldrick, Son of Robin the Dung Gatherer and Percy, Duke of Northumberland.

Blackadder connection
Prince Edumund is supposedly the first Blackadder as he takes the name "The Black Adder" after his father becomes king and he becomes a prince.

Despite this he is quite diffrent to all the other blackadders who are usually charming, intelligent and witty while this one was snivelling and mostly slow-witted.

Despite this he does have the Blackadder blood and more intelligent than his reputation as he has come up with some plans that work only to fail at the last minute due to bad luck or Percy’s stupidity, he also is able to grasp many things faster than others, i.e. the deaths of the archbishops (which his brother thought were accidents), he also at times does show the wit and acid tongue that blackadders are famous for.

He also like the rest has the ability to see events with modern eyes, i.e. he views events as how they would be viewed today, i.e. the witch hunter’s techniques. and he also possess the Blackadder hatred for contemporary arts and culture, and supposedly heroes.

He also does have the ability to weasel, lie and con his way out of problems or into partnerships like his descendents.

Like several over blackadders he was shown with weapons every so often, usually these would be something he grabbed of the wall in his room to attack Percy or someone because of a stupid idea or annoying/insulting him.

He was also shown with a sword several times but was only seen using it rarely, The Foretelling he used his sword to slice King Richard III's head off. in The Archbishop it would apper he has some skill as he and Lord Percy hold their own against two knights for a little while (though the fight was not fully shown so we don't truly know how good he is). Although he lost the duel to Dougal McAngus, the only reason he lost the duel was because his sword was weak, so it is unknown if he would have done well against McAngus or not.

He is also shown to be able to ride a horse, and athough he is shown falling off a lot in the opening credits and closing one's he almost never does in the series

Titles and honours

 * Lord Edmund Plantagenet (1461-1485)


 * The Duke of Edinburgh (1485-1498)
 * Lord Warden of the Royal Privies (1485-1498)
 * The Laird of Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles (1485-1487)
 * Archbishop of Canterbury (for a brief period in 1487)
 * King Edmund III of England (for about 30 seconds in December 1498)

Origin of name
Although he is believed and accepted as the first Blackadder there is a debate about this although he does call himself the Black Adder in the first episode, in the special Blackadder: back and forth there is mention (and one of them is seen) of two others using the name Blackadder before prince Edmund is born. How this is possible is unknown, the earliest one is a roman soider, centurion Blackaddicus. One possible explanation is that since Baldrick’s the one who gives him that name, maybe it's a family name and Baldrick liked it and wanted it to continue and Edmund was just to dumb to remember although this doesn't sound likely since this Edmund (although dumb) was nowhere that stupid. It's also possible that centurion Blackadder and the fourteenth century lord Blackadder are not related although this is very unlikly since they look and sound very similiar; also centurion Blackadder also acts a lot like the Blackadder clan. Maybe it's simply interference with history by King Edmund.

Appearances

 * The Foretelling
 * Born to be King
 * The Archbishop
 * The Queen of Spain's Beard
 * Witchsmeller Pursuivant
 * The Black Seal