| The White Company | |
|---|---|
1st book edition in 3 volumes (UK) |
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| Author(s) | Arthur Conan Doyle |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Historical novel |
| Publisher | Smith, Elder & Co. (UK) Thomas Y. Crowell Co. (US) |
| Publication date | 1891 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback) |
| Pages | 483 |
| ISBN | NA |
| Preceded by | The Great Keinplatz Experiment |
| Followed by | The Doings of Raffles Haw |
The White Company is a historical adventure by Arthur Conan Doyle set during the Hundred Years' War[1]. The story is set in England, France, and Spain, in the years 1366 and 1367, against the background of the campaign of Edward, the Black Prince to restore Peter of Castile to the throne of the Kingdom of Castile. The climax of the book occurs before the Battle of Nájera. Doyle became inspired to write the novel after attending a lecture on medieval times in 1889. After extensive research, The White Company was published in serialized form in 1891 in Cornhill Magazine.
The novel is relatively unknown today, though it was very popular up through the Second World War. In fact, Doyle himself regarded this and his other historical novels more highly than the Sherlock Holmes adventures for which he is mainly remembered.
The "White Company" of the title is a free company of archers, led by one of the main characters. The name is taken from a real-life 14th-Century Italian mercenary company, led by John Hawkwood.
Contents |
At the age of twenty, the young Alleyne, son of Edric, intelligent, skilled, and well-liked, though sheltered and naive, leaves the Catholic abbey where he has been raised and goes out to see the world, in accordance with the terms of his father's will. The same day, the abbot banishes John of Hordle, for worldly behavior: great appetite, teasing, and flirting. At the Pied Merlin inn, they make friends with veteran archer Sam Aylward. He has returned to England from France to recruit for the White Company of mercenaries, and brings an request for Sir Nigel Loring of Christchurch to take command. Aylward and John continue to Christchurch, while Alleyne detours to visit his older brother, the "socman" or landlord of Minstead, whose fierce reputation has grown to wickedness.
Meeting the first time since Alleyne was an infant, the socman is threatening a lovely maiden, and still furious their father gave three hides (80-120 acres) to the monastery for the boy's support. Maude bids flee the dogs, and laughs when Alleyne states that his intentions to rejoin his friends will lead to Sir Loring. Indeed, Sir Loring takes Alleyne as squire and tutor to his daughter, the same Maude, and two other damsels. When the men must depart for France, the young couple admit their love, only to each other. Enroute to Gascony, our heroes destroy pirates, then report to the court of the Prince of Wales.
After adventures fearful and funny, the valiant fighters lead the White Company to join the Prince. The Spanish and French attack them in a narrow ravine, where the mighty warriors are almost all destroyed and the Company must disband. John and Alleyne, badly wounded, survive, but Sir Nigel and Aylward are missing and presumed dead. The English go on to win the Battle of Nájera, fulfilling the mission. The Prince knights Alleyne in his sick bed, and the former socman has died. Sir Edrikson, new socman, returns victorious, John his squire, to snatch Maude from the doors of the nunnery, for marriage. Enroute back to rescue their friends, all reunite for a happy ever after.
There was a real knight named Sir Nigel Loring at the time the novel is set, but the historical record supplied few details and his role in the book is largely Doyle's invention. He is known to have been an original member of the Order of the Garter, and to have been in the Black Prince's bodyguard, particularly at the Battle of Poitiers on 19 September 1356. He was also, as a member of the Prince's war council, and his chamberlain, part of the delegation that negotiated a truce at Bordeaux, following that battle. As a reward for his role in that battle, he was granted 83 Pounds per annum by the Prince.
Amory Blaine, the protagonist in F. Scott Fitzgerald's This Side of Paradise reads The White Company early in the book. Several of the characters in S. M. Stirling's Emberverse novels share names with characters from this book and are apparently descendants and/or reincarnations of the characters, and Stirling has acknowledged its influence on his own writing.