The White Company

infobox Book |
name = The White Company
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author = Arthur Conan Doyle
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country = United Kingdom
language = English
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genre = Historical novel
publisher =
release_date = 1891
media_type = Print (Hardback)
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isbn = NA
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"The White Company" by Arthur Conan Doyle is a historical adventure set during the Hundred Years' War. "The White Company" is set in the late 14th century, mostly in England and France.

When Arthur Conan Doyle was young, his mother used to tell him tales about glorious knights and their chivalrous deeds. But it was not until 1889 when he attended a lecture on medieval times that Doyle began to seriously think about the fourteenth century. He extensively researched, and The White Company was initially published in serialized form in 1891 in Cornhill Magazine.

Despite its lack of fame today, it was very popular at the time and throughout the Second World War.

The name seems to be taken from the famous 14th Century Italian mercenary company, led by John Hawkwood.

Plot introduction

The novel tells the many adventures of Alleyne Edricson and The White Company. It begins with the expulsion of John Hordle from the monastery of Beaulieau because of his excesses; he was gluttonous, quarrelsome and was seen accosting a prostitute. As the abbot Berghersh orders him to be flogged, Hordle, an incredibly big and strong man, attacks the would be flogger and runs away from the monastery, whereby the abbot declares that he was expelled. Hordle, as it turns out, was not a God-fearing person and had joined the monastery in a fit of depression when his sweetheart had rejected him to marry another man.

Later, as the abbot is busy in prayer, Alleyne Edricson comes to ask leave from him. If Hordle was the renegade beast, Alleyne was his opposite in every way. He was young, skilled, effeminate, and well- liked by everyone. Twenty years ago, when Alleyne was still an infant, his father had gifted a lot of land for the monastery. In return, he had asked the abbot to care for and teach his son till he came of age, at which stage to let him out of the monastery for one year to let him see the world. After one year, Alleyne would be free to come back to the monastery to become a monk or choose any other career. Having come of age, he is to go out into the 'wicked' world today. The abbot prays for him and Alleyne says goodbye to the monastery with a heavy heart.

Characters

Main characters

*Alleyne Edricson
*Sir Nigel Loring
*Samkin Aylward
*Hordle John

Other characters

*Abbot Berghersh
*Sir Oliver Buttesthorn
*Simon Edricson, Socman of Minstead
*Walter Ford, esquire
*Goodwin Hawtayne
*Sir Claude Latour
*Lady Mary Loring
*Maude Loring
*Black Simon of Norwich
*Peter Terlake, esquire
*John Tranter

Historical figures who appear as characters in the novel

*James Audley, 2nd Baron Audley
*Bernard Brocas
*Hugh Calvely
*Henry II of Castile
*Pedro of Castile
*John Chandos
*Olivier de Clisson
*Edward III of England
* Thomas Felton
*William Felton
*John of Gaunt
*Jean III de Grailly, captal de Buch
*Bertrand du Guesclin
*Robert Knolles
*James IV of Majorca
*Charles II of Navarre
*Thomas Percy, 1st Earl of Worcester
*Sir Simon de Burley(There was also a real knight named Sir Nigel Loring at the time the novel is set, but the historical record supplied only his name and he is otherwise Doyle's invention.)

Influence

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.

External links

*Gutenberg|no=903