The White Company

by Arthur Conan Doyle

Overview

“...[W]orth a hundred Sherlock Holmes stories.” That was how Arthur Conan Doyle characterized The White Company, the book he considered his best work. Set against the background of the Hundred Years War, an extended conflict between France and England, The White Company rivals the best works of historical romance. Not only is it richly textured with accurate historical detail, it features several memorable characters: Sir Nigel Loring and Alleyne, his squire, as well as Hordle John, a lovable rogue, and Allewyn, the master archer.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781447468028
Publisher:	Baker Press
Publication date:	11/30/2012
Pages:	560
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.25(d)

About the Author

Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) was a Scottish author best known for his classic detective fiction, although he wrote in many other genres including dramatic work, plays, and poetry. He began writing stories while studying medicine and published his first story in 1887. His Sherlock Holmes character is one of the most popular inventions of English literature, and has inspired films, stage adaptions, and literary adaptations for over 100 years.

Date of Birth:

May 22, 1859

Date of Death:

July 7, 1930

Place of Birth:

Edinburgh, Scotland

Place of Death:

Crowborough, Sussex, England

Education:

Edinburgh University, B.M., 1881; M.D., 1885

Read an Excerpt

Chapter I

How the black sheep came forth from the fold

The great bell of Beaulieu was ringing. Far away through the forest might be heard its musical clangor and swell. Peat-cutters on Blackdown and fishers upon the Exe heard the distant throbbing rising and falling upon the sultry summer air. It was a common sound in those parts -as common as the chatter of the jays and the booming of the bittern. Yet the fishers and the peasants raised their heads and looked questions at each other, for the angelus had already gone and vespers was still far off. Why should the great bell of Beaulieu toll when the shadows were neither short nor long?

All round the Abbey the monks were trooping in. Under the long green-paved avenues of gnarled oaks and of lichened beeches the whiterobed brothers gathered to the sound. From the vineyard and the vine-press, from the bouvary or ox-farm, from the marl-pits and salterns, even from the distant iron-works of Sowley and the outlying grange of St. Leonard's, they had all turned their steps homewards. It had been no sudden call. A swift messenger had the night before sped round to the outlying dependencies of the Abbey, and had left the summons for every monk to be back in the cloisters by the third hour after noontide. So urgent a message had not been issued within the memory of old lay-brother Athanasius, who had cleaned the Abbey knocker since the years after the Battle of Bannockburn.

A stranger who knew nothing either of the Abbey or of its immense resources might have gathered from the appearance of the brothers some conception of the varied duties which they were called upon to perform, andof the busy, wide-spread life which centered in the old monastery. As they swept gravely in by twos and by threes, with bended heads and muttering lips, there were few who did not bear upon them some signs of their daily toil. Here were two with wrists and sleeves all spotted with the ruddy grape juice. There again was a bearded brother with a broad-headed axe and a bundle of faggots upon his shoulders, while beside him walked another with the shears under his arm and the white wool still clinging to his whiter gown. A long, straggling troop bore spades and mattocks, while the two rearmost of all staggered along under a huge basket of fresh-caught carp, for the morrow was Friday, and there were fifty platters to be filled and as many sturdy trenchermen behind them. Of all the throng there was scarce one who was not labor-stained and weary, for Abbot Berghersh was a hard man to himself and to others.

Meanwhile, in the broad and lofty chamber set apart for occasions of import, the Abbot himself was pacing impatiently backwards and forwards, with his long white nervous hands clasped in front of him. His thin, thought-worn features and sunken, haggard cheeks bespoke one who had indeed beaten down that inner foe whom every man must face, but had none the less suffered sorely in the contest. In crushing his passions he had well-nigh crushed himself. Yet, frail as was his person, there gleamed out ever and anon from under his drooping brows a flash of fierce energy, which recalled to men's minds that he came of .a fighting stock, and that even now his twin-brother, Sir Bartholomew Berghersh, was one of the most famous of those stern warriors who had planted the Cross of St. George before the gates of Paris. With lips compressed and clouded brow, he strode up and down the oaken floor, the very genius and impersonation of asceticism, while the great bell still thundered and clanged above his head. At last the uproar died away in three last, measured throbs, and ere their echo had ceased the Abbot struck a small gong which summoned a lay-brother to his presence.

"Have the brethern come?" he asked in the Anglo-French dialect used in religious houses.

"hey are here," the other answered, with his eyes cast down and his hands crossed upon his chest.

"All?"

Two and thirty of the seniors and fifteen of the novices, most holy father. Brother Mark of the Spicarium is sore smitten with a fever and could not come. He said that--"

"It boots not what he said. F ever or no, he should have come at call His spirit must be chastened, as must that of many more in mythis Abbey. You yourself, brother Francis, have twice raised your voice, so it hath come to my ears, when the reader in the refectory hath been dealing with the lives of God's most blessed saints. What hast thou to say? "

The lay-brother stood meek and silent, with his arms still crossed in front of him.

"One thousand aves and as many credos, said standing with arms outstretched before the shrine of the Virgin, may help thee to remember that the Creator hath given us two ears and but one mouth, as a token that there is twice the work for the one as for the other. Where is the master of the novices?"

"He is without, most holy father."

"Send him hither."

The sandaled feet clattered over the wooden floor, and the iron-bound door creaked upon its hinges. In a few moments it opened again to admit a short square monk with a heavy, composed face and an authoritative manner.

You have sent for me, holy father?

Yes, brother Jerome, I wish that this matter be disposed of with as little scandal as may be, and yet it is needful that the example should be a public one." The Abbot spoke in Latin now, as a language which was more fitted by its age and solemnity to convey the thoughts of two high dignitaries of the order.

The White Company. Copyright © by Arthur Doyle. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.

Table of Contents

I	How the Black Sheep came Forth from the Fold	1
II	How Alleyne Edicson came Out into the World	10
III	How Hordle John cozened the Fuller of Lymington	15
IV	How the Bailiff of Southampton Slew the Two Masterless Men	20
V	How a Strange Company Gathered at the "Pied Merlin"	31
VI	How Samkin Aylward Wagered his Feather-bed	43
VII	How the Three Comrades Journeyed through the Woodlands	54
VIII	The Three Friends	64
IX	How Strange Things Befell in Minstead Wood	73
X	How Hordle John Found a Man whom he Might Follow	89
XI	How a Young Shepherd had a Perilous Flock	106
XII	How Alleyne Learned More Than he Could Teach	118
XIII	How the White Company set Forth to the Wars	127
XIV	How Sir Nigel Sought for a Wayside Venture	134
XV	How the Yellow Cog sailed Forth from Lepe	144
XVI	How the Yellow Cog Fought the Two Rover Galleys	156
XVII	How the Yellow Cog Crossed the Bar of Gironde	163
XVIII	How Sir Nigel Loring put a Patch upon his Eye	170
XIX	How there was a Stir at the Abbey of St. Andrew's	180
XX	How Alleyne Won his Place in an Honorable Guild	191
XXI	How Agostino Pisano Risked his Head	200
XXII	How the Bowmen held Wassail at the "Rose de Guienne"	209
XXIII	How England held the Lists at Bordeaux	216
XXIV	How a Champion came Forth from the East	225
XXV	How Sir Nigel wrote to Twynham Castle	234
XXVI	How the Three Comrades Gained a Mighty Treasure	240
XXVII	How Roger Club-foot was Passed into Paradise	252
XXVIII	How the Comrades came over the Marches of France	261
XXIX	How the Blessed Hour of Sight Came to the Lady Tiphaine	272
XXX	How the Brushwood Men came to the Chateau of Villefranche	282
XXXI	How Five Men held the Keep of Villefranche	290
XXXII	How the Company took Counsel Round the Fallen Tree	300
XXXIII	How the Army made the Passage of Roncesvalles	307
XXXIV	How the Company Made Sport in the Vale of Pampeluna	314
XXXV	How Sir Nigel Hawked at an Eagle	324
XXXVI	How Sir Nigel Took the Patch from his Eye	336
XXXVII	How the White Company came to be Disbanded	348
XXXVIII	Of the Home-coming to Hampshire	356

Editorial Reviews

Taking a break from Sherlock Holmes, the author has written an action-packed adventure story set in the fourteenth century. The title refers to a band of English mercenaries fighting in France during this tumultuous era, and the book is true to other chivalric tales of the day. Narrator Nick Rawlinson’s buttery English accent sets the perfect tone for this story. His voice is crystal clear, and his accents are impeccable. Rawlinson is able to ease into different dialects within the same conversation while maintaining exceptional diction and pacing. Conan Doyle fans will be especially pleased with this change of pace, and newcomers will delight in a well-told adventure. R.I.G. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine

FEB/MAR 05 - AudioFile