17 h 2 minAudiobook12 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What does a gentle scholar know of courage when the monastery gate opens onto a world at war?
In Arthur Conan Doyle's The White Company, Alleyne Edricson leaves the monks who raise him and steps into fourteenth-century England. He knows Latin better than life beyond the abbey. Among farmers, rogues and soldiers, he must find his place—and learn what it means to become a worthy man.
The road brings two unlikely friends: Hordle John, a huge former novice, and Samkin Aylward, a seasoned archer. Together they follow Sir Nigel Loring, a small, short-sighted knight with fearless resolve, into the Hundred Years War. Across England and France, friendship and the promise of honour meet the hard demands of a soldier's life.
What you’ll discover
- A scholar on the road Follow Alleyne beyond the cloister as learning gives way to the difficult lessons of experience.
- Friends of unlikely kinds Share the warmth and humour of companions whose loyalty gives this adventure its heart.
- A knight beyond appearances Meet Sir Nigel, whose small frame and poor sight conceal fearless courage and steadfast courtesy.
- The bowman's world Step among skilled archers and professional soldiers, where the English longbow holds a central place.
- Honour tested by war Explore brotherhood, knighthood and war's cost amid roads, inns, castles and detailed scenes of battle.
Who will love it
For readers who love medieval adventure, loyal friends who grow up on the road, and stories of knights and archers. Friendship, courage and the code of chivalry give this journey its heart.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A young scholar must leave the monastery
- Two rough friends join Alleyne's road
- A brother's door stays closed
- Sir Nigel Loring, the smallest giant
- A lady's challenge sends the knight to war
- The archers become the White Company
- Honour, brotherhood and the cost of war
- The real world behind the adventure
- How Doyle tells the tale
Who’s who
- Alleyne EdricsonA gentle young scholar raised by monks who must make his way in the world and become a worthy squire and man.
- Hordle JohnA huge, good-natured former novice with a taste for fighting, who becomes Alleyne's loyal friend and protector.
- Samkin AylwardA skilled archer and veteran of the French wars, who knows the soldier's trade and leads the bowmen.
- Sir Nigel LoringA small, short-sighted, courteous knight, fearless and true to his word, who longs to win honour in war.
- Maude LoringA noble young lady whose beauty and character stay in Alleyne's mind and drive him to prove himself.
- Alleyne's brotherA hard, suspicious Socman of Minstead who has no welcome for the younger brother who returns from the abbey.
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- Audiobook
- 17 h 2 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 12 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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La Compagnie blanche
by Arthur Conan Doyle · 1891
Alleyne leaves his monastery to find his place in the world, joining a tiny knight and his archers on the road to war.
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From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 9
A young scholar must leave the monastery
The story opens at Beaulieu Abbey in Hampshire, where the Cistercian monks have raised Alleyne Edricson since he was a child. He is almost twenty and has studied hard. He can read, copy manuscripts and sing, and he has a quiet, honest nature. What he does not have is any knowledge of ordinary life beyond the abbey walls.
His father left a will with an odd condition. Alleyne may stay with the monks until his twentieth year, and after that he must go out into the world and live there for a time. The abbot does not wish to break the rule, and so the young man is sent away with a few coins, some good advice and a little hope. His family holds land at Minstead, and he has a brother there whom he has hardly known.
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What is The White Company about?
It follows Alleyne Edricson, a young man raised in a monastery, who leaves to find his place in the world. He joins Sir Nigel Loring and a band of English archers and goes to fight in the wars in France and Spain.
Is The White Company based on a true story?
It is fiction set against real history. The Hundred Years War, the Black Prince and the French commander Bertrand du Guesclin are real. Doyle published the novel in 1891 and set it in the 1360s.
Who is Sir Nigel Loring?
He is the small, short-sighted, polite knight whom Alleyne serves as squire. He is brave, honest and devoted to the code of chivalry, and he is partly based on a real English knight of the same name.
The author
Arthur Conan Doyle
1859–1930 · British detective novelist
Arthur Conan Doyle was a British writer and physician born in Edinburgh in 1859. He practised medicine in England and wrote novels, short stories and histories. His Sherlock Holmes stories began with A Study in Scarlet in 1887. He also wrote The Lost World in 1912. He died in Crowborough, England, in 1930.
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