The White Company
1891
Doyle called this his finest work, and those who discover it understand why. The novel follows Alleyne Edricson, raised in the sheltered calm of Beaulieu Abbey, who steps into a 14th century Europe torn by the Hundred Years' War. He finds his calling among the White Company, a mercenary band of archers led by Sir Nigel Loring: a knight as unlikely as they come, short and nearly blind with a warrior's heart that defies his comic appearance. The story builds toward the Black Prince's campaign to restore Peter of Castile, culminating before the Battle of Najera. Yet the real drama lives in Alleyne's transformation from trembling novice to man of action, in the bonds of brotherhood forged in blood and ale, in Doyle's visceral rendering of medieval combat and the strange faith of men who kill and pray with equal fervor. This is historical fiction that pulses with life.
