Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's historical novel The White Company was written at the same time as the first round of Sherlock Holmes stories. The novel was initially serialized in The Cornhill Magazine from January through December 1891 and then published in book form in 1892. Doyle said The White Company was the most fun novel of his to write. It was very popular in its time.

Doyle is part of the classic popular fiction writers of the late 19th Century that incuded H. Rider Haggard, Rudyard Kipling, Robert Louis Stevenson, and H. G. Wells. Doyle had written of course detective but also historical and fantastic fiction. His historical novels are well thought of but not remembered as well today as his most famous creation, Sherlock Holmes.

The White Company takes place during the years 1366-1367 A.D. The novel starts at the Cistercian monastery of Beaulieu in Hampshire, England. First a novice, the very large, red-headed Hordle John is expelled for bad behaviour in a dramatic manner. Meanwhile, twenty year old Alleyne Edricson has finished ten years living in the monastery and is about to leave for one year to experience the outside world. He can return to live as a monk, if he chooses, at the end of the year. Alleyne meets up with Hordle John on the road and then with Samkin Aylward, a military archer for hire recruiting for the White Company. The White Company is an English mercenary outfit in France fighting in the Hundred Years’ War.

Each chapter has a series of incidents including Alleyne Edricson's bad meeting with his brother. He also meets Lady Maud.

The three travel to Sir Nigel Loring of Christchurch's castle. Sam Aylward has carried the message requesting Sir Nigel to take command of the White Company. Alleyne Edricson becomes Sir Nigel's squire.

Sir Nigel is a small and somewhat gentle man. He is the embodiement of chivalry but a top notch fighting man. There is a fight with Norman and Genoese pirates. Sir Nigel admires the fighting spirit of the pirate captains:

"My God, but it is a noble fight!' shouted big John, clapping his hands. “They have cleared the poop, and they spring into the waist. Well struck, my lord! Well struck, Aylward! See to Black Simon, how he storms among the shipmen! But this Spade-beard is a gallant warrior. He rallies his men upon the forecastle. He hath slain an archer.”

The White Company becomes part of an expedition under Edward the Black Prince and Sir John Chandos to restore the deposed King Peter (Pedro) of Castile. Sir Nigel and others deal with a peasant revolt in southern France along the way, saving Bertrand du Guesclin's wife. Du Guesclin is a famous warlord on the French side of the Hundred Years’ War who lead French and Spanish forces against Edward the Black Prince.

The English/Gascon forces make it to Spain. Marching through some bad country, the White Company is attacked and almost completely wiped out in the Battle of Arinez.

From side to side stretched the thin line of the English, lightly armed and quick-footed, while against it stormed and raged the pressing throng of fiery Spaniards and of gallant Bretons. The clink of crossing sword-blades, the dull thudding of heavy blows, the panting and gasping of weary and wounded men, all rose together in a wild, long-drawn note, which swelled upwards to the ears of the wondering peasants who looked down from the edges of the cliffs upon the swaying turmoil of the battle beneath them. Back and forward reeled the leopard banner, now borne up the slope by the rush and weight of the onslaught, now pushing downwards again as Sir Nigel, Burley, and Black Simon with their veteran men-at arms, flung themselves madly into the fray. Alleyne, at his lord's right hand, found himself swept hither and thither in the desperate struggle, exchanging savage thrusts one instant with a Spanish cavalier, and the next torn away by the whirl of men and dashed up against some new antagonist. To the right Sir Oliver, Aylward, Hordle John, and the bowmen of the Company fought furiously against the monkish Knights of Santiago, who were led up the hill by their prior—a great, deep-chested man, who wore a brown monastic habit over his suit of mail. Three archers he slew in three giant strokes, but Sir Oliver flung his arms round him, and the two, staggering and straining, reeled backwards and fell, locked in each other's grasp, over the edge of the steep cliff which flanked the hill. In vain his knights stormed and raved against the thin line which barred their path: the sword of Aylward and the great axe of John gleamed in the forefront of the battle and huge jagged pieces of rock, hurled by the strong arms of the bowmen, crashed andhurtled amid their ranks. Slowly they gave back down the hill, the archers still hanging upon their skirts, with a long litter of writhing and twisted figures to mark the course which they had taken. At the same instant the Welshmen upon the left, led on by the Scotch earl, had charged out from among the rocks which sheltered them, and by the fury of their outfall had driven the Spaniards in front of them in headlong flight down the hill. In the centre only things seemed to be going ill with the defenders. Black Simon was down—dying, as he would wish to have died, like a grim old wolf in its lair with a ring of his slain around him. Twice Sir Nigel had been overborne, and twice Alleyne had fought over him until he had staggered to his feet once more.

Sir Nigel sends Alleyne Edricson to get help which arrives too late for most. The novel is wrapped up back in England to the satisfaction of all, with a surprise revelation at the end.

The White Company is a picaresque novel. Doyle had a tendency to spend a lot of space in setting up the characters and situation while wrapping things up on the fast side.

The White Company is Doyle's love letter to chivalry. Chivalry was a code that restrained warfare from getting out of hand in Europe for centuries. This is a novel to put next to Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe and The Talisman, H. Rider Haggard's The Brethren, Robert Louis Stevenson's The Black Arrow, and Howard Pyle's Men of Iron.

This novel was quite popular during the interwar years. Its popularity continued on throughout the Second World War. The British government made sure that despite paper shortages, The White Company was kept in print. The book was considered a national morale booster. We also know that President Dwight D. Eisenhower was a fan of Doyle’s follow-up novel, Sir Nigel.

The White Company was also an influence on Robert E. Howard. He mentioned Samkin Aylward in a letter. There is a section in The Hour of the Dragon where Conan is travelling through civil-war ravaged Zingara, REH’s medieval Spain analog. This is inspired by The White Company.

Morgan Holmes searches out obscure sword & sorcery fiction, likes dogs, thinks about prehistoric birds and mammals, and blogs at Castaliahouse.com. He has been published in The Cimmerian, Crypt of Cthulhu, The Heroic Reader, Two-Gun Raconteur among others. His non-fiction collection of REH-related writings, Enter the Barbarian, can be found on Amazon here.