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The White Company · Chapters

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Chapter companions for The White Company by Arthur Conan Doyle.

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  1. Chapter 1

    Dedication

    The author dedicates the book to the hope of the future reunion of the English-speaking races, presenting this chronicle of their common ancestry.

  2. Chapter 2

    The White Company

    The chapter introduces the formation of the White Company, a band of archers and men-at-arms led by Sir Nigel Loring, as they gather at the Pied Merlin Inn and set forth on their journey to France. Alleyne Edricson, recently departed from Beaulieu Abbey, joins the company alongside Hordle John and Samkin Aylward, marking the beginning of their martial adventures.

  3. Chapter 3

    How the Black Sheep Came Forth from the Fold

    The great bell of Beaulieu Abbey summons all monks back to the cloisters for an urgent assembly. Abbot Berghersh presides over a disciplinary hearing in which Brother Ambrose accuses the novice John of three counts. When John is sentenced to be scourged from the precincts, he violently resists, seizing a prie-dieu as a weapon, then flees the Abbey down the Lyndhurst Road.

  4. Chapter 4

    How Alleyne Edricson Came Out Into the World

    Alleyne Edricson, a young man raised in Beaulieu Abbey, prepares to leave the monastery at age twenty as per his father's dying wish. He receives a blessing from Abbot Berghersh, who quizzes him on his education and worldly knowledge. Alleyne packs gifts from the monks and sets out, first intending to visit his brother, the Socman of Minstead, despite warnings about his brother's violent nature. The chapter ends with Alleyne looking back at the Abbey with a heavy heart.

  5. Chapter 5

    How Hordle John Cozened the Fuller of Lymington

    Alleyne Edricson, on his journey from Beaulieu Abbey to Minstead, encounters a series of comic misadventures involving the roguish Hordle John. First, he meets Peter the Fuller, who has been tricked by John into exchanging his clothes for a monk's habit, only to be left nearly naked when John runs off with both sets of garments. Alleyne retrieves clothes for Peter from a charcoal-burner's wife, but John returns and cozens the fuller a second time, leaving him in only a shirt and shoes. Alleyne then meets John himself, who is struggling with the oversized robe he took from Peter. The chapter highlights Alleyne's naivety and the contrast between his sheltered monastic upbringing and the wiles of the outside world.

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  1. Chapter 6How the Bailiff of Southampton Slew the Two Masterless Men
  2. Chapter 7How a Strange Company Gathered at the Pied Merlin
  3. Chapter 8How Samkin Aylward Wagered His Featherbed
  4. Chapter 9How the Three Comrades Journeyed Through the Woodlands
  5. Chapter 10The Three Friends
  6. Chapter 11IX: How Strange Things Befell in Minstead Wood
  7. Chapter 12How Hordle John Found a Man Whom He Might Follow
  8. Chapter 13How a Young Shepherd Had a Perilous Flock
  9. Chapter 14How Alleyne Learned More Than He Could Teach
  10. Chapter 15XIII: How the White Company Set Forth to the Wars
  11. Chapter 16How Sir Nigel Sought for a Wayside Venture
  12. Chapter 17How the Yellow Cog Sailed Forth from Lepe
  13. Chapter 18How the Yellow Cog Fought the Two Rover Galleys
  14. Chapter 19How the Yellow Cog Crossed the Bar of Gironde
  15. Chapter 20XVIII: How Sir Nigel Loring Put a Patch Upon His Eye
  16. Chapter 21XIX: How There Was Stir at the Abbey of St. Andrew's
  17. Chapter 22How Alleyne Won His Place in an Honorable Guild
  18. Chapter 23How Agostino Pisano Risked His Head
  19. Chapter 24XXII: How the Bowmen Held Wassail at the Rose de Guienne
  20. Chapter 25XXIII: How England Held the Lists at Bordeaux
  21. Chapter 26How a Champion Came Forth from the East
  22. Chapter 27How Sir Nigel Wrote to Twynham Castle
  23. Chapter 28How the Three Comrades Gained a Mighty Treasure
  24. Chapter 29XXVII: How Roger Clubfoot Was Passed Into Paradise
  25. Chapter 30XXVIII: How the Comrades Came Over the Marches of France
  26. Chapter 31How the Blessed Hour of Sight Came to the Lady Tiphaine
  27. Chapter 32How the Brushwood Men Came to the Château of Villefranche
  28. Chapter 33How Five Men Held the Keep of Villefranche
  29. Chapter 34How the Company Took Counsel Round the Fallen Tree
  30. Chapter 35How the Army Made the Passage of Roncesvalles
  31. Chapter 36How the Company Made Sport in the Vale of Pampeluna
  32. Chapter 37How Sir Nigel Hawked at an Eagle
  33. Chapter 38How Sir Nigel Took the Patch from His Eye
  34. Chapter 39How the White Company Came to Be Disbanded
  35. Chapter 40XXXVIII: Of the Homecoming to Hampshire