The White Company

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote The White Company at the very beginning of his career. When he finished it he said that he would never write anything better in his life. It's a great boys adventure story set in late 1300s, medieval Europe. It paints an amazing picture of knights and wars and the constant battles between England and France. You can easily forget when you're reading it that the author lived in the late 1800s. He describes in perfect detail what a true knight of England should be, and you get easily caught up in wanting to see the hero become such a knight.

And yet, the thought crossed my mind that, despite all the trappings and talk of honour and nobility, these men are fighting for the sheer sake of fighting. Essentially it's gang warfare in medieval France. Battles are waged over issues of respect and territory is marked out and defended. The fact that men are dying so they can prove who is the stronger and more noble doesn't seem to bother them. These knights aren't fighting evil, they aren't defending their home or the home of another, they are fighting so that the prince of England can expand his territory, and they are fighting men they often see as friends.

But ignore my cynicism and read the book anyway. It's a fast-paced, fun story, and even if Sir Nigel bears a startling similarity to a David Eddings' knight called Mandorallen, it's worth reading.

"If the good will lock themselves up, and if the wicked will still wander free, then alas for the world!"