The White Company by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The White Company is a historical adventure by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle set during the Hundred Years' War. The story The White Company is set in England, France and Spain during the Middle Ages in the years 1366 and 1367. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle became inspired to write the novel The White Company after attending a lecture on medieval times and starting his own years-long, extensive research.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle himself regarded The White Company and his other historical novels more highly than the Sherlock Holmes adventures which he is mainly remembered for. The novel The White Company is relatively unknown today, though it was very popular through the Second World War.
The "White Company" of the title is a free company of archers, led by one of the main characters. The name White Company is taken from a real-life 14th-Century Italian mercenary company, led by John Hawkwood: At the age of twenty, the young Alleyne, son of Edric, intelligent, skilled, and well-liked, though sheltered and naive, leaves home to see the world. The same day, the abbot banishes John of Hordle, for worldly behavior: great appetite, teasing, and flirting. At the Pied Merlin inn, they make friends with veteran archer Sam Aylward. He has returned to England to recruit for the White Company of mercenaries, and brings an request for Sir Nigel Loring of Christchurch to take command. Aylward and John continue to Christchurch, while Alleyne detours to visit his older brother, the landlord of Minstead, whose fierce reputation has grown to wickedness. (Summary by Wikipedia)