The Armourer's Apprentice

About this issue

This illustrated penny dreadful from The Aldine Publishing Company (London) opens with "The Armourer's Apprentice: A Story of the Battle and the Breeze," set in autumn 1185. The narrative concerns Robert Smith, a wealthy but stern master armourer nicknamed Iron Arm, his gentle wife Dame Margery, and their beautiful fifteen-year-old daughter Alice. The household also includes Stephen Sternhold, a foundling apprentice raised by the family despite the smith's rough treatment of him. At village sports in Merry Islington, the wealthy George Wynyard wins an archery competition, but the grizzled soldier Will o' the Bow intervenes, insisting Stephen also shoot. When George's patron, the noble Lord de Courcy, refuses Stephen a bow, Will lends his own famously powerful bow. Stephen astonishes the crowd by easily drawing the formidable weapon, suggesting hidden capabilities and setting up dramatic conflict between the ambitious apprentice and the favored merchant's son.