The Lantern Bearers (Sutcliff novel)
First edition
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| Author | Rosemary Sutcliff |
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| Illustrator | Charles Keeping |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Series |
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| Genre | Historical novel, Children's adventure novel |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press |
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Publication date
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December 1959 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover; paperback) |
| Pages | 252 pp (first edition) |
| OCLC | 9405024 |
| LC Class | PZ7.S966 Lan |
| Preceded by | The Silver Branch |
| Followed by | Sword at Sunset |
The Lantern Bearers is a historical novel for children by Rosemary Sutcliff, first published by Oxford in 1959 with illustrations by Charles Keeping. Set in Roman Britain during the 5th century, it is the story of a British Roman's life after the final withdrawal of Roman troops (around 410). Sutcliff won the annual Carnegie Medal from the Library Association, recognising the year's best children's book by a British subject.
Lantern Bearers is the third of four books sometimes catalogued as the Marcus series (1954 to 1963), inaugurated by The Eagle of the Ninth. At the same time it is the fourth of eight books sometimes called the Eagle of the Ninth series (1954 to 1997). Its themes are more complex than in the first two Marcus books. Issues of loss, estrangement, and loyalty are more complicated, pulling main characters in conflicting directions. Reviewers tend to regard it as appropriate for a slightly older readership than its predecessors. On the other hand, it is "officially a children's book" while its sequel Sword at Sunset is "officially an adult book". According to Sutcliff, "my books are for children of all ages, from nine to ninety." Within the loosely connected Eagle of the Ninth series, The Lantern Bearers is first of the specifically "Arthurian" works. In the sequel, beginning three days later, the viewpoint shifts from Aquila to Arthur.
The title is from a remark by one of the characters, Eugenus the Physician, "We are the lantern bearers, my friend; for us to keep something burning, to carry what light we can forward into the darkness and the wind." The effort to maintain what the protagonists see as the light of civilisation against Saxon barbarians is central to the plot of the book.
The story is set during the turbulent years following the withdrawal of the last Roman troops from Britain. The land is reeling under the onslaught of Saxon raiders, the Pict War and a slave revolt. Vortigern, the British-Celtic chieftain, has invited Hengest the Saxon and his tribe to fight the Picts, and relies on Roman soldiers to hold the Saxons in check. Rome is increasingly under threat from the barbarian hordes surrounding it on all sides and cannot afford to deal with the problems of a distant province.
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Wikipedia