The importance and influence of the Carthusian order in late medieval England is widely recognised. It is therefore curious that – with the significant exception of the order's role in the copying and transmission of vernacular religious literature – there is relatively little recent (published) scholarship in English on Carthusian monasticism. This volume, with its multidisciplinary and European-wide perspective, is therefore particularly welcome. Eight of the collection's fourteen essays focus primarily on England. James Hogg surveys the chartae of the Carthusian General Chapter relating to the English charterhouses; Andrew Wines uncovers the multi-layered process of foundation of the London Charterhouse; Anselm J. Gribbin sheds light on Cardinal Beaufort's piety by reference to the letters of his Carthusian confessor; Joan Greatrex traces the personal and devotional links between Carthusian and Benedictine monasteries in late medieval England; Michael G. Sargent and Marlene Villalobos Hennessy use the Latin verses over the cell doors of the London Charterhouse to analyse Carthusian spirituality and self-understanding; Julian M. Luxford studies the decoration of late medieval English Carthusian manuscripts and printed books as a guide to the order's attitude to the visual arts; Jessica Brantley examines Carthusian engagement with Deguileville's Pilgrimage of the soul, an example of the order's interest in non-mystical vernacular texts; and Glyn Coppack and Jackie Hall trace the development of Mount Grace Priory church, placing it in a wider Carthusian and regional architectural context. These essays on the English Charterhouses are illuminatingly juxtaposed with six chapters on the order in late medieval Europe. A. I. Doyle discusses a manuscript, now in Durham, of the Viola animae by Peter Dorlandus of Diest. Carthusian interest in female visionaries as a means of wider Church reform (Dennis D. Martin), and the influence of Carthusian conceptions of private space for solitary prayer on lay devotional practice in late medieval Burgundy (Ezekiel Lotz) are fruitfully studied. Elite lay patronage of the order is also explored in studies of the Carthusian foundations of Philip the Bold and Giangaleazzo Visconti (Laura D. Gelfand) and Niccolò Acciaioli (Brendan Cassidy), the latter with particular reference to funerary monuments, while Jeremy Catto suggestively argues that Carthusian foundations appealed to princely patrons as a source not only of intercession and status but also of moral guidance in political affairs. The standard of scholarship throughout the volume is uniformly high, and readers will be grateful to have a number of important but previously inaccessible Carthusian texts – including the entries in the General Chapter's chartae relating to the English Province, and the London Charterhouse cells' verses – edited here in appendices.

In such a rich and varied collection there are many significant themes and insights that might be highlighted; but perhaps the clearest message which emerges – as the editor notes in his introduction – concerns the ‘cultural interpenetrations’ of the Carthusians and the outside world. The multifaceted influence of the order's way of life and spirituality over contemporaries is elaborated here, deepening understanding of how Carthusian writings and example shaped the devotional practices of others, lay and ecclesiastic (including other religious orders) alike. But it is equally apparent that the late medieval Carthusians were themselves open to wider cultural influences. They were receptive to the requirements of their patrons, permitting the refashioning of conventual churches to accommodate lay burials and obits, and accommodating opulent displays of patronal power in their more public spaces. In their liturgy, their reading, their book decoration and their architecture, they were influenced by contemporary fashions and local practices. Traditional notions of a pristine and uniform order – never reformed because never deformed – do not do justice to the varied and vital interaction of the late medieval Carthusians with the world outside the cell.