The historical interest in all things Jesuit shows no sign of abating. This is certainly due to the extraordinary variety of the order's activities, its often controversial dynamism and international scope, as well as its relatively well-kept and accessible archives. The conference proceedings presented in this volume reflect this state of affairs. Offering essays in English and French of varying scope, they are divided into two sections: the first twelve essays focus thematically on the order's activities in the Low Countries, the links entertained with the Dutch Provinces, the Catholic mission in Wales and England, as well as with the mission in far away China. The second part comprises six essays dedicated to the topography, genesis and composition of the different Jesuit archives that exist in Flanders, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. As the complex political history of the Low Countries throughout the early modern period had repercussions on the order's administrative organisation and its archives, these essays will be very useful for all scholars conducting research on related issues. The thematic section sketches out some old and new fields for further enquiry. Given the emphasis in the existing literature on the Jesuits' ‘modernity’, the first essay, by Rob Faesen (pp. 3–16), offers an unusual perspective, as he explores the engagement of Lessius, Sucquet and Sandaeus with the earlier spiritual and mystical theology of the Low Countries. His findings suggest that wider research into how Jesuits re-appropriated medieval writings might be enlightening. Though not specifically focused on the Jesuits of the Low Countries, the contribution by Wim Decock on the Jesuits and legal science (pp. 17–42) is of the highest interest. It is indeed remarkable that, despite the fact that law was not a regular part of the Jesuit educational curriculum, some of its outstanding moral theologians, like Molina, Suárez and others adopted a distinctly legalistic approach and made substantial contributions to the understanding of law. Decock argues convincingly that the Jesuits' scientific legal scholarship was the outcome of their pastoral activity, but more research is needed to understand where and how practically they acquired their training and knowledge in this area. Harro Höpfl examines the political thought of the Jesuits in the Low Countries (pp. 43–63), drawing attention to the problem of defining their geographical, linguistic and ‘national’ identity. Many Jesuits active in the Low Countries indeed came from elsewhere, mainly from Spain, the British Isles or the Holy Roman Empire. When focusing on the ‘Belgian’ writers in particular, he remarks on their reluctance to engage in openly political writing. The question is, however, what the author defines as ‘political’ writing. A case in point is Lessius who, as he demonstrates, took part in the polemics against James i, wrote extensively on papal power, and whose De iustitia et iure contains a host of political ideas. Höpfl's dense contribution raises important queries on the national or theoretical categories that shaped ‘Jesuit political thought’. The prudence remarked by Höpfl echoes with Luce Giard's findings (pp. 82–108) on the limited contribution of the provinces in the elaboration and shaping of the Ratio Studiorum. This seems to have been due to the effects of war and political upheaval that absorbed the Jesuits' energies in the Low Countries during the consultation process. Their institutions were hence long fragile and dependent on input from Rome, Cologne and Spain for their organisation and direction. The Jesuit involvement in the production of books and the creation of libraries are explored by Paul Begheyn (pp. 129–38) for Belgium, while Noël Golvers (pp. 213–34) looks at the constitution of western book collections in the Chinese mission in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century. The integration of the Jesuits into the established ecclesiastical and educational landscape of the Low Countries is the subject of two essays. From the start, the Jesuits were viewed with suspicion, and this was particularly true of the eminent Leuven theologians and their Dominican pillars. Jan Roegers (pp. 153–75) sketches out the coordinates of the conflicted relationship between the Leuven theologians and the Jesuit college, and he justly points out that initially it was not a clash of ideas but a scramble for funds and competition over the conferring of academic degrees. The ideological conflict which came fully to the surface with the Jansenist crisis is at the heart of Jan van Gennip's essay (pp. 177–96). Van Gennip analyses the role of the Jesuit Cornelius Hazart in the 1680s: his catechism sparked a Jansenist polemic and divided the regular and secular clergy. Due to their geographical and political position, the Southern Netherlands were destined to play an important role in maintaining the links with the Dutch and English Catholics. Gerrit vanden Bosch (pp. 139–51) examines the pastoral strategies of the Jesuit Dutch mission and shows how, despite moments of persecution and harsh legislation, in practice and in the long term, they became part of the multi-confessional landscape of the Dutch Republic. The English mission depended on the Provincia Belgica, and Maurice Whitehead (pp. 197–211) examines the importance of the transport links with the possessions of the Somerset family on the River Wye for the Collegium Sancti Francisci Xaverii which attended to the Welsh territories and three English counties across the border. He suggests that they offered an alternative route to the tightly controlled harbours of Dover and London for the distribution of Catholic publications in England and Wales, which only came to an end when the Somerset family lost Raglan Castle during the English Civil War and after the closure of the Jesuit headquarters in Cwem in 1678. This volume is packed with interesting and fascinating details that are of interest beyond the Low Countries and which might have been drawn out in a more forceful introductory essay.