This volume is the result of the symposium 'Ordo pre ceteris commendatus. Late Medieval Spiritual Renewal in the Low Countries Influenced by the Carthusian Order' (2008), organized by Cartusiana. It includes four English papers, as well as three Dutch papers with extensive English summaries. The papers explore Carthusian influences on institutional history, social networking, liturgy, reformist spirituality and book culture. The editors of this volume also have organized four sessions (2009-2012) touching on the same subjects at the International Medieval Conference in Leeds. The broad lines from the work-in-progress papers presented in Leeds, as well as the outcome of the question-and-answer sessions and discussions that were the result of the panels, have been transformed by the editors into two introductory papers, in order to frame the other papers in this volume from a broader historical perspective.