“WHAT KNOWLEDGE IS THIS THAT AN OLD WOMAN UNDERSTANDS BETTER THAN A LEARNED MAN?” Hacking special knowledge in late medieval Europe, a provocation

This chapter explores the role of ‘special knowledge’ in the context of religious women in the later Middle Ages. It describes the ways in which a number of medieval women were responsible for a rupture in the ownership of knowledge and considers the context and origins of this in the vibrant urban environments of the Low Countries. The chapter concludes with a consideration of the significance of ‘special knowledge’ in this context and how this might inform our understanding of societies in transformation.