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    @Jan My only point in the second paragraph is that it shouldn't be assumed that one's ability to read can't straightforwardly be determined by whether one can write (or in this case, sign his/her own name). And signing one's name isn't a great proxy for ability to write. If I had to, I could write out my name in any of the orthographies I know; but if I had an option, and if there weren't a particular stigma to being unable to write, maybe I would choose to make a thumbprint or an X, or whatever. Commented Jan 24, 2022 at 9:54
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    My question is, if literacy was more common than assumed, what was the value of being literate to someone who lived his entire life in the same village: no need to read road signs or signs on buildings or tax forms, etc. As far as religion, many people who regularly pray and sing religious songs have memorized these. Books were very rare. So I do wonder why anyone who was not a priest or a doctor would bother even learning the alphabet although they might learn Roman numerals. This level of illiteracy existed much later in the USA -- people made their mark instead of writing own names. Commented Jan 24, 2022 at 11:25
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    @adam.baker: I know people in the USA who know letters of alphabet, but I doubt have read a book as an adult. Such people could probably slowly, perhaps reading out loud, manage to get through some pages; expecting them to even write a letter (let alone an essay) that does not sound child like, simply due to lack of practice, is unrealistic. Semi-illiteracy today is probably much more common than one thinks. A bartender I knew was pulled over by cops and asked to recite the alphabet backwards and he honestly said he doubted he could do it forwards -- these memorized things fade with disuse. Commented Jan 24, 2022 at 11:43
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    @Jan - Controversies about Medieval European literacy are particularly ongoing. The sense I get is that there's currently a scholarly counter-reaction to the popular conception of "The Dark Ages", and it has become such a cause that there's perhaps a good amount of overreaction going on. You hear some numbers bandied about (like this one, that IMHO lowers the bar into the dirt) that are actually higher than the first real survey numbers we have from places like France in the 1800's. Commented Jan 24, 2022 at 15:04
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    "Sufficient to read a familiar prayer" - is it really literacy when you can only read things if you already know what they say? I've seen very young children recite a favorite book word-for-word from memory when cued by the book pages, but I wouldn't consider that literacy. I'm curious what level of literacy that really represents. Commented Jan 24, 2022 at 19:54