The vast majority of the serfs couldn't read at all. The printing press was brand new, which is why literacy rates spiked around this time. The myth that the Catholic church somehow suppressed literacy rates is stupid, they didn't make tons of translations nobody would be able to even read because it would be a waste of time and money.
The serfs couldn't read Latin.
It's true the Protestant Reformers, many who were former priests, taught the people to read their native languages, as well as Greek and Latin.
Before the Reformation, only the clergy and the extremely wealthy could read Latin.
The vast majority of the serfs couldn't read at all. The printing press was brand new, which is why literacy rates spiked around this time. The myth that the Catholic church somehow suppressed literacy rates is stupid, they didn't make tons of translations nobody would be able to even read because it would be a waste of time and money.