[Wyrd bið ful aræd]

"Seems like many many people did not trouble reading and understanding the Bible after it was translated into a language they understood. In fact that was the end of the “dark ages”."

you've got your timeline seriously skewed. Luther produced his version of the new Testament in the early 1500's, and the entire bible in the 1530's. Tyndale's, a translation to English of Luther's New Testament, came in the 1520's. A slew of different versions were produced up through the late 1500's, including the Douay-Rheims. The King James was compiled in the first decade or so of the 1600s.

And Yet, literacy rates in England (excepting Wales), Scotland and France remained around only 60% into the 1700s.

[Apple Pan Dowdy]

"literacy rates in England (excepting Wales), Scotland and France remained around only 60% into the 1700s. "

Nothing skewed here..... 60% being able to read the bible without depending on the Catholic church to interpret for them, is better than 0%. And think about it, that 60% could and was reading it to their family and congregations.