[skzv]

From the wiki article:

> Scholars believe that the Novgorod Republic had an unusually high level of literacy for the time, with literacy apparently widespread throughout different classes and among both sexes.

[vik0]

I read that too and I was surprised, but then the first thing that popped into my mind was that this is probably a case of survivorship bias

[nkrisc]

Ah, I missed that important bit.