this is still wrong, that was not built by illiterates, it was built by masons; some of the most well learned people of the day.
Granted, they'd
probably still be recorded as "illiterate" because the statistics behind that surround Latin, and architecture is one of the chief candidates for translation into vernacular to end up with the
bulk of "highly educated" masons not actually be able to read the
original source texts. Especially given the gradual advancements that don't appear in them.
Isn't one of the biggest clusterfucks in history being working out where, exactly, literacy rates
actually were before modern records? From what I know, I
think literacy was haphazardly localized, in the sense that the
general populace being able to read was an intermittent thing driven by the occasional
really dedicated priest or whatever, rather than an actual constant.
Edit: Don't forget the origins of Lorem Ipsum, as well. The spectrum of romance languages throughout Europe cannot be understated, with the way guilds worked I would not be surprised in the
slightest if many a mason were actually learning a local flavor of vulgar Latin
close enough to be mistaken by most members, or deliberately used to obfuscate guild secrets.