divided into voivodeships and powiats. There was also a representation of the nobility, called Sejm, following the Polish model. However, unlike the Polish Sejm, the magnates had the deciding vote, and the petty and middle nobility only approved the decisions of the magnate's council. Since the late 15th century marriages between Lithuanian and Polish magnates became more frequent. This brought the Lithuanians even closer to Polish culture. The first such marriage was the one between and the daughter of Alekna Sudimantaitis in 1478. Polish influence intensified in the period preceding the Union of Lublin. The royal court took steps to make the political and economic system of Lithuania more similar to Poland. An important step was the introduction of the hide system (Volok Reform – ), based on the Polish model. The reform was introduced by specialists from Poland, mainly from Mazovia, headed by . Włóka was a Polish measure of land (in Ruthenian volok), and in Lithuania, it became the basis for land measurement. At the same time, Polish measures of area and distance were introduced, as well as a model of farming based on the folwark and three-field system. During the Reformation, voices were raised that Latin should be the language of the Lithuanians, due to the alleged proximity of the two languages and the legendary origin of the Lithuanian nobility from the Romans. However, this intention failed and Latin never reached the same position as in the Polish Crown. Instead, Polish quickly took the place of the official language. At the beginning of the 17th-century instructions and resolutions of sejmiks were written down in Polish. In the period 1620–1630, the Polish language supplanted Ruthenian in the books of the Lithuanian Metrica. When in 1697 the Sejm of the Commonwealth passed a resolution to replace Ruthenian language by Polish in all official actions, it only approved the long-standing status quo. In addition to Polish, Latin was also used in the documents of the Lithuanian chancellery referring to the Catholic Church, cities under Magdeburg Law, Livonia and foreigners. Already at the beginning of the 16th century Polish became the first language of the Lithuanian magnates. In the following century, it was adopted by the Lithuanian nobility in general. Even the nobility of Žemaitija used the Polish language already in the 17th century. At the beginning of the 18th century the Polish language was adopted by the entire nobility of