As a historically multicultural capital, many languages statuses changed over the centuries in the history of Vilnius. The predominant language of public life in medieval Lithuania was Lithuanian. It was spoken by people living in the ethnopolitical center of the state – ethnic Lithuania, including the ruler's manor and the most prominent Lithuanian nobility. However, the Lithuanian language had no literary traditions and was not used in writing, except for the most important religious texts (e.g. the Lord's and the Hail Mary prayers). Although, the importance of the spoken Lithuanian language remained for centuries because it is known that even Vytautas the Great himself knew and spoke in the Lithuanian language with Władysław II Jagiełło, whose son Casimir IV Jagiellon also spoke in the Lithuanian language. The word about the Lithuanian language spread wide, as even the Byzantine Greek historian Laonikos Chalkokondyles in the 15th century knew that the Lithuanians had their own distinct language.