People of Polish ethnicity have lived in Lithuania for many centuries. Many Poles in Lithuania today are the descendants of Polonized Lithuanians or Ruthenians. Historically, the number of Poles in modern Lithuanian territory has varied during different periods. Polish culture began to influence the Grand Duchy of Lithuania around the time of the Union of Lublin (16th century), and during the time of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (1569–1795) much of the Lithuanian nobility was Polonized and joined the Polish-Lithuanian "szlachta" class. Reformation gave another impetus to the spread of the Polish language, as the Bible and other religious texts were translated from Latin to Polish. In 1697 Polish replaced Ruthenian as a chancellery language. In the 19th century peasants of Polish nationality started to appear in Lithuania, mostly by Polonization of Lithuanian peasants in Dzūkija and to a lesser degree in Aukštaitija.