Also, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was a multicultural place (officially recognised languages
Although, not absolutely incorrect, it nevertheless sounds like a myth-making here. PLC (which is btw a modern, recently introduced term, the country was literally called Res Publica, Rzecz Pospolita in Polish) started as a union of Polish Kingdom where Polish predictably dominated, and Grand Duchy of Lithuania where Ruthenian was the language of state affairs. Ruthenian is also called Old Belarusian by Belarusians, and Old Ukrainian by Ukrainians and both are correct, because it's all more or less the same language at that time (modern Ukrainian, and Belarusian are still more mutually intelligible then different varieties of German). As eastern, and southern parts of the country were repeatedly thrashed by Russians, and Ottoman Empire, Poland became a dominant part (not the only reason, but I'm trying to be short), so Polish gradually gained the top position as the language of aristocracy, and politics all over the PLC, while other languages receded to unofficial home/family spheres, sometimes keeping official niches at municipal level. German, save for Prussian, and East Baltic lands, was in a very narrow use mostly because it was a sort of international language of Baltic trade, and Latin, as everywhere in Europe, was the language of education, and science. Then there were a number of ethnic, and religious groups such as Jews, Roma, Armenians which had some degree of self-government, so their languages where used in respective communities, but never had state-wide acceptance. Btw, it was not Hebrew which Jews spoke there, it was Yiddish which is very much a different thing. So the talk about 'officially recognized languages' is a little bit misleading as it can make an incorrect impression there were some sort of legal equality. And certainly PLC was polyethnic, with significant cultural variations, but majority of big medieval states in Europe were so. It's an interesting part of European history, with its own unique features, but I don't think making it too sugary makes any sense.
Although, not absolutely incorrect, it nevertheless sounds like a myth-making here. PLC (which is btw a modern, recently introduced term, the country was literally called Res Publica, Rzecz Pospolita in Polish) started as a union of Polish Kingdom where Polish predictably dominated, and Grand Duchy of Lithuania where Ruthenian was the language of state affairs. Ruthenian is also called Old Belarusian by Belarusians, and Old Ukrainian by Ukrainians and both are correct, because it's all more or less the same language at that time (modern Ukrainian, and Belarusian are still more mutually intelligible then different varieties of German). As eastern, and southern parts of the country were repeatedly thrashed by Russians, and Ottoman Empire, Poland became a dominant part (not the only reason, but I'm trying to be short), so Polish gradually gained the top position as the language of aristocracy, and politics all over the PLC, while other languages receded to unofficial home/family spheres, sometimes keeping official niches at municipal level. German, save for Prussian, and East Baltic lands, was in a very narrow use mostly because it was a sort of international language of Baltic trade, and Latin, as everywhere in Europe, was the language of education, and science. Then there were a number of ethnic, and religious groups such as Jews, Roma, Armenians which had some degree of self-government, so their languages where used in respective communities, but never had state-wide acceptance. Btw, it was not Hebrew which Jews spoke there, it was Yiddish which is very much a different thing. So the talk about 'officially recognized languages' is a little bit misleading as it can make an incorrect impression there were some sort of legal equality. And certainly PLC was polyethnic, with significant cultural variations, but majority of big medieval states in Europe were so. It's an interesting part of European history, with its own unique features, but I don't think making it too sugary makes any sense.