 A blending of cultures was occurring between the former Roman citizens who were fluent in the "proper" Latin speech (which was already substantially different from Classical Latin), and many of the Gothic rulers who, though largely Latinised, tended to speak Latin poorly, speaking what could be considered a pidgin of Latin and their Germanic mother tongue, though this changed over time.Notable among those who spoke Latin well is Theodoric the Great, imperial regent of Italy (493–526) who is reputed to have been illiterate based on his use of a stamp to sign documents.Since he lived as a hostage of Emperor Leo I at the Great Palace of Constantinople from 461 to 471 (from age 7 to 17) and was well-educated by Constantinople's best teachers, it is difficult to believe he did not know Greek and Latin.