Kings and knights are now both so emblematic of the Middle Ages that it is hard to imagine that at this time the knight–king combination was a relatively novel one. In 1098, when seventeen-year-old Louis received his arms, knighthood had only been a respectable status synonymous with nobility in northern France for a few decades. Before that, a knight was just a soldier of no particular background, valued, but also vilified, for the violent work he did. But as raising armies in the eleventh century came to require great princes to reward their soldiers (these knights) with land, and the knights and their commanders began to view this land as family property, the knights’ bloodlines took on a new importance. No longer disreputable, low-born men whose company stained the reputation of their associates, by the late eleventh century knights were welcomed at court and admired for their exploits. Knighthood began to seem integral to noble identity, not inimical to it.