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The most prominent, and probably most recognizable, figure of the Middle Ages is the appearance of the knight and the way of life they brought about. Initially, knight service appeared in England as a result of the Norman Conquest; the invasion of England by William of Normandy in 1066. The army William used was hired on the promise of booty and fiefs following the war. The social structure that came about after the Norman Conquest placed the knight as a military figurehead, giving the knights a chance to move closer to the aristocracy that controlled them. Knight service was acquired by the payment of a fee. Initially the fee was commonly paid in land, called a fief, but as time progressed money became the most popular way to obtain a knight's service. These knights upheld "...the values of knightly devotion (especially to a lady), fortitude, and loyalty". Knights lived by the ideals of chivalry and expressed these values in their daily lives. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight incorporates the principles of chivalry into a seamless story told in the genre of Arthurian literature. The Camelot Project, at The University of Rochester maintains that "in the English tradition Gawain is the principal hero and the exemplar of c