Dr Stubbs, on the other hand, while rejecting the view that military service, since the days of Alfred, had been practically fixed at one warrior for every five hides,[30] leans nevertheless to the belief that the knight's fee was developed out of the five-hide unit, and that the military 'service' of a tenant-in-chief was determined by the number of such units which he possessed. But, as he also recognizes the £20 unit, there will be less danger of misrepresenting his views if I append _verbatim_ the relevant passages: The customary service of one The value of the knight's fee fully armed man for each five hides must already have been fixed was probably the rate at which the --twenty pounds a year.[32] newly endowed follower of the king would be expected to discharge his duty ... and the number of knights to be furnished by a particular feudatory would be ascertained by inquiring the number of hides that he held.[31] The number of hides which the It cannot even be granted that knight's fee contained being known, a definite area of land was the number of knights' fees in any necessary to constitute a particular holding could be easily knight's fee; ... It is discovered.[33] impossible to avoid the conclusion that the extent of a All the imposts of the ... Norman knight's fee was determined by reigns, were, so far as we know, rent and valuation rather than raised on the land, and according acreage, and that the common to computation by the hide: ... the quantity was really expressed feudal exactions by way of aid ... in the twenty librates, etc. were levied on the hide.[34] [35] The variation in the number of hides contained in the knight's fee.[36] Mr Freeman's views need not detain us, for he unhesitatingly accepts Dr Stubbs' arguments as proving that the Norman military tenure was based on 'the old service of a man from each five hides of land'.[37] We find then, I submit, that the recognized leaders of existing opinion on the subject cannot agree among themselves in giving us a clear answer, when we ask them what determined the amount of 'service' due from a Norman tenant-in-chief, or, in other words, how that 'service' was developed in unbroken continuity from Anglo-Saxon obligations.