Declaring the English who fought against him to be traitors, the Conquerer declared their land confiscated. But he allowed those who were willing to acknowledge him to redeem their land by a payment of money. As William conquered the land of the realm, he parceled it out among the barons who fought with him so that each baron was given the holdings of an Anglo-Saxon predecessor, scattered though they were. The barons again made oaths of personal loyalty to him [fealty]. They agreed to hold the land as his vassals with future military services to him and receipt of his protection. They gave him homage by placing their hands within his and saying "I become your man for the tenement I hold of you, and I will bear you faith in life and member [limb] and earthly honor against all men". They held their land "of their lord", the King, by knight's service. The king had "enfeoffed" them [given them a fief: a source of income] with land. The theory that by right all land was the King's and that land was held by others only at his gift and in return for specified service was new to English thought. The original duration of a knight's fee until about 1100 was for his life; thereafter it was heritable. The word "knight" came to replace the word "thegn" as a person who received his position and land by fighting for the King. The exact obligation of knight's service was to furnish a fully armed horseman to serve at his own expense for forty days in the year. This service was not limited to defense of the country, but included fighting abroad. The baron led his own knights under his banner. The foot soldiers were from the fyrd or were mercenaries. Every free man was sworn to join in the defense of the king, his lands and his honor, within England and without. The Saxon governing class was destroyed. The independent power of earls, who had been drawn from three great family houses, was curtailed. Most died or fled the country. Some men were allowed to redeem their land by money payment if they showed loyalty to the Conquerer. Well-born women crowded into nunneries to escape Norman violence. The people were deprived of their most popular leaders, who were excluded from all positions of trust and profit, especially all the clergy. The earldoms became fiefs instead of magistracies.