In France and other countries where the Frankish feudal system prevailed, conditions were altogether different. Here, according to the law of primogeniture, the entire feud passed to the eldest son, who was then bound by an oath of fealty to his overlord. The younger sons had to be satisfied with precious little; they might make a livelihood by offering their service to their eldest brother, in which case they were obliged to do the menial work of the estate very much the same as that of domestics and peasants. It is quite understandable that many of these younger sons, particularly the less amenable and the more venturesome, could be expected to scorn such an inferior station in life. Being of noble birth, this dispossessed youth might say with the steward of the gospel: “What shall I do?... To dig I am not able; to beg I am ashamed.” Only two callings were open to them, the priestly or the military vocation, and of the two the calling of soldier was far more attractive. Upon leaving the paternal domain, they usually were given a horse and armor to aid in their search for economic independence. For the most part, they did not have to look long, because war was in progress all over Europe among the many and small feudal states. Yet, because they were no longer aligned with the feudal hierarchy, they had no obligation to render military service to any specific lord and could approach the highest bidder. This meant that a new and ever increasing group of independent, non-feudal horsemen came into existence who sought to win their spurs on their own merit. They became knights, not because they happened to have a feudal estate, but because of personal exploits on the battlefield. These soldiers frequently gained more than glory and honor inasmuch as a grateful employer who had taken them into his pay would extend his bounty to presenting them with a castle and some land, upon success in a military expedition. The medieval right of plunder could provide the victorious knight with the necessary accoutrement to furnish his newly-won castle. One readily appreciates the consolidation of the economic position for those concerned. There was this difference, however, that their possessions came to them not by right of birth but by personal valor. The same kind of knight appeared also in the lands of the Longobard feudal system. The small gentry in Italy, unsatisfied with what little they possessed, often offered their military services to the rapidly growing townships. This eventually bettered their economic as well as their political status. Two types of knighthood were then in existence, the older form of territorial knighthood concentrated in ruling fief-holders, and the newer form, that of chivalry founded on individual military service. Since the latter was bestowed upon a soldier independently of a fief, it might be called non-feudatory knighthood.