Michael Nerlich has called the knight-errant, an emblematic figure of the twelfth century, the most important contribution made by that century to the legacy of Europe. As the forerunner of the merchant/adventurer, the knight seeks revelation and reward at the end of his journey; then, through recounting his travels, seeks to shore up his own prestige. This knight/adventurer nonetheless posed several basic ideological problems to a society which valued strong male bonds and a spirit of collective responsibility. The many studies on the individual in the literature of the period emphasize the gradual emergence of the knight as a super-star, the sinner as directly answerable to God rather than the community, and the lady as having a voice as well as a place within patriarchal exchange. All of these changes proved challenging to conventional mores and resentment against them surfaces repeatedly in texts produced at the French and Anglo-Norman courts.