 This was because governing power and defense against Viking, Magyar and Saracen attack became an essentially local affair which revolved around these new hereditary local lords and their "demesnes".Clerics and the Church often opposed the practices of the Knights because of their abuses against woman and civilians, and many such as St Bernard, were convinced that the Knights served the devil and not God and needed reforming.In the course of the 12th century knighthood became a social rank, with a distinction being made between "milites gregarii" (non-noble cavalrymen) and "milites nobiles" (true knights).