This often manifested itself as courtly love, where the knight would be subservient to the noblewoman, which was intended to cause them both to observe excellent morals . However, this perspective was adopted because it was based on entrenched ideas that women were inferior and that their beauty "was a reflection of a pure soul", and ultimately served to perpetuate male dominance over women, despite the superficial servitude that depicted an image of honor. This complex relational ideal was preserved prominently through the new courtly genre of lyrics, where the women in the poem would be the subject of admiration, but there would still be vulgar content. Through the rise of the new literature, courtly culture permeated the consciousness and behavior of the people of the time, as it was more accessible than chivalry or a place in the court itself. As chivalry became ingrained in culture, it also became prestigious and selective, knighthood became hereditary, and a hierarchy within chivalry was forged. However, the integration of chivalry, coupled with its ideals of honor and servitude to the unfortunate, permeated the complex views of peasants living at the time, was viewed with both pity and vilification. Although this did not stop peasants from asserting their own new culture as villages formed and gatherings among the lower classes became more numerous.