heavy cavalry

Heavy cavalry refers to heavily armed and armoured mounted troops, as opposed to medium or light cavalry, in which the riders are relatively lightly-armoured. The origins of heavy cavalry, a near impossibility before saddle and stirrup, lie in  Parthian and Sassanid Persia. Through the course of the Roman-Persian Wars, the Romans adopted much of the Persian tradition and this Roman cavalry continued in existence as part of the Byzantine army until the end of the Middle Ages. In the Middle Ages, heavy cavalry developed independently in Western Europe. Many Germanic peoples had a history of cavalry and the introduction of stirrups allowed for the increase in the weight of a rider's armour. In Francia, these men-at-arms became known as knights and the tradition of chivalry dominated European warfare until the Renaissance. Today, heavy cavalry has been replaced through mechanisation, mostly by tanks.
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