Editing Knight (section)

===Pre-Carolingian legacies===
{{further|Bucellarii}}
In [[ancient Rome]], there was a knightly class ''[[Ordo Equestris]]'' (order of mounted nobles). Some portions of the armies of [[Germanic peoples]] who occupied Europe from the 3rd century AD onward had been mounted, and some armies, such as those of the [[Ostrogoths]], were mainly cavalry.<ref>Petersen, Leif Inge Ree. ''Siege Warfare and Military Organization in the Successor States (400–800 A.D.)''. Brill (September 1, 2013). pp. 177–180, 243, 310–311. {{ISBN|978-9004251991}}</ref> However, it was the Franks who generally fielded armies composed of large masses of [[infantry]], with an infantry elite, the [[comitatus (classical meaning)|comitatus]], which often rode to battle on horseback rather than marching on foot. When the armies of the Frankish ruler [[Charles Martel]] defeated the [[Umayyad Caliphate|Umayyad]] Arab invasion at the [[Battle of Tours]] in 732, the Frankish forces were still largely infantry armies, with elites riding to battle but dismounting to fight.