Page "Reconquista" Paragraph 39

Iberian cavalry tactics involved knights approaching the enemy and throwing javelins, before withdrawing to a safe distance before commencing another assault.

Once the enemy formation was sufficiently weakened, the knights charged with thrusting spears ( lances did not arrive in Hispania until the 11th century ).

There were three types of knights: royal knights, noble knights ( caballeros hidalgos ) and commoner knights ( caballeros villanos ).

Royal knights were mainly nobles with a close relationship with the king, and thus claimed a direct Gothic inheritance.

Royal knights were equipped in the same manner as their Gothic predecessors — braceplate, kite shield, a long sword ( designed to fight from the horse ) and as well as the javelins and spears, a Visigothic axe.

Noble knights came from the ranks of the infanzones or lower nobles, whereas the commoner knights were not noble, but were wealthy enough to afford a horse.

Uniquely in Europe, these horsemen comprised a militia cavalry force with no feudal links, being under the sole control of the king or the count of Castile because of the " charters " ( or fueros ).

See " Repopulating Hispania — the origin of fueros ", below.

Both noble and common knights wore leather armour and carried javelins, spears and round-tasselled shields ( influenced by Moorish shields ), as well as a sword.