Quote Originally Posted by Sun Glass
stradiots were mounted units from the balkan weren they
yes, Albanian refugee cavalry taken into Venetian service after 1468 were called stradiots, elite light skirmishing cavalry.

I think what Stephen Asen was talking about was the Stratiotai, native Byzantine cavalry (often reservists) holding grants of land rents and called up for service whenever necessary. They probably would have fought in fairly deep formations early in the medieval period, but seem to have increasingly relied on skirmishing.