Hello, I'm trying to expand my knowledge on the early medieval era. I have played a game called Elden Ring (which seems to be inspired by the early to mid medieval era), and human enemies are divided into three major categories: Foot soldier, soldier or knight (images embed).
I'd like to know exactly what the soldier is in real life. Did this separation actually exist? What was the difference between a "soldier" and "foot soldier"? What was their role in the battlefield alongside knights (if they existed at the same time)? I've heard there was a distinction between "men at arms" and "knights", but do the "knights" in this definition actually look like the soldier from the picture?
You might be interested in some earlier answers on these topics. In this thread u/BRIStoneman has written about the use of levies (in pre-Norman England specifically) and u/DanKensington recommends some more earlier answers. The same question is discussed for Italy here by u/AlviseFalier. The composition/troop division in armies has also been summarised by u/Rittermeister in this answer. Moreover if you are interested in armour and equipment specifically u/WARitter has a lot of great threads, for instance these two. To my knowledge foot solider simply refers to soldiers fighting as infantry, not any difference in rank or armour. Certainly it is not mentioned in any of the threads here
