Byzantine Weapons and Warfare

[Urselius]

The incident is very interesting, as is mention of Alexios' face-protecting armour mentioned earlier in the Alexiad.

The only guards units mentioned after the reign of Alexios I are: the Varangians, Archontopouloi, Vestiaritae, Hetaireia, and the new formation of the Vardariots. The Hetaireia seems to have been a cover-all title for smaller units, often foreign, which were absorbed into the imperial guard.
Of the surviving units only the Archontopouloi strike me as being likely to have been composed of very heavily armoured cavalry.

However, like in the Justinianic army, the personal guards of generals and other aristocrats became very important, as did the emperor's oikeoi or "military household". The guard of the Megas Domestikos John Axuch was numerous enough to put down the infighting which had broken out between of a unit of mercenaries and some native Greek troops during the seige of Corfu (1149). I think that it is within these personal guards and in the emperor's own household that most of the very heavily armoured Byzantine cavalry were probably concentrated in the post-Manzikert period.