Garnier de Nablus was the 9th Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller from 1190 to 1192. He fought at the Battle of Arsuf under Richard the Lionheart during the Third Crusade.
Richard had previously ordered no direct engagement with the enemy on the march to capture Jaffa. Situated at the rear of the military column, Garnier's Hospitallers were under heavy pressure by the Muslims. They were constantly harassed with arrows and small scale hit and run attacks in an attempt to disrupt and lure the crusader column into full battle. According to the 13th century manuscript Itinerarium Regis Ricardi, Garnier was near breaking point and rode forward in person to try to persuade Richard to attack:
My lord the king, we are violently pressed by the enemy, and are in danger of eternal infamy, as if we did not dare to return their blows; we are each of us losing our horses one after another, and why should we bear with them any further?[1]
He also asked that Richard relieve the pressure with a cavalry charge. Richard refused and replied, "Good Master, it is you who must sustain the attack; no man can be everywhere at once." [2] When the pressure increased, the Grand Master and one other knight, Baldwin de Carreo, charged the Muslims. They were joined soon after by the rest of the Hospitaller force. Richard, seeing that his orders were already disobeyed, signaled for a full charge. This caught the enemy at a vulnerable moment, and their ranks were broken. Thus, in some ways, Garnier helped win the battle, though in contravention of Richard's orders.
One later account holds that Garnier was the 8th Grandmaster, not the 9th, and that he died in Ascalon shortly after the fall of Jerusalem to Saladin in 1187.[3] This conflicting account can be attributed to the chaos and confusion following the end of the first Kingdom of Jerusalem.
In the video game Assassin's Creed, Garnier de Nablus is one of the nine main assassination targets and is depicted as an immoral, sadistic elderly man.
Actor Donald Sumpter portrays Garnier in the 2008 BBC TV docudrama series Heroes and Villains which features a reenactment of the battle at Arsuf.
| Preceded by Armengol de Aspa |
Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller 1190–1192 |
Succeeded by Geoffrey de Donjon |