12 Facts About John Grandisson

John Grandisson's mother, Sybil, was a younger daughter and co-heir of Sir John de Tregoz.

John Grandisson studied at Oxford in 1306, then from 1313 to 1317 he studied theology at the University of Paris under Jacques Fournier, who later became Pope Benedict XII.

When his elder brother Peter died in 1358 without an heir, John Grandisson became the head of the family.

John Grandisson then differenced his paternal coat of arms by substituting a bishop's mitre for the central eaglet on the bend.

On his arrival in Exeter, John Grandisson encountered a number of problems including debt, hostility from his chapter, and poor relations with Hugh de Courtenay, later to become Earl of Devon.

John Grandisson was assisted by master mason, Thomas Witney, who had been working on the cathedral since about 1313.

In 1335 John Grandisson founded a College of Secular Canons at Ottery St Mary in Devon, as a choir school for eight boys and a Master of Grammar, which survives today as The King's School.

John Grandisson donated the tenor bell in the south tower of Exeter Cathedral.

John Grandisson outlawed a popular cult that was being promoted by a house of canons at Frithelstock Priory.

One of them, now known as the John Grandisson Triptych, held at the British Museum in London, is considered a masterpiece of English mediaeval carving.

An important psalter known as the John Grandisson Psalter, owned by Bishop John Grandisson, survives in the British Library in London.

When John Grandisson's looted tomb was reopened in 1956, a small enamelled gold ring was discovered.