John Grandisson

John de Grandisson (1292 – 16 July 1369), also spelt Grandison,^[a] was Bishop of Exeter, in Devon, England, from 1327 to his death in 1369. Several works of art associated with him survive in the British Library, the British Museum and the Louvre in Paris.

Biography

Grandisson was born in 1292 at Ashperton near Hereford, the second son of five of Sir William Grandisson (died 1335). Sir William was the heir of Otto de Grandson (died 1328), close personal friend of King Edward I, and head of the English branch of a family that was based at Grandson Castle, now in Switzerland. His mother, Sybil (died 1334), was a younger daughter and co-heir of Sir John de Tregoz.^[2]

He 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. He returned to study at Oxford 1326–7. Later in Avignon he became the chaplain and friend of Pope John XXII, who mentored him and sent him on diplomatic missions. The Pope rewarded Grandisson by making him prebendary at York, Wells, and Lincoln, and, in October 1310, Archdeacon of Nottingham.^[2]

When his elder brother Peter died in 1358 without an heir, John became the head of the family.^[2]

Bishop of Exeter

Grandisson was nominated as

From Bishop Stapledon, Grandisson inherited a partly-rebuilt Cathedral. In December 1328 he consecrated the high altar and then started raising funds from the diocese to complete the nave, of which only the first bay had been completed. He was assisted by master mason, Thomas Witney, who had been working on the cathedral since about 1313. After Witney's death, c.1342, the work was continued by William Joy. Grandisson's main interests for the cathedral were his own chantry chapel, some of the roof bosses (especially the one depicting Thomas Becket's murder – a particular interest of his), and probably the minstrel's gallery.^[2]

In 1335 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. However, his largest project – in which he took a great personal interest – was the rebuilding and establishment as a collegiate church of the church at Ottery St Mary. Taking ten years from 1337, the rebuilding was contemporaneous with work ongoing at Exeter Cathedral and its construction mirrors several features of the cathedral. Grandisson's younger brother Otho helped fund the church and family heraldry appeared widely throughout the building,^[2] much of which has been later destroyed or restored away.^[3]

Grandisson donated the tenor bell in the south tower of Exeter Cathedral. Named "Grandison" and re-cast at least three times, most recently in 1902 by John Taylor & Co, the current bell bears the inscription "EX DONO IOHANNIS GRANDISON EPISCOPI EXON GVLIELMVS EVANS FECIT 1729".^[4]

During his episcopacy, he faced a number of

There survive two ivory triptychs and a diptych made in England in the 1330s for private devotion and inscribed with the emblems of John Grandisson as Bishop of Exeter. 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.^[8] The diptych is in the Louvre Museum in Paris.

An important psalter known as the Grandisson Psalter, owned by Bishop Grandisson, survives in the British Library in London. It records Grandisson's death and the fact that he bequeathed it to royalty.^[9]

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

References

1. ^ Armorial General, By Johannes Baptist Rietstap, 1950, p.816
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h} Audrey Erskine, Grandison, John (1292–1369), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edition (subscription required). Retrieved 2020-02-29.
3. ISBN 0-14-071050-7
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4. ISBN 978-1-90335645-6
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5. ISBN 978-0-19870-253-5
6. ISBN 0-521-37950-4
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7. ^ Philip (23 July 2014). "Iconoclasm in the Rear View Mirror". The Past in its Place. The University of Exeter. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
8. ^ triptych / religious/ritual equipment, British Museum, retrieved 7 December 2013
9. ^ Records Of The Death Of Bishop John Grandisson, In 'The Grandisson Psalter', British Library retrieved 7 December 2013
10. ISBN 0-9503320-5-4
    .

Further reading

• Jenkins, John (2017). "'Despite the Prohibition of the Lord Bishop': John Grandisson, Bishop of Exeter (1327-69), and the Illusion of Episcopal Power". In Coss, Peter; Dennis, Chris; Silvestri, Angelo; Julian-Jones, Melissa (eds.). Episcopal Power and Local Society in Medieval Europe 1000-1400. Brepols. pp. 271–289.
  ISBN 978-2-503-57340-3
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Catholic Church titles
Preceded by John Godeley	Bishop of Exeter 1327–1369	Succeeded by Thomas Brantingham