There are several "Giacomo Grillos" mentioned in thirteenth-century documents from Genoa and it is difficult to definitively identify the troubadour with one.
This is probably the same Giacomo as was responsible for providing lodging for Pope Innocent IV at Stella in 1244 and appears in an act of 7 March 1247 in the Liber Jurium Januae.
He was also elected one of the fifteen reggitori della città (rectors of the city) in 1262 after the overthrow of Guglielmo Boccanegra.
Segne'n Iacme Grils, e.us deman, Jacme's tenso with Simon Doria, is modeled on one between Sordello and Peire Guilhem de Tolosa and it is written in an effort to mock the former.
Jacme's tenso with Lanfranc begins Per o car vos fegnetz de sotilment entendre.