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Henry Condell ( bapt. 5 September 1576 – December 1627) was a British actor in the King's Men, the
playing company Play is a range of intrinsically motivated activities done for recreational pleasure and enjoyment. Play is commonly associated with children and juvenile-level activities, but may be engaged in at any life stage, and among other higher-functio ...
for which
William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
wrote. With
John Heminges John Heminges (bapt. 25 November 1566 – 10 October 1630) was an actor in the King's Men, the playing company for which William Shakespeare wrote. Along with Henry Condell, he was an editor of the First Folio, the collected plays of Shakespeare ...
, he was instrumental in preparing and editing the
First Folio ''Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies'' is a collection of plays by William Shakespeare, commonly referred to by modern scholars as the First Folio, published in 1623, about seven years after Shakespeare's death. It is cons ...
, the collected plays of Shakespeare, published in 1623.Pogue, Kate. ''Shakespeare's Friends''. Greenwood Publishing Group (2006) pp. 129-136


Life and career

Condell's early life is obscure. It appears that he may have been from East Anglia, as his will mentions 'my Cosen Gilder late of newe Buckenham’. According to Edmond:
The only Henry Condell so far discovered at a suitable date in that part of England was the son of a Robert Condell of St Peter Mancroft, Norwich, a fishmonger, and his wife, Joan, née Yeomans, of New Buckenham, a market town not far from Norwich. Henry Condell, presumably their son, was baptized at St Peter on 5 September 1576.
Traditionally, he is associated with the "Harry" who appears in the cast list for
Richard Tarlton Richard Tarlton (died September 1588), was an English actor of the Elizabethan era. He was the most famous clown of his era, known for his extempore comic doggerel verse, which came to be known as "Tarltons". He helped to turn Elizabethan theatre ...
's ''The Seven Deadly Sins'', but this identification is little more than conjecture. If the connection is true, then Condell was an actor as early as 1590, acting in Lord Strange's Men alongside
John Heminges John Heminges (bapt. 25 November 1566 – 10 October 1630) was an actor in the King's Men, the playing company for which William Shakespeare wrote. Along with Henry Condell, he was an editor of the First Folio, the collected plays of Shakespeare ...
and Augustine Phillips. Condell was definitely in London by 24 October 1596, when he married, at St Laurence Pountney, Elizabeth Smart (d.1635), the only child of John Smart of the
Strand Strand may refer to: Topography *The flat area of land bordering a body of water, a: ** Beach ** Shoreline * Strand swamp, a type of swamp habitat in Florida Places Africa * Strand, Western Cape, a seaside town in South Africa * Strand Street ...
, gentleman. They settled in St Mary Aldermanbury, the parish in which Heminges lived. Condell, like Heminges, served as
churchwarden A churchwarden is a lay official in a parish or congregation of the Anglican Communion or Catholic Church, usually working as a part-time volunteer. In the Anglican tradition, holders of these positions are ''ex officio'' members of the parish b ...
in that church. Nine children were baptized there, born between 1599 and 1614, of whom only three survived to adulthood: Elizabeth (baptized 26 October 1606), who married Herbert Finch; Henry (baptized 6 May 1610, died 1630); and William (baptized 26 May 1611). Details of Condell's mature life, as is usual for Renaissance actors, are few. His status within the Lord Chamberlain's and King's companies appears to have been high; in official communications he is generally listed shortly after Burbage and Heminges. Actors' wills indicate that he was close to at least some of his colleagues in the company. Shakespeare and Phillips bequeathed him money for mourning rings;
Nicholas Tooley Nicholas Tooley (c. 1583 – June 1623) was a Renaissance actor in the King's Men, the acting company of William Shakespeare. Recent research has shown that Tooley was born in late 1582 or early 1583; his birth name was not Tooley but Wilkin ...
and
Alexander Cooke Alexander Cooke (died February 1614) was an actor in the King's Men and the Lord Chamberlain's Men, the acting companies of William Shakespeare, John Heminges and Richard Burbage. Cooke was most likely introduced to the theatre by John Hemi ...
named him as trustee for their estates. Condell prospered enough in his profession to purchase a country home at Fulham in
Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...
and other property, including an estate called Brockhampton in Snowshill,
Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...
. The indentures recording the latter purchase contain the only known example of Condell's signature or handwriting apart from his last will. In addition to ''
Every Man in His Humour ''Every Man in His Humour'' is a 1598 play by the English playwright Ben Jonson. The play belongs to the subgenre of the " humours comedy," in which each major character is dominated by an over-riding humour or obsession. Performance and pu ...
'' (1598) and ''
Every Man Out of His Humour ''Every Man out of His Humour'' is a satirical comedy written by English playwright Ben Jonson, acted in 1599 by the Lord Chamberlain's Men. The play The play is a conceptual sequel to his 1598 comedy '' Every Man in His Humour''. It was much l ...
'' (1599), Condell is known to have performed in four more of Jonson's plays: '' Sejanus'' (1603), ''
Volpone ''Volpone'' (, Italian for "sly fox") is a comedy play by English playwright Ben Jonson first produced in 1605–1606, drawing on elements of city comedy and beast fable. A merciless satire of greed and lust, it remains Jonson's most-perfor ...
'' (1605), '' The Alchemist'' (1610), and ''
Catiline Lucius Sergius Catilina ( 108 BC – January 62 BC), known in English as Catiline (), was a Roman politician and soldier. He is best known for instigating the Catilinarian conspiracy, a failed attempt to violently seize control of the ...
'' (1611). He was the original Cardinal in
John Webster John Webster (c. 1580 – c. 1632) was an English Jacobean dramatist best known for his tragedies '' The White Devil'' and '' The Duchess of Malfi'', which are often seen as masterpieces of the early 17th-century English stage. His life and c ...
's '' The Duchess of Malfi'' (c. 1613). And he was listed in eight of the cast lists that were added to the second Beaumont and Fletcher folio of 1679: * '' Bonduca'' * '' The Captain'' * '' The Humorous Lieutenant'' * '' The Knight of Malta'' * '' The Loyal Subject'' * '' The Mad Lover'' * ''
The Queen of Corinth ''The Queen of Corinth'' is a Jacobean era stage play, a tragicomedy in the canon of John Fletcher and his collaborators. It was initially published in the first Beaumont and Fletcher folio of 1647. Date Scholars have dated the play to the 1 ...
'' * '' Valentinian'' Condell appears to have ended his stage career around 1619. He signed each of the nine sheets of his last will and testament on 13 December 1627. He died at Fulham aged 51, and was buried at St Mary Aldermanbury on 29 December 1627. His widow, Elizabeth, was buried there on 3 October 1635. Condell left an extensive estate, including shares in the
Globe A globe is a spherical model of Earth, of some other celestial body, or of the celestial sphere. Globes serve purposes similar to maps, but unlike maps, they do not distort the surface that they portray except to scale it down. A model glo ...
and
Blackfriars Theatre Blackfriars Theatre was the name given to two separate theatres located in the former Blackfriars Dominican priory in the City of London during the Renaissance. The first theatre began as a venue for the Children of the Chapel Royal, child ac ...
s.


Fictional portrayals

In the 2016
sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...
''
Upstart Crow Upstart or upstarts may refer to: * HMS ''Upstart'', a Royal Navy U-class submarine *Upstart (company), an online lending marketplace *Upstart (software), a process management daemon used in several operating systems. *Upstart (sculpture), a public ...
'', Henry Condell is played by Dominic Coleman. In the 2011 film Anonymous he is played by Mark Rylance.


Notes


References

* * Collier, J. P. ''Lives of the Original Actors in Shakespeare's Plays''. London: Shakespeare Society, 1853. * * *Nunzeger, Edwin. ''A Dictionary of Actors and of Other Persons Associated With the Public Presentation of Plays in England Before 1642''. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1929.


External links


Will of Henry Cundall, Gentleman of London, proved 24 February 1628, PROB 11/153/258, National Archives
Retrieved 30 August 2013
Will of Elizabeth Cundall, Widow of Fulham, Middlesex, proved 18 February 1636, PROB 11/170/227, National Archives
Retrieved 30 August 2013 * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Condell, Henry 1576 births 1627 deaths 16th-century English male actors 17th-century English male actors English male stage actors English male Shakespearean actors People associated with Shakespeare King's Men (playing company)