View source for Henry Condell

{{short description|English actor (1576–1627)}}
{{Other people}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2016}}

'''Henry Condell''' ([[Baptism|bapt.]] 5 September 1576 – December 1627) was a British actor in the [[King's Men (playing company)|King's Men]], the [[playing company]] for which [[William Shakespeare]] wrote. With [[John Heminges]], he was instrumental in preparing and editing the [[First Folio]], the collected plays of Shakespeare, published in 1623.<ref>Pogue, Kate. ''Shakespeare's Friends''. Greenwood Publishing Group (2006) {{ISBN|9780275989569}} pp. 129-136</ref>

==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 [[New Buckenham|newe Buckenham]]’.{{sfn|Edmond|2004}}{{sfn|Honigmann|Brock|1993|p=159}} According to Edmond:{{sfn|Edmond|2004}}

<blockquote>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.</blockquote>

Traditionally, he is associated with the "Harry" who appears in the cast list for [[Richard Tarlton]]'s [[The Seven Deadly Sins (play)|''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]] 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, London|Strand]], gentleman.{{sfn|Edmond|2004}} They settled in [[St Mary Aldermanbury]], the parish in which Heminges lived. Condell, like Heminges, served as [[churchwarden]] 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).{{sfn|Edmond|2004}}{{sfn|Honigmann|Brock|1993|p=158}}

Details of Condell's mature life, as is usual for Renaissance actors, are few. His status within the [[Lord Chamberlain's Men|Lord Chamberlain's]] and [[King's Men (playing company)|King's]] companies appears to have been high; in official communications he is generally listed shortly after [[Richard Burbage|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]] and [[Alexander Cooke]] named him as trustee for their estates. Condell prospered enough in his profession to purchase a country home at [[Fulham]] in [[Middlesex]] and other property, including an estate called Brockhampton in [[Snowshill]], [[Gloucestershire]]. The indentures recording the latter purchase contain the only known example of Condell's signature or handwriting apart from his last will.{{sfn|Barnard|1930|p=1}}

In addition to ''[[Every Man in His Humour]]'' (1598) and ''[[Every Man Out of His Humour]]'' (1599), Condell is known to have performed in four more of [[Ben Jonson|Jonson's]] plays: ''[[Sejanus (play)|Sejanus]]'' (1603), ''[[Volpone]]'' (1605), ''[[The Alchemist (play)|The Alchemist]]'' (1610), and ''[[Catiline: His Conspiracy|Catiline]]'' (1611). He was the original Cardinal in [[John Webster]]'s ''[[The Duchess of Malfi]]'' (c. 1613). And he was listed in eight of the cast lists that were added to the [[Beaumont and Fletcher folios|second Beaumont and Fletcher folio]] of [[1679 in literature|1679]]:

{{col-begin}}
{{col-2}}
* ''[[Bonduca]]''
* ''[[The Captain (play)|The Captain]]''
* ''[[The Humorous Lieutenant]]''
* ''[[The Knight of Malta]]''
{{col-2}}
* ''[[The Loyal Subject]]''
* ''[[The Mad Lover]]''
* ''[[The Queen of Corinth]]''
* ''[[Valentinian (play)|Valentinian]]''
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[[File:Heminge Condell memorial.jpg|thumb|upright|[[John Heminges and Henry Condell Memorial]] in London, commemorating their work with Shakespeare]]
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.{{sfn|Honigmann|Brock|1993|p=160}} He died at Fulham aged 51, and was buried at St Mary Aldermanbury on 29 December 1627.{{sfn|Edmond|2004}} His widow, Elizabeth, was buried there on 3 October 1635.{{sfn|Edmond|2004}}

Condell left an extensive estate, including shares in the [[Globe Theatre|Globe]] and [[Blackfriars Theatre]]s.

==Fictional portrayals==
In the 2016 [[sitcom]] ''[[Upstart Crow]]'', Henry Condell is played by [[Dominic Coleman]].  In the 2011 film [[Anonymous (2011 film)|''Anonymous'']] he is played by [[Mark Rylance]].

==Notes==
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==References==
*{{Cite book |last=Barnard |first=Etwell August Bracher |year=1930 |title=New Links With Shakespeare |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RgE9AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA1 |access-date=30 August 2013 }}
*[[John Payne Collier|Collier, J. P.]] ''Lives of the Original Actors in Shakespeare's Plays''. London: Shakespeare Society, 1853.
*{{cite ODNB |last=Edmond |first=Mary |year=2004 |title=Condell, Henry (bap. 1576?, d. 1627) |id=6055}} 
*{{Cite book |last=Honigmann |first=E.A.J. |year=1993 |last2=Brock |first2=Susan |title=Playhouse Wills |location=Manchester |publisher=Manchester University Press |page=159 }}
*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 ==
*[http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/Details?uri=D889155 Will of Henry Cundall, Gentleman of London, proved 24 February 1628, PROB 11/153/258, National Archives] Retrieved 30 August 2013
*[http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/Details?uri=D869209 Will of Elizabeth Cundall, Widow of Fulham, Middlesex, proved 18 February 1636, PROB 11/170/227, National Archives] Retrieved 30 August 2013
* {{Gutenberg author |id=6429| name=Henry Condell}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Henry Condell |birth=1576 |death=1627}}
* {{Find a Grave|9786427}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Condell, Henry}}
[[Category:1576 births]]
[[Category:1627 deaths]]
[[Category:16th-century English male actors]]
[[Category:17th-century English male actors]]
[[Category:English male stage actors]]
[[Category:English male Shakespearean actors]]

[[Category:King's Men (playing company)]]