CONDOROV, Nicholas

The indentity of Condorov’s father has not been established, but it is probable that he was a scion of an ancient Cornish family that took its name from a manor in the parish of St. Keverne in western Cornwall. By contrast, there is no question over the identity of the MP’s mother, who was a daughter of Henry Cokayn, feodary of the duchy of Cornwall from 1369 to 1371, and sister of the prominent lawyer Thomas Cokayn*. Little is known of Condorov’s early career, but it is possible that like many other Cornishmen he traded across the Channel and that it was this activity to which he owed his appointment as a customs official in the Cornish ports towards the end of 1439. He served in this capacity for barely a year before being replaced, but by this time his life had taken a decisive turn. In May 1440 his uncle, Thomas Cokayn, then recorder of London, died. He had appointed his nephew one of his executors, and it was he who on 7 June was granted probate by the archbishop’s official. Condorov had good reason to undertake the arduous task of fulfilling Cokayn’s will, for he stood to benefit greatly under its terms. All Cokayn’s Cornish property was left to him and the heirs of his body, with the sole proviso that it was to be divided between the testator’s sisters, should Nicholas die without such heirs. The extent of this property is uncertain, but it is probable that some of it was situated in the parishes of Lostwithiel and Morval, the churches of which received bequests in Cokayn’s will, as well as in St. Winnow, where Condorov’s own will was to record holdings.3 PCC 28 Luffenham, 8 Logge.

Condorov’s acquisition of his uncle’s property allowed him to assume the latter’s position in local society and it also qualified him for election to Parliament by the borough of Lostwithiel (where he fulfilled the requirement for residency at least in so far as he owned some property there) in 1442.4 Cornw. RO, Wynell-Mayow mss, WM357. As far as can be told, he did, however, not embark on a career in government in the south-west, instead making his home in London, probably in the parish of St. Olave near the Tower, the parish church of which he remembered in his will. Cokayn had made no specific settlement of his properties in the south-east, but had given one of the executors, Reynold Pecock (the future bishop of Chichester), power to reward his nephew over and above what he himself had assigned to him. It is possible that Condorov thus also gained control of some of his uncle’s holdings in Essex, either by inheritance or purchase. Certainly, he became a landowner of some importance in the south-east, wealthy enough to serve as royal escheator of Essex and Hertfordshire in 1451-2, and by the end of his life he alternately resided in his London home and in a house at East Tilbury.5 PCC 8 Logge. Nicholas was established in Essex by the mid 1440s at the latest, and by this time had also developed contacts among the important men of the region, witnessing land settlements involving such influential figures as Master John Somerset*, who had sat in Parliament with him in 1442.6 CCR, 1441-7, pp. 404, 434. Somerset, the chancellor of the Exchequer, was not the only royal official with whom Condorov became associated: he would later serve as a feoffee alongside John Fray† a former chief baron of the Exchequer, while other members of the same circle included Peter Arderne (Fray’s successor) and Sir John Marney (another Essex landowner with interests in Cornwall by virtue of his descent from one of the heirs of Sir Richard Cergeaux†).7 C148/43; CAD, i. C1358.

Little else has been discovered about Condorov’s career. In the summer of 1457 he clashed with the duchess of Exeter, Anne of York, over an alleged assault on her servants, but otherwise appears to have led a quiet life.8 CP40/786, rot. 104d. He was predeceased by his wife, and did not leave any children. In his will, made on 16 Dec. 1483, he asked to be buried next to his wife in the Lady chapel of the Crutched Friars in London, the house nearest to his putative parish church of St. Olave. For his burial, the friars were only to have the sum of 10s., but this was augmented by a bequest of all the hangings of his chamber. Nor was the church of St. Olave much more generously endowed, for its churchwardens were to receive a mere 40s. towards the repair of their church. By contrast, the Black Friars of ‘Tresewe’ in Cornwall were to have £3 6s. 8d., and the parish church of West Tilbury, perhaps the place of worship Condorov had attended most frequently, was to receive a princely £20 as well as an additional five gold nobles to provide an obit for a former parson of Chadwell.

As Condorov had no children, he had sold the remainder of his Essex estates to a neighbour, William Hoberd of Mucking. His Cornish lands were to remain to his brother, Thomas Condorov, for his life and then to be sold for the benefit of the souls of Thomas Cokayn and his family. Material bequests went to a number of godchildren and kinsmen: Thomas Condorov was to have a featherbed, sheets and pillows, as well as 20 marks in money, the children of John Condorov ‘the elder’ received a selection of brass pots and livestock, while the rest of the testator’s household goods, farming equipment and horses at London and East Tilbury was to fall to their father. Other kinsfolk received legacies of money. Several of Thomas Cokayn’s bequests also remained unfulfilled, even though he had been dead for over 40 years: ten marks were to be paid to the churchwardens of Morval for the repair of the steeple and a full set of clerical vestments was to be procured at a cost of £16 and given to the parish church of Lostwithiel to provide for an obit for the Cokayn family. As his executors Condorov appointed the Cornish priest John Tretherf and the London wool-packer John Gerard. He died not long after making his will, which was proved on 3 Feb. following.9 PCC 8 Logge.