Condor
(also Candorus, Cadoc and other variants) was a legendary Cornish nobleman.The first known mentions of Condor are from heralds and antiquarians in the late sixteenth century, who recorded claims that he had beenearl of Cornwallat the time of the Norman Conquest in 1066, and paid homage to William the Conqueror to keep his position. William Hals speculated that he may have supported the rebels at the Siege of Exeter (1068) and lost his earldom; much of Cornwall was given to William's Breton supporters soon afterwards. Condor's son Cadoc may have regained the title under Henry I, and later passed it through his daughter to Reginald de Dunstanville.
History
St Clement
Instworth peninsula
St Keverne parish
Launceston Castle
Tintagel Castle
Trematon Castle
Locations in Cornwall associated with Condor
According to William Hals, writing in the eighteenth century, Condor may have been born in St Clement, or perhaps lived there. Hals also associates the Intsworth peninsula in St Anthony parish, the Condura and Tregarne manors in St Keverne parish, and Trematon manor with Condor. Early nineteenth century Cornish historian Richard Polwhele calls Launceston, Tintagel, and Trematon castles the residences of Condor and the ancient earls of Cornwall. Sixteenth century herald Robert Glover described Condor as being "ex Regio sanguine Britannorum" ('from the royal blood of the Britons'), while William Borlase, writing in the eighteenth century, said that Condor was "descended from a long train of Ancestors, sometime called Kings, sometime Dukes, and Earls of Cornwall". A sixteenth century armory even refers to Condor as "Erle of Devon". Some modern sources connect Condor with the last recorded king of Cornwall, Donyarth (died 875), and assert that Condor was his direct descendant.
Glover, and antiquaries Richard Carew and John Williams write that Condor was briefly appointed as the first Count (according to Glover) or Earl of Cornwall by William the Conqueror after the Norman Conquest of England, after paying homage to William for his earldom. Hals suggests that Condor may have supported the rebels at the Siege of Exeter in 1068 and lost his earldom as a result; William did travel to Cornwall following the siege in a show of strength. Brian of Brittany fought for the Normans at the siege, and was rewarded with lands in Devon and Cornwall; The Complete Peerage states that he received Cornwall and west Devon when they were taken by the Normans. Brian was probably deposed after the revolt of the Earls in 1075, and his lands in Cornwall given to William's half-brother Robert, Count of Mortain who owned virtually all of Cornwall by the time of Domesday in 1086.
When Robert's son William, Count of Mortain rebelled against King Henry I in 1104 his lands were stripped, and, according to McKenzie, Woolwater, and Polwhele, they may have been restored to Condor's son, Cadoc.Hooker, Carew, Williams, and Hals all write that Cadoc had one daughter and heir, called Hawisia, Avicia, Alicia, Amicia, Agnes, or Beatrix, who married Reginald de Dunstanville . Williams and Hals say that through her, Reginald claimed the title Earl of Cornwall, which he was later formally invested with by his half-sister Empress Matilda, after it was taken by Alan of Richmond during the Anarchy.
Name
Condor's name is not certain, with Carew giving both his and his son's names as Condor, but noting that Camden referred to him as Cadoc. Camden's first editions ofBritannia give his name as Cadocus, but from 1607 he revised that to "Candorus, called by others Cadocus" (Candorus alias Cadocus). Williams gives both his and his son's names as Candor. Hals gives his name as Cundor or Condor, and Condorus/Condurus/Condura in Latin, and his son as Cad-dock/Caddock/Cradock or Condor the Second. Frederick Lyde Caunter gives Contor as a variant spelling.
Hals wrote that the name Condor was in all probability taken from a place in St Clement called Conor or Condura, which Davies Gilbert says means 'the King or Prince's Water'. William Pryce instead suggested that the place name (which he gives as Condurra or Condourra) comes from con-dower' the neck of water'. John Bannister gives Condora as possibly being from 'the head' (cean) 'between the two waters' (dourau), and Condurra/Condurrow as 'druid's down', 'the neck of water', or possibly 'oak' (deru) 'down' (goon).
Pryce suggests the meaning of the name Cadoc derives fromCad'war',Cadwr'a soldier' or 'a champion', and Cadgur'a man of war'. Hals translates it as meaning to 'bear or carry-war'. Craig Weatherhill gives the meaning of Cadoc as 'man of battle'. Bannister says that the name Cadoc means 'warlike' (like the Welsh cadwg), while Cradock means 'beloved' (like the Welshcaradog).
Early sources
Attributed arms of Condor, from Camden's Britannia (1610 edition) Attributed arms of Condor's son Cadoc, from Hals' History of Cornwall(c.1750)The Names of the Gentlemen of Devonshire and Cornwall, with their Arms, a sixteenth century armory, lists:
Condor, Erle of Devon: Sa : besanted or.
Robert Glover's manuscript "De Ducibus Cornubiæ" (c.1568–1588[28]) mentions:
Hawisia, the only daughter and heir of Candor from the royal blood of the Britons, count of Cornwall at the time of the Conquest, and who rendered homage and fidelity to King William the Conqueror for the said county.
InBritannia(1586–1610), William Camden wrote:
As for the Earles, none of British blood, are mentioned but onelyCandorus(called by othersCadocus) who is accounted by the late writers, the last Earle of Cornwall, of British race, & as they which are skilfull in Heraldry, have a tradition, bareXV. Besaunts V.IIII.III.II. andI. in a shield Sable.
John Hooker's manuscript "The Stem of the Earls and Dukes of Cornwall" (c.1587–1601[30]) states:
Reynold Earl of Bristowe, the base son of King Henry the First, married Amicia, the daughter and heir of Condor Lord of Bradninch and Earl of Cornwall; and after the death of the said Earl, Reynold, in the right of his wife, was Lord of Bradninch and Earl of Cornwall, and they had issue a son named Henry, and a daughter named Joan. Henry joined his father in incorporating the town and borough of Bradninch, but died before his father without issue; and for want of issue male, the barony and earldom returned to the Crown. Condor, the last Earl of Cornwall of British extraction, bore for his arms ten bezants on a field sable, which Earl Reynold took and quartered with his own, viz. Gules, two lions passant or, a bend sinister azure.
In hisSurvey of Cornwall(1602), the antiquary Richard Carew wrote:
What time William the bastard subdued this Realme, one Condor possessed the Earledome of Cornwall, and did homage for the same: he had issue another Condor, whose daughter and heire Agnes, was maried to Reignald Earle of Bristowe, base sonne to King Henry the first. This note I borrowed out of an industrious collection, which setteth downe all the noble mens creations, Armes, and principall descents, in euery Kings dayes since the conquest: but master Camden, our Clarentieulx, nameth him Cadoc, and saith farther, that Robert Morton, brother to William Conquerour, by his mother Herlot, was the first Earle of Norman blood, and that his sonne William succeeded him; who taking part with Duke Robert, against Henry the first, thereby got captiuity, and lost his honour, with which that King inuested the forementioned Reignald.
In the Book of Baglan (1600–1607), John Williams wrote:
Candor, a brittan, was at the Conq. tyme E. of Cornewal and did homag to the conq. wmfor his Earldom, and had issue a sone named Candor who was 2 E. of Cornwall next after the Conquest. Candor had a da. & h. called Avicia ma. to Raynold, E. of Bristow, and in her right was E. of Cornewall; beareths., 10 beausants
In his History of Cornwall (c.1750),William Hals wrote:
In this church town [St Clement's] is the well-known place of Conor, Condura, id est, the King or Prince's Water (viz. Cornwall), whose royalty is still over the same, and whose lands cover comparatively the whole parish; from which place in all probability was denominated Cundor or Condor, in Latin Condorus, i. e. Condura, Earl of Cornwall at the time of the Norman Conquest, who perhaps lived, or was born here. And moreover, the inhabitants of this church town and its neighbourhood will tell you, by tradition from age to age, that here once dwelt a great lord and lady called Condura.
This Condurus, as our historians tell us, in 1016 [sic] submitted to the Conqueror's jurisdiction, paid homage for his earldom, and made an oath of his fealty to him; but this report doth not look like a true one, for most certain it is, in the 3rd year of the Conqueror's reign, he was deprived of his earldom, the same being given to the Conqueror's half-brother, Robert Earl of Morton in Normandy, whose son William for a long time succeeded him in that dignity after his death. Is it not, therefore, more probable that this Earl Condurus confederated with his countrymen at Exeter , in that insurrection of the people against the Conqueror in the 3rd year of his reign, and for that reason was deprived of his earldom? Be it as it was, certain it is he married and had issue Cad-dock (id est, bear or carry-war), his son and heir, whom some authors call Condor the Second, who is by them taken for and celebrated as Earl of Cornwall.
But what part of the lands or estate thereof he enjoyed (whilst Robert and William, Earls of Morton aforesaid, his contemporaries, for thirty years were alive, and doubtless possessed thereof, as well as his title and dignity) hath not yet appeared to me. His chief dwelling and place of residence was at Jutsworth, near Saltash and Trematon, where he married and had issue one only daughter named Agnes, as some say, others Beatrix, who was married to Reginald Fitz-Harry, base son of King Henry I., by his concubine Anne Corbett, in whose right he was made Earl of Cornwall, after William Earl of Cornwall aforesaid had forfeited the same, by attainder of treason against the Conqueror and his sons, and was deprived thereof.
This Earl Caddock, or Condor the 2nd, departed this life 1120, and lies buried in the chancel of St. Stephen's Church, by Saltash, and gave for his arms, in a field Sable, 15 bezants palewise,
William Borlase wrote inThe Antiquities of Cornwall(1754):
For when the Conquerour came in, the last Earl of Cornwall of British blood (by some called Candorus; by Camden, Cadocus) descended from a long train of Ancestors, sometime called Kings, sometime Dukes, and Earls of Cornwall, was displaced, and his Lands as well as Honours given to Robert Earl of Moreton; and it is natural to think that, where the Residence of those ancient Earls of Cornwall was, there he occasionally fixed his Court, as at Lanceston, Tindagel, and Trematon. Mr. Carew, in his Survey gives us this account of an ancient Monument found in the parish Church of St. Stephen, to which this Castle belongs. "I have received information (he says) from one averring eye witness, that about fourscore years since, there was digged up in the parish chancel, a leaden coffin, which, being opened, shewed the proportion of a very big man. The partie farder told me, how a writing, graved in the lead, expressed the same to be the burial of a Duke, whose heir was married to the Prince, but who it should be, I cannot devise; albeit, my best pleasing conjecture lighteth upon Orgerius, because his daughter was married to Edgar." Now this Orgerius was Duke of Cornwall, A. D. 959 and might probably have lived at Trematon Castle in this parish; but he was buried in the monastery of Tavistock (as W. of Malmsbury says), so that probably the Duke of Cornwall buried here was Cadoc, hereafter mentioned. Farther of this Castle, before the Conquest, I have not yet seen. Under Robert, Earl of Moreton and Cornwall, it appears by the Exeter Domesday, that Reginald de Valletorta held the Castle; but the inheritance came to William Earl of Cornwall, from whom it passed by attainder to the crown, with his other lands and dignities; then, as some think, Cadoc, son of the Condorus above-mentioned, was restored to the Earldom of Cornwall, lived and died at the Castle of Trematon, leaving one only daughter and heir, Agnes, married to Reginald Fitz-Henry, natural son to Henry I. I conjecture, therefore, that this Cadoc must be that Duke (or rather Earl) of Cornwall, whose sepulchre was discovered as above, his daughter being married to a Prince of the Royal Blood.
Claimed descent from Condor
The Liskeard lawyer Frederick Lyde Caunter reports that John the Chanter ,Bishop of Exeter from 1184–1190, was said to be a great-grandson of Condor.
Caunter also states that "There has always been a legend in the family that the Devonshire Caunters are descended from Condor, sometimes written 'Contor', Earl of Cornwall". Caunter goes on to cite Charles Broughton, the author of a nineteenth century manuscript,Origin of the family of Caunter in Devonshire & Canter in Cornwall. Broughton, an Under-Secretary at the Foreign Office and apparently a friend of Richard MacDonald Caunter, wrote that "the Caunter family part of whom settled in Devonshire & part in Cornwall, are descended from Condor" and that Condor's descendants "in the direct line settled in that part of the County called 'the South Hams', & a younger branch retired to a more remote part of the County of Cornwall." Caunter adds, however, that he was unable to find confirmation for Broughton's statements.
Richard Charnock noted the Cornish surname Condor/Condura/Cundor in connection with Condor of Cornwall, but concluded that the name is derived from the place in St Clement parish.
The Roman road, proceeding west from Exeter' a branch of the Icenhilde Way,
crossed the Tamar at this point; and the“ Statio Tamara ”of the Itineraries was no doubt at King’s Tamerton, immediately above the river, on the Devonshire side. The right of ferry at Saltash was under Edward the third, it was granted by the Black Prince, as Duke of Cornwall, during his delay at Plymouth in 1355 to a soldier who had been wounded in the French wars. Sir Ralph Hopton drove Ruthen, the governor of Plymouth, across the Tamar, in spite of the cannon which he had planted in the narrow avenues, and of the fire of a ship of
sixteen guns. Ruthen had been previously beaten on Braddoc Down near Liskeard. Saint Stephen’s is the parish church, and about 1 mile from the town. It has a lofty tower; and a fine Norman, font, in all respects resembling that at Bodmin. An old lich-stone lies just within the porch of the churchyard. Having walked to Saint. Stephen’s, the stranger will probably extend his ramble, as at this place he comes in view of the ancient Castle of Trematon rising from a wood. It is seen rt. of the railway after passing Saltash. It is separated from the church by a deep valley pierced by an inlet from the Lynher Creek, at the head of which a small hamlet nestles Nicolas's History of Navy. An excursion up the Tamar, as far as the Weir-head and Morwell Rocks, is one of the most interesting in the county. See .Devon, Rte. 7; and Cornwall, Rte. 25.)
Saltash is known for its fishermen, but more so for its fish women, who are celebrated for their prowess at the oar, and not unfrequently bear away the prizes at the different regattas. It was an ancient borough previous to the Reform Bill, by which it was disfranchised, and has been represented in Parliament by Waller the poet and Clarendon the historian, who was its member in the Long Parliament. It first appears as a free borough, temp. Hen. HI.). Saltash, as commanding one of the principal passes into Cornwall, was frequently taken and held by either party during the civil war. In 1643 it was the scene of a furious engagement, when Lord Mohun and under the shelter of the hill. The remains of this castle are considerable, but not so picturesque as many other ruins, on account of the red colour of the stone. They are, however, beautifully decked with ivy and encircled by lawns and shrubberies.
The mansion, which contains some fine paintings, was erected about 30 years ago by the late B Tucker, Esq., partly at the expense
of the castle walls. The manor of Trematon was one of those which fell to the share of Robert of Mortain, half-brother of the Conqueror, and was afterwards held by the Valletorts, — from one of whom,
Roger de Valle tort, it passed to Richard, the great Earl of Cornwall, and King of the Romans. It has since been attached to the duchy. The Black Prince gave it for life to Sir Nigel Loring, who had been his companion in arms during the French wars. A Stannary Court was anciently held in the castle, and Gilpin cornwall. Trematon Castle—River Lynher remarks that “ Trematon law is almost to this day an object of reverence
among the common people of Cornwall.” During the riots in 1549 the castle was plundered by the rebels, who, enticing the governor, Sir Richard Grenville, beyond the walls among the National Portraits at South
Kensington in 1866, and among the “ Old Masters ” at Burlington House in 1872). Sir William Butts was the by the pretence of a parley, in tercepted his return.
The ruins are encircled by a moat, and consist of an enclosing wall crowning the summit of a lofty mound, of the walls of the base court, and of a square massive tower at the entrance, pierced with an archway,
which is furnished with grooves for a portcullis. The wall which crowns the “motte” or mound may be of the 13th century and was possibly the work of the Valletorts. The castle resembles Exeter, Totnes, and Plympton, in having no regular keep—the lofty mound with its wall answering all the purpose of a high and strong tower. The mound is partly natural, and has been scarped. It commands a noble view, and was perhaps a British stronghold before it was “ castelated.” Strangers are admitted on week-days. Between the castle and the village of Trematon is a wayside octagonal cross about 4 feet high. The Lynher (which the rly. crosses by a viaduct) and its numerous branches afford the means of pleasant water excursions; their shores being hilly and covered with wood. [-An-tony, the seat of the family of Carew (pron. Carey — this branch of the Carews of Mohun’s Ottery and Haccombe (see Rte. 3) has been seated here since the 15th cent.), is bounded partly by this creek and partly by the Tamar. The house was built by Gibbs in 1721, and contains a collection of pictures by Holbein, Vandyke, SirJoshua Reynolds, Kneller, Lely, &c. The two Holbeins—portraits of Sir William Butts and his wife deserve Special notice, and are among the finest examples of the master in England, (They were exhibited principal physician to Henry VIII., and is introduced in Shakespeare’s play, where he points out to the king Archbishop Cranmer kept waiting among lacqueys. The face has been slightly injured and repaired, but the picture is of great beauty. That of Lady Butts (dau. of John Bacon, of Cambridgeshire) is perfect, “ a rare jewel in art, which has lost none of its first lustre.” There is also a portrait of Richard Carew, the author of the * Survey of Cornwall/ and a head of Sir Kenelm Digby, by Van dyke. A monument to the same Richard Carew will be found in the neighbouring ch. of Antony (seepost.
A group of ilex oaks in the grounds of Antony, planted about 1725, contains perhaps the largest and oldest trees in England of this species. A ferry crosses Antony Passage to Trematon, and below it is
Beggar's Island. (The story, given in Carew’s * Survey/ runs that a Carew found two beggars fighting in his grounds at Antony, landed them on this island, told them to fight it out, and left them.) At Merrifield, between Antony and Torpoint is a very good new Church (W. White, archit.), serving for the eastern part of the parish, and especially for the little village of Wilcove, famous for early brocoli. Above Antony House the voyager to St. Germans passes below the woods ofShillingham,the original seat of the Buller family (there are small remains of the chapel of the house); and then Ince Castle, now a farm-house, but once a mansion of the Earls of Devon, and in the civil war garrisoned by the Royalists. Ince is a 16th-century. house, and a solitary example of a brick building in a stone country. It was for some time a seat of the Killigrews, one of whom was painted
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