HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Hon. Leonard Calvert (1606 – June 9, 1647) was the first proprietary governor of the Province of Maryland. He was the second son of The 1st Baron Baltimore (1579–1632), the first proprietor of Maryland. His elder brother Cecil (1605–1675), who inherited the colony and the title upon the death of their father George, April 15, 1632, appointed Leonard as governor of the
Colony In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state'' ...
in his absence.


Early life

Leonard was born to
George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore (; 1580 – 15 April 1632), was an English politician and colonial administrator. He achieved domestic political success as a member of parliament and later Secretary of State under King James I. He lost mu ...
and his wife Anne Mynne, and was named in honor of his paternal grandfather, Leonard Calvert of Yorkshire.


Colonisation of Newfoundland

In 1625, when Calvert's father was created Lord Baltimore and received letters patent for the creation of a
Province of Avalon The Province of Avalon was the area around the English settlement of Ferryland in what is now Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada in the 17th century, which upon the success of the colony grew to include the land held by Sir William Vaughan and a ...
in the island of Newfoundland from James I of England, he relocated part of his newly converted Roman Catholic family to Newfoundland. Leonard Calvert accompanied his father to the new colony of Newfoundland in 1628. The colony ultimately failed due to disease, extreme cold, and attacks by the French, and the family returned to England. After a few years, Baltimore declared Avalon a failure and traveled to the
Colony of Virginia The Colony of Virginia, chartered in 1606 and settled in 1607, was the first enduring English colony in North America, following failed attempts at settlement on Newfoundland by Sir Humphrey GilbertGilbert (Saunders Family), Sir Humphrey" (histor ...
, where he found the climate much more suitable and temperate, but was met with an unwelcome reception from the Virginians' government and ruling class.


Establishment of Maryland

In 1632, Baltimore returned to England, where he negotiated an additional patent for the
colony of Maryland The Province of Maryland was an English and later British colony in North America that existed from 1632 until 1776, when it joined the other twelve of the Thirteen Colonies in rebellion against Great Britain and became the U.S. state of Maryla ...
from King Charles I. However, before the papers could be executed, Baltimore died on April 15, 1632. On June 20, 1632, Cecil, the second Lord Baltimore, received from the king the charter for the colony of Maryland that his father had negotiated. The charter consisted of 23 sections, but the most important conferred on Lord Baltimore and his heirs, besides the right of absolute ownership in the soil, certain powers, ecclesiastical as well as civil, resembling those possessed by the nobility of the Middle Ages. Leonard Calvert was appointed by his brother as the colony's first governor.


''The Ark'' and ''The Dove''

Two vessels, '' The Ark'' and '' The Dove,'' carrying over 300 settlers, sailed from the harbour of
Cowes Cowes () is an English seaport town and civil parish on the Isle of Wight. Cowes is located on the west bank of the estuary of the River Medina, facing the smaller town of East Cowes on the east bank. The two towns are linked by the Cowes Fl ...
, England, on November 22, 1633, arriving at just inside the huge harbor and bay (later to be named "
Hampton Roads Hampton Roads is the name of both a body of water in the United States that serves as a wide channel for the James River, James, Nansemond River, Nansemond and Elizabeth River (Virginia), Elizabeth rivers between Old Point Comfort and Sewell's ...
") at the mouth of the
Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula (including the parts: the Eastern Shore of Maryland / E ...
, between Cape Charles and
Cape Henry Cape Henry is a cape on the Atlantic shore of Virginia located in the northeast corner of Virginia Beach. It is the southern boundary of the entrance to the long estuary of the Chesapeake Bay. Across the mouth of the bay to the north is Cape Ch ...
and passed off " Point Comfort" at the mouths of the intersecting James, Nansemond, and Elizabeth Rivers, in the colony of Virginia on February 24, 1634 (also later the site of the cities of Norfolk, Portsmouth and
Virginia Beach Virginia Beach is an independent city located on the southeastern coast of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. The population was 459,470 at the 2020 census. Although mostly suburban in character, it is the most populous cit ...
on the south side and
Newport News Newport News () is an independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 186,247. Located in the Hampton Roads region, it is the 5th most populous city in Virginia and 140th most populous city in the Unit ...
and
Hampton Hampton may refer to: Places Australia * Hampton bioregion, an IBRA biogeographic region in Western Australia * Hampton, New South Wales * Hampton, Queensland, a town in the Toowoomba Region * Hampton, Victoria Canada *Hampton, New Brunswick * ...
on the northern peninsula). After exploring the area, a few weeks later they sailed up the
Potomac River The Potomac River () drains the Mid-Atlantic United States, flowing from the Potomac Highlands into Chesapeake Bay. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map. Retrieved Augu ...
, north of the Virginia shoreline and the southern border of their new colony and landed on the northern shore at Blakistone Island (later renamed
St. Clement's Island St. Clement's Island State Park is a publicly owned historic preservation and recreational area that encompasses St. Clement's Island, an uninhabited Potomac River island lying one-half mile southeast of Colton's Point, St. Mary's County, Maryl ...
) on March 25, 1634, erected a large cross, gave thanks and celebrated a Roman Catholic/ Christian Mass with Father Andrew White who had accompanied them (later to be celebrated as "
Maryland Day Maryland Day is a legal holiday in the U.S. state of Maryland. It is observed on the anniversary of the March 25, 1634, landing of the first European settlers in the Province of Maryland, the third English colony to be settled in British North ...
", an official state and local holiday). Two days later, on March 27, they returned further south down-river near the point where the Potomac meets the Bay at what is now St. Mary's City, then the site of a Native American village of the
Yaocomico The Yaocomico , also spelled Yaocomaco, were an Algonquian-speaking Native American group who lived along the north bank of the Potomac River near its confluence with the Chesapeake Bay in the 17th century. They were related to the Piscataway ...
branch of the
Piscataway tribe The Piscataway or Piscatawa , are Native Americans. They spoke Algonquian Piscataway, a dialect of Nanticoke. One of their neighboring tribes, with whom they merged after a massive decline of population following two centuries of interaction ...
, whom the
paramount chief A paramount chief is the English-language designation for the highest-level political leader in a regional or local polity or country administered politically with a chief-based system. This term is used occasionally in anthropological and arch ...
had moved away to accommodate the new English settlers, so as to take advantage of the trading opportunities of their more powerful technology: industries, weapons and implements, and they began the work of establishing a settlement there.


Governor of Maryland

Following his brother's instructions, Leonard Calvert at first attempted to govern the country in an absolutist way, but in January 1635, he had to summon a colonial
assembly Assembly may refer to: Organisations and meetings * Deliberative assembly, a gathering of members who use parliamentary procedure for making decisions * General assembly, an official meeting of the members of an organization or of their representa ...
, which became the foundation and first session of the modern
General Assembly of Maryland The Maryland General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland that convenes within the State House in Annapolis. It is a bicameral body: the upper chamber, the Maryland Senate, has 47 representatives and the lower chambe ...
, the third legislature to be established in the English colonies after the House of Burgesses in the Dominion of Virginia and the General Court in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. In 1638, the Assembly forced him to govern according to the common law of England, and subsequently the right to initiate legislation passed to the new
General Assembly A general assembly or general meeting is a meeting of all the members of an organization or shareholders of a company. Specific examples of general assembly include: Churches * General Assembly (presbyterian church), the highest court of presby ...
, representing the common "freeholders" (owners of
freehold Freehold may refer to: In real estate *Freehold (law), the tenure of property in fee simple * Customary freehold, a form of feudal tenure of land in England * Parson's freehold, where a Church of England rector or vicar of holds title to benefice ...
property) as subjects of the Crown. In 1638, Calvert seized a trading post at Kent Island established by the Virginian William Claiborne. In 1643, Governor Calvert went to England to discuss policies with his brother Lord Baltimore, the proprietor, leaving the affairs of the colony in charge of acting Governor
Giles Brent Giles may refer to: People * Giles (given name), male given name (Latin: ''Aegidius'') * Giles (surname), family name * Saint Giles (650–710), 7th–8th-century Christian hermit saint * Giles of Assisi, Aegidius of Assisi, 13th-century com ...
, his brother-in-law (he had married Ann Brent, daughter of Richard Brent). Calvert returned to Maryland in 1644 with a new wife and children (William, born in 1643, and a daughter, Anne, born in 1644). That same year, Claiborne returned and led an uprising of Maryland Protestants against the Catholic Proprietor. Calvert was soon forced to flee southward to Virginia. He returned at the head of an armed force in 1646 and reasserted proprietarial rule. Leonard Calvert died of an illness in the summer of 1647. Before he died, he wrote a will naming Margaret Brent (the sister of Giles and a future, historically famous planter, lawyer, and female advocate for women's rights) as the executor of his estate. Calvert also named his friend and fellow passenger aboard ''The Ark'' and ''The Dove'', Thomas Greene, as his successor to the governorship. In 1890, the State of Maryland erected an obelisk monument to Calvert and his wife at Historic St. Mary's City which had a historical district created to commemorate the colonial origins of the colony.


Leonard Calvert's lost grave

The location of Leonard Calvert's grave has been lost to history, but there is an effort underway to find it. Archeologists based in the Historic St. Mary's City research complex believe that Leonard Calvert is buried somewhere in St. Inigoes, Maryland. The most likely spot has been narrowed down to somewhere on Webster Field, now a small U.S. Naval Aircraft facility located on the water on the Western side of St. Inigoes. Several archeological digs have been conducted but the supposed grave has not been discovered. Members of the Calvert family in the settlement were known to be buried in lead coffins. It is not known if this is how Leonard Calvert was buried. His death, due to disease, happened suddenly and unexpectedly after a period of religious warfare had wracked the colony. Soon after his death, one of the first laws requiring religious tolerance was written and enacted in the colony, further codifying its original proprietarial mandate of religious tolerance and reestablishing peace.


See also

*
List of colonial governors of Maryland Maryland began as a proprietary colony of the Catholic Calvert family, the Lords Baltimore under a royal charter, and its first eight governors were appointed by them. When the Catholic King of England, James II, was overthrown in the Glorious R ...


References

* ''Dictionary of American Biography'' Base Set. American Council of Learned Societies, 1928–1936.


External links


Calvert Family Tree
{{DEFAULTSORT:Calvert, Leonard 1606 births 1647 deaths English emigrants Colonial Governors of Maryland Leonard St. Mary's County, Maryland St. Mary's City, Maryland English Roman Catholics Younger sons of barons