Image: Seal of Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore Absolute Lord of the Land of Mary and of Avalon

Description: Seal of Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore (1637–1715). Plate VI: Top: Seal of Confederate States; Bottom: Seal of Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore (1637–1715), Left (recto ?): inscribed in Latin: CAROLUS ABSOLUTUS DOMINUS TERRAE MARIAE ET AVALONIAE BARO DE BALTEMOR (Charles, absolute lord of the Land of Mary and of Avalon, Baron of Baltimore". Arms of Calvert quartering Crosland of Crosland Hill, Yorkshire: Quarterly argent and gules, a cross botonée counterchanged (Burke, Sir Bernard, The General Armory, London, 1884, p.247). Avalon (a legendary island featured in Arthurian legend) is the name he gave his unsuccessful colony in Newfoundland, 1621-3. The imagery of a Renaissance mounted knight is apparently deliberately anachronistic. "This seal dates from 1648", per source. (? NB does not match with dates of "Carolus"/Charles Calvert, whose father Cecilius Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore (1605–1675) was still alive in 1648. The name of the first Baron and original grantee was George. Charles had been his father's Deputy Governor since 1661 when he arrived in the colony of Maryland at the age of 24. However, Charles left Maryland for England in 1684 and never returned. (Wikipedia)). The matrices were of silver.There was an earlier one of the same precious metal but it was stolen in 1644. That of 1648 was used till 1692; from then until the Revolution the Province was under royal governors. The Calvert family became extinct in 1771. By law of 1874 the obverse of this Seal was readopted, merely adding the date, 1632, the year in which the charterof Maryland was signed. As the reverse signified the per-sonal authority of the Proprietor it was no longer appro-priate and was discarded (see Plate VI).
Title: Seal of Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore Absolute Lord of the Land of Mary and of Avalon
Credit: Great Seals of England and some others, Pennsylvania museum_and_school of industrial art, Philadelphia, 1904, Plate VI, pp.43-4[1]
Author: Unknown photographer
Usage Terms: Public domain
License: Public domain
Attribution Required?: No