English and Catholic

The Lords Baltimore in the Seventeenth Century

John D. Krugler

• Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
• Year: 2008
• eBook ISBN: 9781421402000
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: British History
• Index: History

In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, to be English and Catholic was to face persecution, financial penalties, and sometimes death. Yet some English Catholics prospered, reconciling their faith and loyalty to their country. Among the most prominent was George Calvert, a talented and ambitious man who successfully navigated the politics of court and became secretary of state under King James I. A conforming Protestant from the age of twelve, Calvert converted back to Catholicism when a political crisis forced him to resign his position in 1625. The king rewarded Calvert by naming him Baron of Baltimore in Ireland. Insulated by wealth, with the support of powerful friends, and no longer occupied with court business, Baltimore sought to exploit his land grants in Ireland and Newfoundland. Seeking to increase his own fortune and status while enlarging the king's dominions, he embarked on a series of colonial enterprises that eventually led to Maryland.

The experiences of Calvert and his heirs foster our understanding of politics and faith in Jacobean England. They also point to one of the earliest codifications of religious liberty in America, for in founding Maryland, Calvert and his son Cecil envisioned a prosperous society based on freedom of conscience. In English and Catholic, John D. Krugler traces the development of the "Maryland Designe," the novel solution the Calverts devised to resolve the conflict of loyalty they faced as English Catholics. In doing so, Krugler places the founding and early history of Maryland in the context of pervasive anxieties in England over identity, allegiance, and conscience.

Explaining the evolution of the Calvert vision, Krugler ties together three main aspects of George Calvert's career: his nationalism and enthusiasm for English imperialism; his aim to find fortune and fame; and his deepening sense of himself as a Catholic. Skillfully told here, the story of the Calverts' bold experiment in advancing freedom of conscience is also the story of the roots of American liberty.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• A Note on Spelling and Dates
• Introduction: “A man is not English who gives first allegiance elsewhere”: Reconciling National and Religious Loyalties in an Age of Uniformity
• 1 “There should be a correspondence betwixt the Church and the State”: Uniformity, the Penal Legislation, and the Early Stuarts
• 2 “Conformitie to the form of service of God now established”: Building a Career at Court (1580–1620)
• 3 “But by God’s help many have been lifted out of the mire of corruption”: George Calvert’s Conversion and Resignation (1621–1625)
• 4 “Upon this new shuffle of the packe”: The Catholic Lord Baltimore in Ireland and Newfoundland (1625–1629)
• 5 “If your Majesty will please to grant me a precinct of land with such priviledges as the king your father my gracious Master was pleased to graunt me”: Securing the Charter (1629–1632)
• 6 “Such a designe when rightly understood will not want undertakers”: Selling Lord Baltimore’s Vision (1632–1638)
• 7 “With free liberty of religion”: The Calvert Model for Church-State Relations (1633–1655)
• 8 “The People there cannot subsist & continue in peace and safety without som good Government”: A Second Tsting of Religious Freedom (1653–1676)
• 9 “Scandalous and offensive to the Government”: The “Popish Chappel” at St. Mary’s City and the End of Religious Freedom (1676–1705)
• Abbreviations and Frequently Cited Works
• Notes
• Essay on Sources
• Index