This blog post was written based on research during the ‘Interpreting Kiplin for 400’ project, a National Lottery Heritage Fund project with thanks to National Lottery players. This post is part of a collection of posts on various themes being published during December 2024.
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 of Kiplin Hall. He was a talented and ambitious man who successfully navigated the politics of court and became secretary of state under King James I.
The story really starts with the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, which was an attempt by a group of English Catholics to assassinate King James I and followed on from a number of earlier plots against the King. In reaction, Parliament introduced the Popish Recusants Act which included various restrictions and controls on Roman Catholics as well as a new oath of allegiance that required English Catholics to swear allegiance to the King and that his authority superseded that of the Pope, even if threatened with excommunication by the Catholic Church. The Calverts, essentially pragmatic Catholics but outwardly living as Protestants at the time, were all signatories and seem to have been happy to sign the oath.
Both George and his son, Cecil, shared a conviction that religious affiliation and political allegiance were not synonymous and in no way dependent upon the other. It is certain that these attitudes were known by both the King and Parliament and explained their relatively benign behaviour towards the Calverts.
George Calvert had been trying to establish a colony in North America for many years. The charter for Maryland (named after King Charles I’s wife, Henrietta Maria) was finally passed in 1632, but five weeks earlier George Calvert had died, aged 52. The charter was therefore awarded to his son, Cecil Calvert, who also inherited Kiplin Hall and the title and lands of Lord Baltimore. The prospective Maryland colonists included both Protestants and Catholics, but Catholics required permission to leave the country (presumably to prevent any plotting with Catholics abroad) and had to sign the Oath of Allegiance. In 1633, the colonist’s ships, the Ark and the Dove, were ready to leave Gravesend at the mouth of the Thames when factions unfriendly to the Calverts had them stopped, claiming that the colonists had not taken the Oath of Allegiance. All the colonists duly signed the oath and the ships were allowed to leave. They then sailed to the Isle of Wight where they moored for several weeks awaiting favourable weather. Although the documentation is incomplete, 128 oaths were administered in Gravesend but 140 people were recorded on the ship’s log. Reading between the lines it would appear that a number of additional colonists joined the ships at the Isle of Wight, perhaps avoiding the need to sign the oath.This included Jesuit priests who are very unlikely to have signed.
All colonists on the expedition were also required to agree to the “Instructions to the Colonists” by Lord Baltimore (Cecil Calvert) which required colonists to maintain peace, unity and harmony on both ship and land. It also required that Catholic ceremonies should be held privately, and that Catholics should not offend Protestants or talk about religion.
The Colony was duly established in Maryland. In 1649, Cecil Calvert introduced a new law, “An Act Concerning Religion” (The “Maryland Designe”), which said that no person was to be compelled to believe in, or to be forced to exercise, any religion against his or her consent (although this probably assumed all colonists were Christians!).
The ‘Maryland Designe’ was fairly short lived but was the first example in the English speaking countries of the legal separation of religion and state. These sentiments were essentially incorporated into the First Amendment of the American constitution in 1791; perhaps the Calverts of Kiplin Hall were the inspiration for part of the American constitution.
(Published Dec 2024)
Find out more about the ‘Interpreting Kiplin 400’ Project during our Open Days on 13th, 14th and 15th December 2024. BOOK HERE
References:
Post-Reformation English Oaths (translated). The Online Catholic Encyclopaedia.
https://ec-aciprensa-com.translate.goog/wiki/Juramentos_Ingleses_Posteriores_a_la_Reforma?_x_tr_sl=es&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc
Pollen, John Hungerford. “English Post-Reformation Oaths.” The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 11. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 19 April 2019.
Krugler, John D. English and Catholic: the Lords Baltimore in the Seventeenth Century. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004.
Medley, Dudley Julius. A Student’s Manual of English Constitutional History. Sixth Edition . Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1925. pp. 639-40.
Jackson, Thomas Penfield. Maryland Designe: The First Wall Between Church and State. Center for the study of democracy; St. Mary’s College & St. Mary’s City. Volume 3, Number 1, Fall 2008.
Tanksalvala, Sarah. Maryland 2: The Ark and Dove. The American History Podcast. 5th September 2018. http://americanhistorypodcast.net/maryland-2-the-ark-and-dove/.
Historic St Mary’s City. Indentured Servants. https://www.hsmcdigshistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/lesson-plan-indentured-servants.pdf
Historic St Mary’s City. A Brief History of St Marys City. https://www.hsmcdigshistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/brief-history-of-st.marys-city.pdf
A Briefe Relation of the Voyage into Maryland. Father Andrew White. Maryland State Archives: Annapolis, 1990. https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc2900/sc2908/000001/000552/html/am552–3.html
The Passengers and Crew of the Ark and the Dove. The Society of the Ark and the Dove. https://socarkdove.org/adventurer
Passenger List of The Ark and The Dove. Compiled by David Bell 3/30/03, revised 11/01/05. This includes many references and extracts from other works (web page copied as a document). https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~calvertgenealogy/genealogy/The%20Ark%20and%20the%20Dove%201634%20.html
