Description of The Great Seal of Maryland

The Great Seal and Flag of Maryland are so intimately connected the one
with the other that their history is inseparable. The flag of the State bears
the escutcheon of the Great Seal..the Calvert and Crossland arms
quartered. Maryland is unique in her Great Seal, and presents a marked
contrast with those of the other States of the American Union, in that
it consists of Armorial bearings of a strictly heraldic character, while the
others bear "emblems indicative of agriculture and commerce, plenty and
prosperity, or kindred subjects represented in a more or less pictorial or
allegorical manner."

The first Great Seal brought over by Governor Leonard Calvert, in 1643,
was "Treacherously and violently taken away by Richard Ingle, or his
accomplices, in or about February A. D. 1644, and hath ever since been so
disposed of it cannot be recovered." In 1648, Baltimore sent to the province,
through Governor William Stone, a second Great Seal cut in silver. The
escutcheon bore the Calvert and Crossland arms quartered. The first and
fourth quarters consisted of "six pales" or vertical bars, alternately gold
and black with a bend dexter counter charged..that is, a diagonal stripe on
which colors are reversed..being the Calvert arms; the second and third
quarters consisted of a quartered field of red and silver charged with a
Greek, or equal-limbed cross, classified as "Botany"..its arms terminating
in trefoils..and also counter-charged, that is, with the colorings reversed,
red being on the silver ground and silver on the red..the latter quarterings
being from the Crossland, Baltimore's maternal arms..Alicia Crossland
having been the mother of the first Baron of Baltimore, George Calvert.
These quarterings were surmounted by an earl's coronet and full-faced
helmet, which indicated his rank in America as that of a Count Palatine..
his rank in England being that of a Baron only..a distinction which no
other American Colonial charter conferred. On the helmet rested the
Calvert crest, a ducal crown, with two half bannerets, one gold and one
black. The escutcheon was supported on one side by the figure of a farmer,
and the other by that of a fisherman..symbols of each his two estates,
Maryland and Avalon. Below them was a scroll bearing the Calvert motto:
"Fatti maschii Parole Femine"..manly deeds, womanly words, or more
strictly, deeds are males, words, females. Behind the escutcheons and coro-
nets was engraved an ermined-lined mantle, and surrounding all, on a
border encircling the seal, was the legend: "Scuto Bonae Voluntatis tuae
Coronasti Nos"..with favor wilt thou compass us as with a shield. The
heraldic terms used in describing the colors in the Calvert arms are "Or"
and "Sable," meaning gold and black.

The Obverse of The Great Seal

The obverse of the Great Seal represents Baron Baltimore as a Knight
in full armor, with drawn sword and helmet decoration with feathers. He
is mounted on a richly caparisoned charger in full gallop, adorned with
his paternal coat of arms, below which are engraved a strip of seashore,
grass and flowers; around the whole is an inscription containing his name
and titles, "Cecilius Absolutus Dominus Terrae Mariae et Avaloniae Baro de
Baltimore."

The Great Seal of the State, or Nation, stands as her symbol of honor,
and the signet by which her official acts are authenticated and accredited.
In colonial Maryland to every deed granting lands by the Proprietary, who
held the fee therein, to the colonist settlers, was suspended by a piece of
linen tape, a large wax seal, with the impression of both the obverse and
the reverse of the Great Seal thereon. Upon the accession of William and
Mary to the throne of England, Maryland became a Royal Province and
the Church of England became the established church of the Province.
During the sway of the Royal Governors, from 1692 to 1715, other seals
came into use, but upon the restoration to Lord Baltimore in 1716 of the
Province, "The Greater Seal at Arms" was again used. The convention
of 1776 adopted the Great Seal of the Province as the Great Seal of the
State, until a new one could be devised. Later notably in 1794, and in 1817,
many changes were made in it, but in 1876 a joint resolution of the Mary-
land Legislature was passed restoring the seal to the exact description
given of it in Lord Baltimore's Commission to Governor Stone on August
12, 1648. (From booklet entitled Annapolis, History of Ye Ancient City
and Its Public Buildings, by Oswald Tilghman.)