From "A Chesapeake family their slaves, A study in historical
archaeology" Anne Elizabeth Yentsch, Cambridge University Press. P. 53 "....to
the early 1600's when George CALVERT began to move in Stuart circles after serving
James I in Ireland. James I reward services with honor, knighted George CALVERT in 1617,
and awarded him an Irish baronetcy in February 1624/25. The status, prestige, and
political powers of the CALVERT family were on the rise. Still, the family was not among
the greatest English nobility and did not possess the wealth of the aristocratic families
that maintained major estates like Boxworth or Chatsworth. The aristocracy at that time
evaluated its members according to a variety of cultural criteria including length of
pedigree and location. The CALVERT baronetcy was recent and Irish, not English; the
family seat of Kiplin was in Yorkshire, distant from Court.....Drawn by the CALVERT's
future prospects and the family's Catholic faith, Thomas ARUNDEL (!
Lord Arundel
at Wardour) asked the second Lord Baltimore, the young Cecilius, to we daughter Anne. The
couple were married in 1527/28 and may have lived briefly at Arundel's own home,
Wardour Castle in Wiltshire, before settling at Hook Manor on the Wardour estate. There
Anne gave birth to three daughters, and infant George (1634-6) and finally Charles, the
third Lord Baltimore. Charles had two sons, Cecilius (who died at 13) and Benedict
Leonard (Sr.) born in Maryland. By that time the CALVERT family was politically allied
through a network of marriage and financial alliances with some of the most talented
families in England. George CALVERT forged the initial connections when he became a
junior secretary to Sir Robert Cecil (1563-1612) \, who rose to be the Earl of Salisbury
and was principal Secretary of State of James I. Among the circle of families linked to
the CALVERTs were the ARUNDELS, the SOMERSETS, the powerful Irish TALBOTS (Lords
Tyrconnel), the diplomatica!
lly astute and fiscally prudent HYDES (Earls of Rochester and Clare
mathematical and political DIGGES. The third Lord Baltimore built upon this network
during his Maryland residence (1661-84), using the mechanisms of judicious land grants,
marriages, and political appointments to create his own small cadre of prominent Catholic
families in Maryland, including the SEWALLS, TALBOTS, DIGGES, DARNALLS, LEES, LOWES.
Maryland's Catholic gentry reciprocated by providing strong and effective political
support and service, and gradually the lines extended to include other wealthy families
including the Easter Shore dynasty of Quaker LLOYDS."
Melissa Thompson Alexander
www.familytreemaker.com/users/a/l/e/Melissa-T-Alexander/
listowner: CECIL-L(a)rootsweb.com; KRUTSINGER-L(a)rootsweb.com
Edmonds, WA USA