Virginia’s distinctive nickname, Old Dominion, may have its roots in the beheading of an English king. Then again, maybe not.

“While the name clearly refers to Virginia’s status as England’s oldest colony in the Americas, it is impossible to trace the origins of the term with precision,” according to The Hornbook of Virginia History published by The Library of Virginia in 1994.

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The book and other accounts give varying examples of how the name might have emerged in the 1600s.

It’s noted that Capt. John Smith of Jamestown fame referred to the settlement as Old Virginia. And Lord Baltimore, who founded the Maryland colony, referred to Virginia as the king’s dominion in a 1629 letter to the crown.

But one of the more intriguing explanations has its beginnings more than 370 years ago when Sir William Berkeley was the new governor of the Virginia colony and a series of civil wars occurred in England between supporters of King Charles I and Parliament.

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Eventually, after years of intermittent fighting, the Parliamentarians won. In early 1649, the king was put on trial in Westminster Hall, found guilty of treason and executed.

With the monarchy gone and Parliament in charge, Oliver Cromwell, one of those who signed the king’s death warrant, eventually rose to power as Lord Protector.

From his post in the New World, Berkeley was outraged. He swore his allegiance to the dead king’s son, Charles II, who was forced into exile in Brussels. Berkeley’s support did not sit well with Parliament, whose forces eventually pressured the Virginians to succumb to the new government. The governor was forced to step down for a time.

Cromwell died in 1658, and Charles II was installed as king 21/2 years later.

“According to tradition, Charles II, touched by the colony’s loyalty during his exile, gave Virginia the nickname ‘The Old Dominion,’ ” states The Hornbook of Virginia History.

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While the same book expresses doubts about that “tradition,” it notes that “as early as 1699 the phrase ‘most Ancient Colloney and Dominion’ appeared on official state documents.”

Charles II also included an emblem for Virginia on his royal shield alongside emblems for his other dominions: England, Scotland and Ireland.

Virginia’s ties more than three centuries ago to King Charles I also inspired another nickname that still endures. The troops who fought for the monarch in the civil wars were the Cavaliers, whose name was adopted by the University of Virginia.

Had the commonwealth’s early leaders backed the other side, the nickname for the soldiers fighting for Parliament would have been a less noble-sounding option for the university.

They were the Roundheads.

Bill Bartel, 757-446-2398, [email protected]?

Source: https://t-tees.com
Category: WHY