Old Dominion,
A title often given to the State of Virginia. The vast, undefined region named Virginia by Queen Elizabeth was regarded by her as a fourth kingdom of her realm. Spenser, Raleigh's firm friend, dedicated his Faery Queene (1590) to Elizabeth, “Queen of England, France, Ireland, and Virginia.” When James VI. of Scotland came to the English throne (1603), Scotland was added, and Virginia was called, in compliment, the fifth kingdom. On the death of Charles I. on the scaffold (1649), his son Charles, heir to the throne, was in exile. Sir William Berkeley (q. v.), a stanch royalist, was then governor of Virginia, and a majority of the colony were in sympathy with him. He proclaimed that son, “Charles the Second, King of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Virginia;” and when, in 1652, the Virginians heard that the republican government of England was about to send a fleet to reduce them to submission, they sent a message to Breda, in Flanders, where Charles then resided, inviting him to come over and be King of Virginia. He was on the point of sailing for America, when circumstances foreshadowed his restoration to the throne of his father. When that act was accomplished, the grateful monarch caused the arms of Virginia to be quartered with those of England, Scotland, and Ireland, as an independent member of the empire. From this circumstance Virginia received the title of The Dominion. Coins with such quarterings were struck as late as 1773.
