The first seal of Maryland when it was an English colony was stolen in 1645 by Richard Ingle during a rebellion, but a similar one was sent as a replacement by Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore (1605-1675).

That seal used republican imagery, such as a woman holding scales of justice on the obverse and on the reverse the motto "Industry the Means, Plenty the Result".

The obverse side of the state seal, which was described by statute in 1959 (Chapter 396, Acts of 1959), shows Lord Baltimore as a knight in full armor mounted on a charger with a drawn sword in hand.

[3] The state motto, Fatti maschii, parole femine (pronounced [ˈfatti ˈmaski paˈrɔːle ˈfeːmine]), has its origin in the archaic Italian.

The Latin text encircling the seal, Scuto bonæ voluntatis tuæ coronasti nos, is from verse 12 of Psalm 5 from the Vulgate; it translates to "With favor Wilt Thou Compass Us as with a Shield"[7] The founding date of 1632 completes the circle.