Claiborne’s, << KLAY bohrnz, >> Rebellion was a series of conflicts in the 1630’s and 1640’s in which William Claiborne, a Virginia fur trader, refused to accept the authority of Leonard Calvert, the governor of Maryland. Claiborne came to Virginia from England in 1621. He explored Chesapeake Bay and became interested in the Indian fur trade. Claiborne went to England and obtained a trading license in 1631. When he returned to the bay area, he set up a trading post on Kent Island in the bay.
According to a charter issued to the Calvert family in 1632, Kent Island lay within the boundaries of Maryland. Claiborne refused to acknowledge the authority of the Calverts, and war broke out. Claiborne was forced to leave the island. However, in 1644, with some Puritan settlers, he drove Calvert out and seized control of the colony. Oliver Cromwell ordered the restoration of the Calvert government in 1657, and Claiborne returned to Virginia. Claiborne played a prominent role in the affairs of the Virginia colony until he died in 1677.
