Cotswold Olimpick Games - Origins

Origins

The first Olimpick Games were probably held in 1612, organised by lawyer Robert Dover, although different sources give dates from 1601 until 1612. Little is known about Dover. He was probably born between 1575 and 1582 in Norfolk, one of four children born to John Dover, and may have been admitted to Queens' College at Cambridge in 1595, leaving early to avoid swearing the Oath of Supremacy. Dover was admitted to Gray's Inn on 27 February 1605, and was probably called to the bar in 1611, the same year he likely moved to Saintbury, near Chipping Campden, with his wife and children.

It is unclear whether Dover began the Games from scratch, or took over from an existing event, perhaps a church ale. The Games had the approval of King James, who in his book of advice to his son, Basilikon Doron (1599), had written that to promote good feeling among the common people towards their king, "certain days in the year would be appointed, for delighting the people with public spectacles of all honest games, and exercise of arms". Although there was at that time in England a growing admiration for the ancient Greeks, Dover may have been motivated by military rather than cultural considerations. His biographer, Christopher Whitfield, claimed that Dover combined ancient countryside practices with "classical mythology and Renaissance culture, whilst linking them with the throne and the King's Protestant Church". Dover believed that physical exercise was necessary for the defence of the kingdom. He may also have believed that the Games would bring rich and poor together, increasing social harmony, an ideal that might explain why the event captured the public imagination.

Endymion Porter, a member of the court of King James, had an estate in the village of Aston-sub-Edge, close to Dover's home. Dover acted as Porter's legal agent between 1622 and 1640, and through him James sent some of his own clothes to Dover, "purposely to grace him and consequently the solemnity ". James may also have granted Dover a coat of arms, with the motto "Do Ever Good", as claimed by Dover's grandson, a claim that was rejected by the heraldic authorities in 1682.

The Annalia Dubrensia (Annals of Dover), a collection of poems praising Dover and his achievements in promoting and managing the Games, was published in 1636. The contributors included well-known poets such as Michael Drayton, Ben Jonson, Thomas Randolph, and Thomas Heywood. They saw the Games as revitalising traditional English social life, and they countered opposition from the critics of such events, who complained of "drunken behaviour and sexual licence", by stressing the "peaceful and well-behaved" nature of the occasion, and even praising the Games as "a gesture of loyalty to the king". The Games had acquired their title of "Olimpicks" by the time the Annalia Dubrensia was published, a name approved of by Dover. It secularised the proceedings, while adding an air a gentrification to the sports by linking them with the Olympics of ancient Greece. Having been brought up in a Catholic family, Dover might well have been keen not to draw attention to religion, particularly if the Games had taken over from an earlier church ale.