Robert Dover (1575/82–1652) was an English attorney, author and wit, best known as the founder and for many years the director of the

Cotswold Olimpick Games The Cotswold Olimpick Games is an annual public celebration of games and sports now held on the Friday after Spring Bank Holiday near Chipping Campden, in the Cotswolds of England. The games likely began in 1612 and ran (through a period of disc ...

Family

Robert was probably born between 1575 and 1582 in

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

, one of four children sired by a John Dover, but as the parish registers in Great Ellingham did not begin until 1630 it is impossible to be certain. In 1610, Dover married Sibilla Sanford, daughter of William Cole, Dean of Lincoln and widow of John Sanford of Stow on the Wold; they had two sons (Robert, died in infancy, and John, 1614–1696) and two daughters (Sibella and Abigail).

Education and professional life

Dover was a scholar at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

in 1595, possibly as a

sizar At Trinity College Dublin and the University of Cambridge, a sizar is an Undergraduate education, undergraduate who receives some form of assistance such as meals, lower fees or lodging during his or her period of study, in some cases in retur ...

at Queens' College: (one o
three entries under the name "Robert Dover"
during his time at Cambridge the " Gog Magog Games" were held on the Gog Magog Hills outside Cambridge, although it is not known whether these were already being termed "Olympik" as was the case by 1620. Dover left university early to avoid swearing the

Oath of Supremacy The Oath of Supremacy required any person taking public or church office in the Kingdom of England, or in its subordinate Kingdom of Ireland, to swear allegiance to the monarch as Supreme Governor of the Church. Failure to do so was to be trea ...

; and a "Robert Dover" was among those questioned by Lord Burghley's officers looking for

recusants Recusancy (from ) was the state of those who remained loyal to the Catholic Church and refused to attend Church of England services after the English Reformation. The 1558 Recusancy Acts passed in the reign of Elizabeth I, and temporarily repea ...

in Norfolk. On 27 February 1605, Dover was admitted to

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wale ...

, and was probably called to the bar in 1611. Dover was known as a wit, and author of a lost poem ''The Wandering Jew'': according to

Peter Heylin Peter Heylyn or Heylin (29 November 1599 – 8 May 1662) was an English ecclesiastic and author of many polemical, historical, political and theological tracts. He incorporated his political concepts into his geographical books ''Microcosm ...

, a pageant put on at

. In 1611, he moved to Saintbury, near

Chipping Campden Chipping Campden is a market town in the Cotswold (district), Cotswold district of Gloucestershire, England. It is notable for its terraced High Street, dating from the 14th to the 17th centuries. A wool trading centre in the Middle Ages, Chipp ...

. After the inauguration of the Games, he obtained patronage from neighbour Endymion Porter, a well-connected courtier, who arranged for Dover to receive a cast-off set of royal garments to wear while presiding. Later in life he moved to Barton-on-the-Heath.

Cotswold Olimpick Games

Dover founded his annual Games held in the Cotswold hills above Chipping Campden in about 1612, and presided over them for forty years. A mixture of courtly and folk events, the Cotswold Olimpicks were so named in ''Annalia Dubrensia'', one of a series of literary celebrations of the events. The games consisted of cudgel-playing,

shin-kicking Shin-kicking, also known as shin diggings or purring, is a combat sport that involves two contestants attempting to kick each other on the shin in order to force their opponent to the ground. It has been described as an English martial art, ...

, wrestling, running at the quintain, jumping, casting the bar and hammer, hand-ball, gymnastics, rural dances and games and horse-racing, the winners in which received valuable prizes. The Games, interrupted by the outbreak of the

English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...

in 1642, revived after the Restoration, and continued until 1852. They were revived, once more, in 1951.

Death

Robert Dover was buried at Barton on 24 July 1652 (the date of 6 June 1641 appears to be a mistake).

Remembered

There is a monument to Robert Dover at Dover's Hill, near Aston-sub-Edge.

Notes

References

Drayton, Michael, et al. (1636), ''Annalia Dubrensia: upon the yearly celebration of Mr. Robert Dovers Olimpick Games upon Cotswold-Hills'', London: Robert Raworth.
* Gandy, Rob (2021), "Bold Dover", ''The Fortean Times'', FT408, (August 2021), pp. 46–50. {{DEFAULTSORT:Dover, Robert 16th-century births 1652 deaths People from Norfolk 17th-century English lawyers 17th-century English writers