Cotswold Olimpick Games

Description

Author:

Burns, Francis.

Summary:

Robert Dover and the Cotswold Olimpick Games -established 1612.

The Cotswold Olimpick Games, given that name in the ealry seventeenth Century, are unique. In the long history of British sports and pastimes, they are distinctive for their setting, their forms of entertainment and their originalilty. They were held on a range of the northern Cotswolds above Chipping Campden and overlooking Broadway and the Vale of Evesham on the Thursday and Friday of Whit-week from 1612 onwards, and drew considerable crowds excited by the spectacle they presented. Part of the hillside where they were first held is now known as Dovers Hill. It belongs to the National Trust and is at the northern end of Cotswold Way. Robert Dover’s Cotswold Olimpick games are still celebrated there on the Friday of the Spring Bank Holiday week and are recognised by the British Olympic Association as part of Olympic history.

The Games of the early 17th Century, overseen by Robert Dover, provide an insight in to many aspect of life in the years leading up to the Civil War. They provide information about relationship between the Court, Town and Country. They point to religious differences and to attitudes to the past. They reflect classical education. They show how all levels of society enjoyed life and provided relaxation for themselves and they even point to the place of patronage in ensuring this.

Further details:

Softcover: 20 pages
Language: English
Illustrations: Black & White/Line
ISBN-13:1858041503
Product Dimensions: 21.1 x 14.6 x 0.2 cm

Staff Comments:

Contents; Introduction; Robert Dover; The Cotswold Olimpick Games; The activities and features of the Games; Patrons and Supporters; ‘Annallia Dubrensia’ (1636); The use of ‘Olimpick’; Contemporary attitudes to the Games; Robert Dover and the Games in Later Life; Postscript- the continuation of the Games-1660- present; Abbreviations and References.