Related
1661] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 47 good earnest to consider how I might ridd myself of this countrey
42 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1661 misfortune
1692] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 179 Patrick Gordon of Cults
1699] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 193 ' A number of Strelitzes were executed
170 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1690 delighted that he made the Boyars
110 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1686 I gave up my petition
34 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1661 hired it ; the lodging or house belonging to that family
186 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1697 put out the white flag
1689] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 165 memory, the younger Czar
1657 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 27 left to support themselves by charity
Summary
Passages from the diary of General Patrick Gordon of Auchleuchries : A.D. 1635-A.D. 1699"
1657 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 27
left to support themselves by charity. They were kindly treated by the Imperial officers gene-
rally, who laboured by every means to persuade them to join the Imperial standard. Appealing
to their royalisr. feelings, the Austrians urged that true cavaliers ought rather to serve the Em-
peror, -who had befriended their King, than the Sweilish monarch who was the confederate of
the arch-traitor Cromwell. Gordon answered that it was for sovereigns themselves to requite
the benefits which they received one from another; that the King of England would doubtless
discharge any obligations of this kind, when he got his own again ; but that, meanwhile, his
subjects were under no obligation to neglect their own fortunes in foreign countries, out of
regard to such considerations of state policy.
Escaping after a confinement of six weeks, in company with a John Smitli, Gordon, with no
little dirticultj', found his way back to the Swedish camp He now demanded his discharge from
the Douglas company, urging that, during the whole period of his service, he had never re-
ceived a forthing, either for pay or for equipment ; and that, as he had delivered himself from
captivity at the risk of his life, he Had a right to look upon himself as a free man. After some
little delay he obtained a discharge from the generalissimo, couched in laudatory terms, and
recommending him for the place of an ensign in the King's body guard— an appointment which
Gordon seems to have been in no great haste to obtain.
Engaging, in the meantime, along with Lieutenant Hugh Montgomery and sixteen others of
their countrymen, in a marauding expedition very much on their own account, Gordon had his
feet frozen. The doctor pronounced the case hopeless, but an old woman effected a cure. The
Scotch adventurers had the good fortune, more than once, to make prisoners of foraging parties
of the Imperial troops, by whose ransom they enriched themselves. Un one occasion Gordon's
party, although numbering no more than eighteen, captured a village in which were twenty
three men-at-arms, and thirty five dragoons, and carried them, along with forty horses, in
triumph to the Swedish head quarters, where the Field-marshal was boundless in his commen-
dations of their skill and courage. Such a name had the Scots now achieved as successful
foragers, that, whenever prisoners were brought in, or any exploit was performed, the credit of
it was given to them.
Francisca, the Princess of Dietriechsteine Pettovij, et Neostadij ad Meltoviani, Sac. Caes.
(daughter to Maximilian avlae Cesareae pre- Mnjestatis a consilijs intimis, et aulae belli-
fectu.s), but had no issue by her. He died cis, campi marcscliallus, et confiniorum Scla-
(short while after his return from that ftimous voniac et Petriniae gencralis, Aurei Velleris
embassy to Constantinople) 4th March anno eques, succiiicta narratione exposita, atque il-
1667, actatis 61, whither he was sent by Leo- Ivstrissimo domino. Domino Jacoho S.R.I,
pold, the present Emperor, which embassy Comiti de Leslie, domino Pettovij et Neo-
was written by Taferncr the Jesuit, one of his stadij ad Meltoviani, Sac. Caes. Mnjestatis
retinue." (Genealogy of the Leslies, in Mac- camcrario, et pedcstris reginiiniscoloncllo, ex-
farlane's Genealogical Collections, MS. Adv. cellentissimi oratoris nepoti, in perennem
Lib., Edinb.) The work alluded to in the last laudatissimi patrui mcmoriani dicata a H [eve-
sentence was published at Vienna in 16G8, rendo] P[atre] P[aulo] T[rafltTiicr] S[ocie-
under the title of ' Caesarea Legatio, quam tatis] J[esu], itineris comite, et excellentissimi
mandante augustissinio Rom. Impcratore Leo- oratoris capellano.' The volume has an en-
poldo I. ad Portam ottomannicam suscepit, graved full-length portrait ol Walter Count
perfecitque excellentissimvs dominvs Dominvs Lesly.
Waltcrus S.R.L Comes de LesUe, Dominus
Gordon was brought up and remained a lifelong Roman Catholic, at a time when the Church was being persecuted in Scotland. At age of fifteen, he entered the Jesuit college at Braunsberg, East Prussia, then part of Poland. In 1661, after many years experiences as a soldier of fortune, he joined the Russian army under Tsar Aleksei I, and in 1665 was sent on a special mission to England. After his return, he distinguished himself in several wars against the Turks and Tatars in southern Russia. In recognition of his service he was promoted to major-general in 1678, was appointed to the high command at Kiev in 1679, and in 1683 was made lieutenant-general. In 1687 and 1689 he took part in expeditions against the Tatars in the Crimea, being made a full general. Later in 1689, a revolution broke out in Moscow, and with the troops under his command, Gordon virtually decided events in favor of Peter the Great against the Regent, Tsarevna Sophia Alekseyevna. Consequently, he was for the remainder of his life in high favor with the Tsar, who confided to him the command of his capital during his absence from Russia. In 1696, Gordon's design of a "moveable rampart" played a key role in helping the Russians take Azov. One of Gordon's convinced the Tsars to establish the first Roman Catholic church and school in Muscovy, of which he remained the main benefactor and headed the Catholic community in Russia until his death. For his services his second son James, brigadier of the Russian army, was created Count of the Holy Roman Empire in 1701. At the end of his life the Tsar, who had visited Gordon frequently during his illness, was with him when he died, and with his own hands closed his eyes. General Gordon left behind him a uniquely detailed diary of his life and times, written in English. This is preserved in manuscript in the Russian State Military Archive in Moscow. Passages from the Diary of General Patrick Gordon of Auchleuchries (1635–1699) was printed, under the editorship of Joseph Robertson, for the Spalding Club, at Aberdeen, Scotland, 1859.