Related
1686] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 131 Htle way, and being four, wee hired a coach
42 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1661 misfortune
46 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1661 come into the field, wee found the Boyar there before us
1661] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 47 good earnest to consider how I might ridd myself of this countrey
116 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1686 a third, on the way to Konigsberg
1661] DIARY OF PATEICK GOKDON. 37 sionibus quaecunque sub tempus servitiorum illius contra plurimos
43-46. Arkhangelsk on the Dutch engraving of 1765
146 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [168G Haveing dyned, and hearing my trunks were come from Edinburgh
74 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1666 go from hence. So here wee lodged, and the next morning came to Dort
1661] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 43 Wee rose early, and, towards eveniug, came to Kokenliausen
Summary
Passages from the diary of General Patrick Gordon of Auchleuchries : A.D. 1635-A.D. 1699"
1661] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 43
Wee rose early, and, towards eveniug, came to Kokenliausen, a towne
and castle situate by the river Dwina, on a high rocky ground. Hercui
was a garrison of the Moskovites. I seeing the streets so dirty, and every
where such nastines, the people so morose, and the houses so decayed and
wast, I presaged, ex ungue Uoncm^ a great change ; for, considering that I
was come from a countrey pleasant, citties well inhabited, neat and cleanly,
and a people generally well bred, courteous, and civill, I was much troubled.
The governour here was called Basilius Volshinsky. Here was also a
Dutch colonell called John Meves.
The next day, wee dined at a christening feast, with the governour, by a
captaine called John von Arnheim ; and, haveing gott some post horses,
after noone wee went from thence and lodged in the fields. Wee tooke
jorney early, and rode through a pleasent but depopulated countrey, and
lodged in the fields. Here did overtake us Captaine Smith and Lieveten-
nant John Muris, with their wiwes, who were come from Riga, and going for
Mosko to serve. They had gott posthorses, but scarse to serve their turne,
and were in a very poor condition. Wee were glad of their company, and
so jogged on together. Wee came to a ruined place called Marienburg.
Here is a castle within a lake, wherein a Russe garrison. Wee went to wiew
the place, but non was permitted to enter the castle but the Colonell. The
governour sent us some small provisions and a sort of small drink called
quass. Being come to Niewenhausen, wee found the Sweds takeing pos-,
session of the barneyards and corne, which was standing in the fields ; for by
the treaty of peace or truce, this and the former two places which they had
taken in Liefland, were to be restored to the Sweds. In Kokenhausen, I had
seen some great cannon, which they retired from Riga, and which, by the
treaty, the Sweds were to furnish horses to bring to Plesko.
Haveing lodged by a barneyard at Niewenhausen, the next morning,
about three verst from thence, wee passed the borders and came to Petshure,
a ruined towne, where a monastery environed with a stone wall. This place
is called Petshure, of the subterranean caves. Wee lodged in a village not
farr from the lake Peipus, where I sold my passeganger for nine rubles
copper money, imageining each ruble to be two reichs dollers. He cost me
thirty reichs dollers in Varso, and that from a good ffriend, but was growne
lame by the way, and I could not get any body to cure him.
About midday wee had a sight of Plesko or Opsko, which had a glorious
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.