Related
1686] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 163 and equity which I had on my syde
190 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [leQS ' Taking the six deputies with me, I went to their camp
1686] DIAHY OF PATRICK GORDON. Ill granted me two Strcltsees for a convoy
1667] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 99 I went to Altenaw and heard devotion
1686] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 141 Being invited to devotion and dinner, by my Lord Chancellour
74 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1666 go from hence. So here wee lodged, and the next morning came to Dort
1667] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 103 to me, desireing me to let him have him
1686] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 131 Htle way, and being four, wee hired a coach
170 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1690 delighted that he made the Boyars
1686] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. I6I they desired ; and so parting, I came to the Slobod
Summary
Passages from the diary of General Patrick Gordon of Auchleuchries : A.D. 1635-A.D. 1699"
1686] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. I6I
they desired ; and so parting, I came to the Slobod, haveing seen in the way
the glasse hutts.
I stayed these two dayes at home, being much grieved at the great in- Nov. 23 &
justice and wrong done to me.
I went to the towne, wlicre, in the office, the Dumny Diack Yemelian Novembei
Ignatjewltsch Ukraintzuf gave me the copy of a petition, which I shoukl
cause transcribe and subscrive. Haveiog read it, I found some things in it
not fitt, whereof blotting out these, I caused writt it over, and put my hand
to it, albeit it was conceived in as submissive tearmes and expressions as
could be done to God Almighty. When it was read above, there was a
great silence, neither did the Princess say any thing, all knowing it to be
forced from me by threats and compulsion.
Haveing ane occasion, I gave notice of what I had done to my ffriends Novembei
in Shewsky.
I did give the same notice to my ffriends in SmoUensko. November
I did writt to Collonell Hamilton in Shewsky at large. November
I received, by post, a letter from the Earle of ]\liddleton, one of his November
Sacred Majesties of Great Brittaine principall Secretaries of State for Eng-
land, the copy whereof is this :
Whitehall, 25 October, 1686.
Sir,
I have the favour of your letters of the twelfth of August, from Riga,
and of the seventeenth of September, from Moskowe. I would have sooner
acknowledged the first, had I been sooner instructed with the Kings pleasure
thereupon ; which I am now to tell you, is, That his Majestic thinks fitt to
honour your self with the character of his Envoy Extraordinary to their
Czaarish Majesties, and to that end your credentialls and instructions shall
be forthwith prepared, and sent to you to Riga, where I hope this may meet
you, and where you are to stay till your dispatches do arrive. In case you
be fm'ther advanced towards us, I hope you will give me notice of it, that I
may know whither to write you. I am,
Sir,
Your most faithfull humble servant,
MIDDLETON.
With this letter I was very much surprised. I went and consulted with
Y
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.