Related
1692] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 179 Patrick Gordon of Cults
186 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1697 put out the white flag
1689] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 165 memory, the younger Czar
1699] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 193 ' A number of Strelitzes were executed
136 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1686 Queens hand; whereat his Majestic smileing
1696] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 185 for a just cause is rewarded
138 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1686 to a coachman, to bring the trunke
110 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1686 I gave up my petition
42 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1661 misfortune
170 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1690 delighted that he made the Boyars
Summary
Passages from the diary of General Patrick Gordon of Auchleuchries : A.D. 1635-A.D. 1699"
170 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1690
delighted that he made the Boyars, counsellors, and officers stay with him and carouse all night
in the great hall. During the debauch, he took offence at something which was said, and was
not pacified hut with the greatest difficulty.
Gordon's daughter, Mary, was married to Captain Daniel Crawfurd on the twenty-third of
September, and the Czar graced the nuptials with his presence.
On the twenty-fifth of October, the Czar dined with General Le Fort, Gordon being one of
the party.
15. On the fifteenth of November, he wrote to the Duke of Gordon at Paris, and to the Earl of
Melfort at Eome.]
FOE HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF GORDON.
Mosco, Novembris 1,5, 1690.
May it please your Grace,
The sad revolution in our countrey, and the Kings misfortunes,
wherein your Grace hath a large share, hath occasioned inexpressible
grieffe to me, which brought me in a sicknesse and even almost to deaths
doore. Had I been in a place where I could have been serviceable to his
Majestic, I should have vented my passion another way. I perceived even
when I was there, that the Kings too great goodnes and credulity in
intrusting dissaffected and ill principled persons in high charges, could not
but prove fatall. Notwithstanding all that hath fallen out, I am sorry from
my heart that his Majestic did not, when I was in Scotland, lay his com-
mands upon me to stay there, albeit without employment. Then might I
have had occasion, at this tyme, to have given proofs of my loyalty and
what I can do. Wee have nothing from our countrey but what wee have
from the Hollands Gazets, from which, though partiall, wee may collect
that the want of good conduct and vigilancy are partly the causes why his
Majesties eflfaires and armes have so bad success there. If there were any
likelyhood of doing any good, and that I had a commission, I am ready still
to hazard lyfe and all I have in his Majesties service, and for the maintain-
ing of his just right, and that in any place where his Majestic shall com-
mand, and in whatsoever quality I may be thought capable of I may have
some difficulty in getting of from hence, yet being so near the Tzaar as I am
now (for I have access to his Majestic every day), I doubt not but to
obtaine licence, if it be but for a tyme. I have gott this court still to ownc
his Sacred Majestic, and not to hcare of any other. If their friendship could
signify any thing to the effaires of his Majestic or the Most Christian Kings,
it may (notwithstanding former disgusts) be obtained by a message from the
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.