Related
42 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1661 misfortune
110 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1686 I gave up my petition
1686] DIAEY OF PATRICK GORDON. 113 I gott our landlord to conduct
126 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1686 religion* At night wee cast anchor
1686] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 131 Htle way, and being four, wee hired a coach
186 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1697 put out the white flag
136 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1686 Queens hand; whereat his Majestic smileing
1692] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 179 Patrick Gordon of Cults
138 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1686 to a coachman, to bring the trunke
34 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1661 hired it ; the lodging or house belonging to that family
Summary
Passages from the diary of General Patrick Gordon of Auchleuchries : A.D. 1635-A.D. 1699"
34 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1661
hired it ; the lodging or house belonging to that family not being built since
its mine by the Sweds.
The parliament not coraeincj; to any resolution concerning the contenting
the army and prosecuting the warr against the Moskovite, save only the
sending some deputies to the army, to perswade them to returne to their
obedience and duty, with promise of contentment at the commission, which
was shortly to be held at Reusse Lemberg ; wherewith the army, not being
satisfved, marched out of their quarters to a generall rendevous by . . .
where they choose to themselves a generall director ; and all or most of the
superiour officers being absent, they choose out of their owne number per-
sons to command them ; whereby the fairest opportunity that the Polls ever
had, since the beginning of the warr, of reducing the Ukraina, was lost.
The parliament breaking up befor things were thoroughly regulated,
and most of the nobility quitting Varso, the King, being much perplexed
with the newes comeing from the confederate army, that they were not
satisfyed with the results of the parliament, sent for most of the nobility to
consult upon the meanes to satisfy the army, and bring them to their duty ;
but whatever measures were taken here (the fates of PoUand not permitting
it), the army remained still dissatisifyed, which afterwards turned to an in-
testine warr, like to have utterly ruined that nation.
Shortly after my comeing to Varso, I received a letter from my father,
giveing me notice of the receit of myne of the third of May the year be-
for, wherein I had written, that hearing of his Sacred jMajesties happy re-
stauration, 1 intended to come home, in hopes to be accomodated under his
Majestic. But, my father informing me that the armyes were disbanded,
and that only a few troops were continued in pay, and that the charge of
these were given to the nobility, and to such persons who had extraordi-
narily deserved and suffered for his Majestic, and that without a good stock
it was very hard liveing in Scotland ; this deterring me from thinking of
going home, 1 resolved not to quite the service wherein I was, and so not to
mention or seeke ray passe.* Yet, haveing sqllicited my pass with so great
* [Gordon could not have foreseen that his dome.' A few days afterwards, the Trivy
reliffion would have proved an obstacle to his Council removed Colonel VVhytford from his
employment in Scotland. By proclamation, company in the Earl of Linlithgow's regiment,
dated on the sixteenth of December, 1673, and ordered 'the mustermaster generall to give
King Charles II. inhibited and discharged in lists of the haill officers of the militia troupes
' any person or persons who arc of the Popish and regiments, that it may be knowne who of
profession after the lirst of March nixt to ac- them are I'opish that order may be taken
cept of or exercc any public imployuient or with them conform to the late proclamation.']
officeeithercivillor military within this king-
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.
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