Related
42 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1661 misfortune
110 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1686 I gave up my petition
66 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1666 wee had from Plesko
116 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1686 a third, on the way to Konigsberg
126 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1686 religion* At night wee cast anchor
76 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1666 the cart was ready
1678] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 107 delivered to Gordon.
1667] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 97 storme, wee could not gett over to Embden
1666] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 59 account, to banish the English
62 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1666 purpose to convoy
Summary
Passages from the diary of General Patrick Gordon of Auchleuchries : A.D. 1635-A.D. 1699"
62 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1666
purpose to convoy uie further and stay with me all night, came to me ; for
whose sakes I pitched my tent short of what I had intended. Wee had
scarce setled when the English merchants came with a great magazine of
all sorts of liquors, with whom wee spent the whole night in hearty cups and
joviall discourses.
ne 30. By day light, bidding farewell to ffrieiids, I tooke jorney, laying my self
in my waggon to sleep. About eight o'clock, I passed by Czirkisewa, where
lay in the fields a hundred officers who had been dismissed, and very
earnest, some of them at least, to have gone in my company ; but being
informed of some designe, I excused it, and now strived to shun them. So
posting in hast by them, without being discovered, I rode twenty verst
further, and turning aside to the right hand to ane obscure place, I rested
and dined. Here I mustered up my letters, and some tokens and other
things sent along to ifriends in the places ahd townes through which I was
to travell, as also many things and lettres sent to England. Whilst I stayed
here, a post overtooke me with letters from ffriends in Mosco to merchants
over sea. *
Haveing packt up and put all my things in good order, I set forwards ;
and within fifteen verst of Klin, turning aside againe, I lodged, haveing in
company with me my litle brother in law, Captaine William Rae, Peter
Pile, a apothecary, Caspar Staden, and two servants, with six yempshiks,*
being in all thirteen persons. This night the yempshikes kep't watch.
J"iy ^- I arose early, and set forward, and crosseing the rivers Soslia and
Yanugo, I rode through the lately burnt up towne of Klin ; which standeth
on the descent of a hill, and is distant from Mosko ninety verst, being lately
a stage where horses useth to be changed, but now exeemed by reason of
their being burn'd up. I rode further, and crossed a litle brooke at a field
called Yamoga, being five verst, and to Spassuf Sauka twenty verst, where
I dined ; then forwards to Sawidowa, a village, where wee had a sight of the
river Volga, which comeing from the west runneth east, and so to a village
called Hoshia, where, being rainy weather, I lodged. Here the river Soshia,
being fifteen verst.
July '2. Haveing notice that the disbanded cavaliers were encamped on the other
syde of the river, and not likeing their company, I rose very early, and pass-
* [Waggoners, or carters.]
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.