Related
1667] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 95 After breakfast, I went to Greenwich, Sir John [Hebden]
1678] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 107 delivered to Gordon.
1666] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 71 residence of Graffe Philip of Schawenborg and Lippe
1667] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 99 I went to Altenaw and heard devotion
170 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1690 delighted that he made the Boyars
1666] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 69 evening, wee sailed by it, and Bornholme
1667] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 103 to me, desireing me to let him have him
1689] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 165 memory, the younger Czar
76 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1666 the cart was ready
90 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1667 of the gowt, in his lodgings in Barkshire House
Summary
Passages from the diary of General Patrick Gordon of Auchleuchries : A.D. 1635-A.D. 1699"
90 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1667
of the gowt, in his lodgings in Barkshire House. He wondred that I had
been detained so long.
A elerke brought the Kings letter to me, amended in the title, with the
copy of it, and a pass, to whom I gave twenty shillings.
The King sent Sir Harbert Price to me, to bring me to His Majestie
againe, whom wee found just comeing out of his bed chamber. The King
was pleased to speake to me so : Colonell Gordon, I have a servant there
in Russia, called Gaspar CalthofFe,* for whom I have written diverse tymes
to your Emperour. I wonder that, at our desire, he doth not dismiss him.
Pray, speake to the Emperour, that he dismiss him. I answered that, how
soone I shall have the honour to see His Imperiall Majestie, I shall not faile
to show Your Majesties desire and pleasure. His Majesty replyed: Pray do ;
I wish you a good jorney. Being returned to my lodging, 1 went and tooke
my leave of Mr. Secretary Morice, to whose kindness being much obliged, I
crave him many thankes for his civilities and assistance, and entreated him to
be pleased to accept of a paire of sables, worth ten punds sterling, as a
token of my love, and not as any recompence for his paines ; which by no
meanes he would accept of.
I went and tooke my leave of the Earle of Middleton, to whose kindness
I was very much obliged.
THE COPY OF THE KINGS LETTER TO THE EMPEROUR OF RUSSIA.
Charles the Second, by the grace of God, King of England, Scotland,
France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, etc. etc., to our dearly
beloved brother, the Most High, Most Potent, and Most Serene
Prince, and Great Lord, Emperour, and Great Duke, Alexy
Michaelowich, etc. etc.
Most Excellent and Renowned Prince, your Imperiall Majesties letters,
bearing date the twenty ninth of June last past, came to our hands by your
Imperiall Majesties Colonell Patrick Gordon, being in answer to ours, dated
from our Court at Oxford, the twenty ninth day of December last, wherein
wee are sorry to find ourself somequhat disappointed in our expectation
from your Imperiall Majestie. For when we reflect upon your Imperiall
* rit appears, from the Earl of Carlisle's Kussian service, petitioned for leave to ac-
memoir of his embassy to Russia, that as he company him. It was granted, but the em-
was preparing to leave Moscow, one Caspar bassy had scarcely quitted the city when.
KalthofF who had been for some years in the Kalthoflf was ordered to return.
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.