Related
1667] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 91 Majestic, our most dear and loveing brothers
1667] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 99 I went to Altenaw and heard devotion
1667] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 97 storme, wee could not gett over to Embden
1666] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 79 I did writt to Sir John Hebden
1667] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 95 After breakfast, I went to Greenwich, Sir John [Hebden]
92 DIARY OF PATEICK GORDON. [1667 of your Imperiall Majesties
186 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1697 put out the white flag
110 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1686 I gave up my petition
1686] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 141 Being invited to devotion and dinner, by my Lord Chancellour
96 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1667 leave of the Prioress and sisters
Summary
Passages from the diary of General Patrick Gordon of Auchleuchries : A.D. 1635-A.D. 1699"
96 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1667
leave of the Prioress and sisters, being convoyed by the English resident and
other flfriends, I went to the boat, and, with good company, gott in the evening
to Ghent ; and, haveing left orders for supper in our lodging, T went with
Charles to the Nunnes Monastery, 'and spoke with ]\Irs. Plowden and her
daughter, the Lady Abbess. Haveing stayed an howre, and taken leave, I
returned to my lodging, where, with two yong Irish men, who were to go
for Antwerp, wee made merry the most part of the night in wine.
I went early and heard mass in the Cathedrall church, and then haveing
breakfasted in our lodging, being the signe of the Great Starr, wee tooke
horse, leaving Mr, Divee, with Charles, to come with our baggage. Wee
passed through a most pleasant countrey, and, about two aclock afternoone,
came to Antwerp, ferrying over the river Shcld, and lodged at the signe of
the Bear, on the market place, where, round tlie court within, on great
. . . were painted the armes of diverse Polls, ambitious, if not vaine
glorious gentlemen, for a remembrance of their haveing been there. In the
evening, I went and visited my good friend and acquaintance, Sir WilUam
Davidson, by whom I found Myn Heer Van der Hurst, one of the States
Generall, who had fled with Mr. Kivet about the business of Ruitmaster
Buat.*
My brother in law came with the baggage, and, for reasons, permitted
them to lodge at the Wliite Hart. I did wrltt to Sir John Hebden, and to
his son, the esquire. I hired my fraught in a ship to Hamborg. Dined by
Mr. Gibson.
I tooke shipping, and, the next day, came to Enckhulsen, where, the
wind provelng contrary, I payed my fraught, and, going a shore, caused set
me over to Staveren ; for, hearing of a ballet to be held by the Queen
Christina of Schweden, at Hamborg, the fourteenth of March, I intended to
gett thither befor that tyme. So, hirelng a waggon, wee passed by Bol-
querum on our right hand to Hindlopen, from thence to Workum, to Bol-
swaert and to Leevarden, whither wee came in the morning, then to
Dockum, and to Groeningen, whither wee came in the evening, and were
very well accommodated.
In the morning, wee passed to Dam and to Delfzyl. It being a great
• [A French gentleman, settled in Holland, is told by Lord Clarendon, in the Continuation
who was beheaded at the Hague, in August, Of his own Life. Gordon alludes to it in a
1066, for entering into a clandestine corrcs- previous page. See above, p. 76]
pondencc w^ith the English court. His story
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.