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104 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1667 The following dayes, I received the visitts and gratulations of my ffriends.
Summary
Passages from the diary of General Patrick Gordon of Auchleuchries : A.D. 1635-A.D. 1699"
104 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1667
The following dayes, I received the visitts and gratulations of my
ffriends.
Being at last permitted to come into the prikase, I presented His
Majesties letters to the Boyar, and gave thereby my statine hnigy^ or a
relation of my negotiation. The Boyar told me that I must have a litle
patience befor I could be admitted to His Majesties hand.
I presented my father in law with the black horse, with sadle, pistols,
and compleat furniture.
According to my promise in Hamborg, I caused enquire if two colonells
could be admitted to come in to serve with their officers, but no possibility,
seeing so many brave cavaliers had been dismissed, who had served here so
long, and knew the fashion of the countrey. Whereupon I did writt to
Hamborg to Collonell Shults, and informed him thereof, and also to
Collonell Gordon to the same purpose.
Writt to Captain Gordon and Mr. Clayhills in Riga.
[Here the first and largest gap in the Diary begins. It extends from June, 1667, to January,
1677. The events of Gordon's life during this void of ten years, must be gleaned from other
sources.
For reasons which do not very clearly appear, he was now visited by the displeasure of the
Muscovite court. He was ordered to confine himself to the Sloboda. The Czar would not see
him ; and he had to wait till the next reign, before he could get payment of the expense of his
mission to England. The German editors suggest that oflence may have been taken at the
letter of which Gordon was the bearer from King Charles II., desiring the release of Kaspar
CalthofiTc.
A.D. 1670.
He did not lose his regiment ; and, in the year 1G70, he was sent with it into the Ukraine
to assist in subduing the Cossacks of Little Russia. The skill and courage which he displayed,
may have been one cause why the Czar kept him in this province for the long period of seven
years. He did not allow the time to run to waste, but devoted his leisure to the study ot
mechanics, fortification, and strategy.
A.D. 1677.
In the year 1677, he was summoned to Moscow to answer the complaints of some troopers
of his regiment. His vindication seems to have been triumphant; and he was sent back to
the Ukraine, to take part against the Turks and Tartars, who were besieging Tschlgirin, 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.
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