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108 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1679-1685 A.D. 1679— A.D. 1684.
Summary
Passages from the diary of General Patrick Gordon of Auchleuchries : A.D. 1635-A.D. 1699"
108 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1679-1685
A.D. 1679— A.D. 1684.
It is known, from the military records of the Empire, that, in 1679, he was appointed to the
chief command in Kiew. Soon afterwards he was placed at the head of the selected regiments
in the Ukraine. In 1683, he was made Lieutenant-General. In the beginning of the next year,
he undertook a journey to Moscow, in the hope of obtaining an order for his removal ft-om the
provinces to the capital. The Czar Feodor had died in 1682, leaving two brothers, Ivan and
Peter. The former being imbecile, and the latter only in his tenth year, the government de-
volved upon their sister, Sophia. The Scot was graciously received, both by the Princess
Eegent, and by her fiivourite and prime minister, Wassilij Wassiljewitsch Golizyn. The former
showed him marked favour, and the latter took his counsel as to a projected alliance with the
Roman Emperor against the Turk. But neither would allow him to leave Kiew, much less to
make a journey to Scotland. Although thus compelled to abide in a position with which he
was very much dissatisfied, he did not fail in the zealous discharge of his duty, occupying him-
self in fortifying Kiew, which was believed at the time to be threatened by the Turks. During
his command here, he became acquainted with a foreigner, fated like himself to exercise great
influence on the young Czar and the fortunes of his empire— the Genevese adventurer, Lefort.
With this eminent man, then in his twenty-eighth year, and serving as a captain and engineer,
Gordon formed a friendship which proved life-long.
Towards the end of this year, he had to grieve the loss of a son, for whose tombstone he
wrote this inscription: "Hie depositum est quod mortale fait Georgii Stephani Gordonis, nati
anno Domini 1682, Decembris 24, denati anno Domini 1684, Novembris 1. Eequiescat in pace.
" Non tua sed nostra abbreviarunt crimina vitam,
Blors te felicem nos miserosque facit.
Nos lacrimarum tristes in valle relinquis,
Dum patriam repetis aethereumque polum.
Hie Pater Omnipotens nos plecte, ut parcas in aevum,
Defunctis requiem tribue Summe Parens."
The learned pen of the Lieutenant-General was employed, in the same month, to write the
epitaph of one of his countrymen : "Hie jacet mortalis pars Domini Andreae Arbuthnoti nobili
in Scotia genere orti. Vixit annos lxxviii. Eequiescat in pace.
" Scotia me geuuit, tenuitque Polouia quondam,
Russia nunc requiem praebet. Amice vale."
A.D. 1685.
Tidings of the death of King Charles II., and of the accession of King James II. on the sixth
of February, 1685, reached Gordon not many weeks after the event. He records that, on the
twenty-ninth of May, being the birthday of the most blessed King of England, the English com-
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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