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120 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1686 marish. Wee went a great mylle further to the villaire Marien Thale
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Passages from the diary of General Patrick Gordon of Auchleuchries : A.D. 1635-A.D. 1699"
120 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1686
marish. Wee went a great mylle further to the villaire Marien Thale,
where dyned, and payed eight grosse ; for fish at Banen, four grosse.-
Passing over the borders of Pomeren, a mylle and ane half, we came into
the towne of Klein Koniijsberg, in the Mark of Brandeborgh, which is
distant from Berlin ten mylles. This is the chieffe towne of the New
Mark, which beginneth a half mylle short of this. This is a well situated
place, environed with a brick wall, ruined in many places. I payed here a
dear discretion* of a reichs doller.
Wee traviled three mylles, and dyned by the river Oder in Kustrinken,
and payed for fish, bear, seventeen stuivers, and service, eighteen stuivers ;
and then along the river, through sandy feilds and a wood, to the ferry,
which wee crossed, being a fourth of a mylle, and lodged in Fregcnwaldt,
a small towne, with stone gates, but no walles, where a healing well, gold
and silver mynes, lattly found here. Wee lodged, and payed for bear,
eages, and butter, eighteen stuivers. It is six mylles from Berlin, and from
Kustrin as much.
Wee dyned in Waurichen, three great miles, and payed nine stuvers.
To Berlin, three miles, where payed for two meal for me and people, a
doller, and twelve good grosse ; and to the maide, a floren ; to the barber,
two good grosse ; to the Dantzick fuirman, forty eight florens, and two
florens drink money ; to bring me out of the towne, two florens. Here
meeting with a Hamburger merchant, comeing from the Frankfurts Misse,
or market, he perswaded me that wee should travell together, promising to
bring me a day sooner to Hamburg, as by the land coach, and better cheap ;
he haveing two servants with him, so that wee were seven persons on a
waggon. I went out of Berlin in the shese which brought me from Dant-
zick, and being a little without the towne, dimmed up into a great open
waggon, which was something uneasy for us.
Over the river Sprea, two mylles, where bridges and tolle, and rested a
mylle further in a krou, where wee payed ten good grosse.
To Linum, three mylles, where the Swedes lost a battel to the Brandi-
burgers, anno 1680. To Haklenberg, and the little towne Ferbelin, where
toll is taken, wee crossed a bridge, and a long passe. A mylle on the
right hand, wee came by Rutzcn, a gcntlcmans village, where a vynyard ;
and dyned in Manker, a village, which is a mylle from Ferbelin. Here
* [A gratuity to the collector of the frontier toll or custom. See above, p. 115.]
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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