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PREFACE. xxi grave, his grandson was a landless man, and another race of Gordons dwelt in Auchleuchries
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Passages from the diary of General Patrick Gordon of Auchleuchries : A.D. 1635-A.D. 1699"
PREFACE. xxi
grave, his grandson was a landless man, and another race of Gordons
dwelt in Auchleuchries.'"'
Patrick Iwanowitsch, as he was called among the Muscovites,
was not happy in his children. He was survived by two sons and
as many daughters of his first marriage, and by one son of his
second marriage.^' John, the eldest son, entered the Russian army
when young, but was dismissed from it for reasons which do not
appear. He was next sent to the Scots College at Douay, but
showed as little inclination for the school as he had shown for
the camp. Settling at Auchleuchries, he married, in 1691, a
daughter of one of the few Roman Catholic gentry of the neigh-
bourhood.^^ He visited his father at Moscow in 1698, and died
before 1712, leaving five sons and two daughters.^^ The eldest
son, who bore his grandfather's name, sold Auchleuchries in 1726.^*
One of his brothers, James, became a member of the Society of
Jesus, and he had some reputation as a scholar.^' Another brother,
Alexander, entered the Jesuit College at Bourdeaux as a novice,
and is there lost sight oV^
<» Appendix, nn. 61-66, pp, 216, 217, tion, is given by Dr. Posselt in his first
Until a few years ago, Auchleuchries con- volume, along with a portrait of General
tinued to be possessed by Gordons (the Patrick Gordon, which has been reproduced,
descendants, apparently, of the Alexander by Mr. Schenk, for this work.
Gordon of Sand end, to whom it was sold by *- Appendix, no. 53, p. 213. The poU-
the grandson of Patrick Iwanowitsch.) It tax returns of 1696 shew that the household
now belongs to one who can appreciate its at Auchleuchries was then six in number-
associations, Mr. Grant Dutf of Eden, the the ' goodman' himself, his wife, their eldest
accomplished Member of Parliament for the son (lor whom the Earl of Aberdeen had
Elgin burghs. stood godfather two years before), one man
^' To the last. Gordon kept the day on servant, and two women servants.— (List of
which he lost his Katharine von Bockhoven Pollable Persons within the iShire of Aber-
as a day of mourning. Thus, in his Diary deen, 1696, vol. ii. p. 129 )
for 1696, he writes: « October 10. The ■« Appendix, nn. 58 60, 63, 64-, 66, pp,
anniversary of the death of my first wife — 215-217.
the dear, the beloved,' She died before « Appendix, nn. 62, 65, 66, pp. 216, 217.
1682. Gordon married again before 1686. ""^ Dr. Oliver's Biography of Members of
A lithograph of the placid features of his the Society of Jesus, p. 23.
second wife, a buxom dame of Dutch extrac- *" The Kcverend Mr. Griffin of i^ew
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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