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xxii PREFACE. James, the second son of General Patrick Gordon, was at the Jesuit College at Memel in 1686
Summary
Passages from the diary of General Patrick Gordon of Auchleuchries : A.D. 1635-A.D. 1699"
xxii PREFACE.
James, the second son of General Patrick Gordon, was at the
Jesuit College at Memel in 1686, when his father, « perceiving that
they had there infected him with Calvinism,' removed him to Douay.
In 1690 he had a Lieutenant-Colonel's commission under the Czar.
He was taken prisoner in a battle with the Swedes in 1 700, and at
the end of two years made his escape by flight. A petition for the
arrears of pay during his captivity is the last mention of him that
has been found in Russia.
General Gordon's third son, Theodore, was sent, in 1692, to a
Jesuit College in Prussia. Returning to Moscow in 1697, he entered
his father's Butirki regiment as an ensign. He had risen to the rank
of Colonel in 1709, when all trace of him ceases. Before that year,
both he and his brother James had sold or mortgaged the estates of
Iwanowska and Krasna, part of the confiscated domains of Prince
Golizyn, which the Czar Peter bestowed upon their father.
Of Gordon's two daughters, the elder, born in 1665, was married
at the age of seventeen, to Colonel Strasburg, a German, serving in
the Russian army. He died in 1692 from wounds caused by an
explosion of the fireworks in which Peter the Great took such
delight. Eight years after his death, his widow married her kins-
man. Alexander Gordon of Auchintoul, and left Russia with him in
1711. She died in Scotland in 1739, having outlived all the
children of both her marriages.
Abbey informs me that General Gordon's a year in the Scots College at Madrid. In
grandson, James, born in 1702, was sent to 1733 he was sent from Rome to commence
Douay College in 1717, entered the .Jesuit Theology at Douay. Nothing more is
noviciate at Rome in 1719, and took the known of him.
simple Vuws in 1721. He was reputed an His brother, Alexander, born in 1708,
excellent scholar, and taught Humanities for was sent to Douay in 1721, and aftor finishing
four years in the Roman Jesuit province. his Rhetoric there, entered the, Jesuit noviciate
In 1732 he is found in the Gregorian Uni- at Bourdeaux in 1726. No favlhcr trace of
versiiy at Home. He afterwards taught for him has been recovered by Mr. Griffin.
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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