Related
174 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1692 be restored. As for Harie Gordon
1686] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 155 Crossing the Black River
1692] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 179 Patrick Gordon of Cults
1689] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 165 memory, the younger Czar
1686] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 133 for two servants to Scotland
1661] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 33 sence of the King
166 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1669 The renewal of the war against the Crim Tartars
1655] DIAEY OF PATRICK GORDON. 17 who was, according to the custome of the Polonian nobility
1686] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 163 and equity which I had on my syde
162 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON [1686 the Hollands Resident, and the Chancellour Vinius
Summary
Passages from the diary of General Patrick Gordon of Auchleuchries : A.D. 1635-A.D. 1699"
162 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON [1686
the Hollands Resident, and the Chancellour Vinius, who gave me dubious
and uncertaine advice.
I went early to the Dumny Diack, lemellan Ignatjewitsch Ukraintzuf,
and told him, and gave him the letter. Wee went together to the Boyar,*
who told me, that I should translate it into Latin, and give it into the office
to be translated into Russe ; and this because they had no English translator.
I gave in also a particular remonstrance with the letter, which was also
translated.
The Emperours and Princess went to the countrey in pilgrimage. The
Chieffe Minister of State* went along, and promised to make relation of my
business.
I did returne an answer to the Earle of Middleton, which I sent in a
coverto to Mr. Samuel Meverell, and that to Mr. Frazer in Riga, desireing
him to address it to Sir Peter Wyche, his Sacred Majesties resident in
Hamburgh, under whose coverto it had come to him. From Mosko, it went
in Mr. John Sparvenfelts coverto. The copy hereof is in my other booke.
By vexation and grieving, I contracted a slcknes, which turned to a
ague ; whereby I was forced to keep my bed for the most part for some
dayes.
Their Majesties returned from their progress in the countrey.
The Earle of Middletons letter, and my remonstrance, being read above,
had no other effect but a confirmed deniall of letting me go. The order
was written so : The Czaars and Princess, with the Boyars, have heard
these writeings above in the Privy Chamber, and have ordered that
Livetennant Generall Patrick Gordon cannot be Extraordinary Envoy from
the King to the Tzaars, because he is to be in the great army in this ex-
pedition against the Turks and Tartars ; and that he, Patrick Gordon, shall
writt to the Earle of Middleton, that if the King, to maintaine the brotherly
love and amity with the Czaars, will sead any ambassadour or envoy, he
shall be received graciously, and with favour.
I was called for, but was not in towne, not being able to come.
Being in towne, I was sent for to the Boyars* house, who told me that
the Czaars had graced me, and had remitted my fault, and ordered rae to
be in my former charge. And so thus ended this stage play. The justice
* [Golizyn.]
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.