Related
1686] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 127 with severall necessaryes, and having received from Mr. Meverell
1686] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 141 Being invited to devotion and dinner, by my Lord Chancellour
170 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1690 delighted that he made the Boyars
174 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1692 be restored. As for Harie Gordon
1686] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 163 and equity which I had on my syde
1692] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 177 I do this upon my unkles recommendation and advice
1686] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 155 Crossing the Black River
1690] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 107 their arrival was announced. Gordon was at once admitted to His Majesty
148 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1686 gave him a warning concerning tlie wedsett of the Muirtacke
1694] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 183 of all deadly ; consenting thir presents to be rcgistrate in the books of Counsell and Session
Summary
Passages from the diary of General Patrick Gordon of Auchleuchries : A.D. 1635-A.D. 1699"
1694] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 183
of all deadly ; consenting thir presents to be rcgistrate in the books of
Counsell and Session, within the said Kingdom of Scotland, Sheriffc or
Commissary court books of Aberdeen, therein to remaine ad faturam rei
memoriam^ and constitutes my lawfull
procurators : In witnesse whereof, I have written and subscribed this, with
my owne hand, befor these witnesses. Major Gcncrall Paul Mcnezes, and
Collonell Alexander Leviston : So done in the Strangers Suburb of
Mosco, A.D. 1694, the twelfth of January, old stile.
[On the twenty-fifth of January, Gordon notes that the Czar was in great grief at the death January 25.
of his mother.
On the twenty-ninth of April, His Majesty set out on his second visit to Archangel, which April '2'.'.
he reached on the eighteenth of May. He was accompanied by Gordon, who acted as Eear-
Admiral of the fleet, Peter himself being ' the Great Skipper.'
Two days after their arrival, a ship was launched. ' We dined on board,' says Gordon, ' and ^lay 20.
enjoyed ourselves much, and came home late. Archangel lies in N. lat. 64" 3^ .'
On the twenty-sixth of May, 'the Great Skipper dined at my son-in-law's'— Colonel Snivius May 20.
of the Strelitz regiment stationed at Archangel.
In the beginning of June, the Czar sailed in his yacht for a fortnight's cruise, Gordon June,
remaining on shore. During the interval, two English ships arrived.
On the fourteenth of June, says Gordon, ' I was with His IMajesty on board the English ships, June 14.
where we were well entertained by both captains, and neither drink nor powder was spared.
On coming away, I gave thirty dollars for drink money.'
On the twenty-ninth of June, Gordon notes that he 'received his Majesty on board the new June 29.
ship, and congratulated him. After receiving a cup of brandy and another of sack from the
generalissimo or admiral, we landed and dined at John Grims, where we were entertained to
excess.'
On the first of July, 'His Majesty, with the whole company, had the kindness to dine with July 1.
nie. We enjoyed ourselves, and sat late.'
On the twenty-second of July, the Englisli ship Perry and Lane, of twenty-six guns, com- July 22.
manded by Captain Roddes, came to anchor ofif Archangel.
' His Majesty '-Gordon writes on the thirty-first of July— 'came to me in the evening, and July 31.
gave me the order of sailing, or signals to be observed at sea, written in Ilusse, requiring me to
have the paper translated into English, and copies made for the English captains. Before going
to sleep, I translated the writing, and gave the translation to Mr. Wulffe to copy.' The signals
were for a cruise.along the west coast of the White Sea, as far as Swjatoi-nos, or Cape Sviatoi, on
the north. The vice-admiral's ship went first ; then came four Dutch ships ; the admiral's ship
followed ; after that came four English ships ; the yacht, in which Gordon sailed, being last of
all. At Swjatoi-nos the fleet parted company with the foreign vessels, and then made its way
back to Archangel.
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.