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PREFACE. The soldier of fortune, whose memoirs are now introduced to the Spalding Club
Summary
Passages from the diary of General Patrick Gordon of Auchleuchries : A.D. 1635-A.D. 1699"
PREFACE.
The soldier of fortune, whose memoirs are now introduced to the
Spalding Club, had been but a short while dead when public at-
tention was turned to the eight or ten thick quartos,' in which, for
forty years, he had recorded, day by day, the incidents of liis
eventful life.
So early as 1724, a translation of the Journal from its
original English into the language of the thankless country in
which the writer was condemned to breathe his last, was
' Gordon's manuscripts appear to have
been scattered after his death. Some found
their way into the archives of the Foreign
Office at Moscow; others came somehow
into the hands of the widow of a country-
man and namesake, who was interpreter in
the Admiralty at St. Petersburg. In all,
SIX volumes of the Journal have been re-
covered : —
Volume I. from 1635 to 1659.
„ II. from 1659 to 1667.
„ III. from 1677 to 1678.
„ IV. from 1G84 to 1690.
„ V. from 1690 to 1695.
„ VI. from 1695 to 1699.
No trace has been found of the tv^o, three
or four volumes containinuj the ten years
between 1667 and 1677, and the six years
between 1678 and 1684.
Betides his voluminous Journal, Gordon
seems occasionally to have kept more formal
records of the public transactions in which
he was engaged. Thus, during his mission
to England in 1666, he notes in his journal
that he had conferences with Lord Chan-
cellor Clarendon, but refers for an account
of what passed to ' my booke of relations,'
or, as he elsewhere calls it ' my other booke
of my relation.' — (p. 83.) This was doubt-
less the ' relation of my negotiation,' which
he gave in to the Foreign Office on his
return to Moscow. — (p. \0i.) bo, again, in
1686, when chronicling the incidents of his
vain attempt to escape from Russia, he refers
for a copy of his letters to the Earl of Mid-
dleton, to 'my other booke,' or, as he after-
wards terms it, ' my other copy book of
letters.'— (pp. 1 62, 1 63.) ' The copyes of all
my remonstrances,' he adds, 'arc apart.' —
(p. 163.)
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.