Patrick Gordon
Patrick Gordon | |
---|---|
General | |
Battles/wars |
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7b/Vvedenskoye_-_Patrick_Gordon_01.jpg/220px-Vvedenskoye_-_Patrick_Gordon_01.jpg)
Patrick Leopold Gordon of Auchleuchries (31 March 1635 – 29 November 1699) was a
Life
Gordon was born in Auchleuchries,
In the course of the next five years he served alternately for Poland and Sweden and was taken prisoner by both. At the
He was not the only Scottish soldier in the Tsar's service; his compatriots
Gordon visited England and Scotland in 1686. In 1687 and 1689 he took part in expeditions against the Tatars in the
One of Gordon's greatest achievements was securing permission from the Tsars to establish the first permanent 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.
The Tsar employed him in organizing his army according to the West European system; and raised him to the rank of full general.
He died in Moscow, Russia on 29 November 1699. 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. Originally buried in the Foreign Quarter, his remains were reinterred in 1877, with an inscription in German which mistakenly gives his rank as Oberst, Colonel.
Gordon left behind him a uniquely detailed diary of his life and times, written in English. This is preserved in
His daughter Catherine was married firstly to the German-Russian Colonel Rudolf Strasburg, and then from 1698 to his kinsman in the Russian service Alexander Gordon of Auchintoul, author of The History of Peter the Great, Emperor of Russia. She lived until 1739.[4]
References
- Diary of General Patrick Gordon of Auchleuchries 1635–1699, Vol. I: 1635–1659 (Aberdeen, 2009); Vol. II: 1659–1667 (Aberdeen, 2010); Vol. III: 1677–1678 (Aberdeen, 2012); Vol. IV: 1684–1689 (Aberdeen, 2013); Vol. V: 1690–1695 (Aberdeen, 2014); Vol. VI: 1696–1698 (Aberdeen, 2016).
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Gordon, Patrick". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 12 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 254. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
- Diary of General Patrick Gordon of Auchleuchries 1635-1699, University of Aberdeen website
- Passages from the diary of General Patrick Gordon of Auchleuchries : A.D. 1635-A.D. 1699; Aberdeen: 1859
- Contacts and Integration: Some Scottish examples, Paul Dukes
- Fedosov, Dmitry "Cock of the East: A Gordon Blade Abroad" pages 1–10 from Russia War, Peace and Diplomacy Essays in Honour of John Erickson edited by Ljubica and Mark Erickson, London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2004 ISBN 0-297-84913-1.
- P. Dukes, "Patrick Gordon and his Family Circle, some unpublished Letters" in Scottish Slavonic Review, X, 1988.
Notes
- ^ a b Fedosov, Dmitry "Cock of the East: A Gordon Blade Abroad" pages 1-10 from Russia War, Peace and Diplomacy edited by Ljubica and Mark Erickson, London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2004 page 6.
- ^ Fedosov, Dmitry, "Cock of the East: A Gordon Blade Abroad" pages 1-10, from Russia War, Peace and Diplomacy edited by Ljubica and Mark Erickson, London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2004, page 7.
- ^ a b Fedosov, Dmitry "Cock of the East: A Gordon Blade Abroad" pages 1-10 from Russia War, Peace and Diplomacy edited by Ljubica and Mark Erickson, London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2004 page 9.
- ^ Alexander Gordon, The History of Peter the Great, Emperor of Russia: A short account of the Author's Life (1755) page 10
External links
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/north_east/8037674.stm BBC news article and photograph