The London Gazette as a Primary Source for the Biography of General Patrick Gordon

Abstract

Patrick Gordon of Auchleuchries (1635-99) left for the posterity an English-language diary relating chiefly to his military service in the Swedish, Polish, and Russian armies, as well as his activities as a diplomat representing the interests of Russia in England. At present the six manuscript volumes of the diary are located in the Russian State Military Historical Archive in Moscow. Unfortunately, the diary is incomplete, since either two or three volumes are missing. The aim of this source article is to give categorical proof that this Scottish mercenary also served as a correspondent for the London Gazette. Fragments of Gordon’s correspondence, those which appeared in this newspaper, brought the English readers accurate reports from the far-away Russia, Poland-Lithuania, and the Ottoman Empire. At present they serve a significant dual role for historians: to be utilized by them as primary sources for the biography of Gordon, and as an aid in helping them to fill the missing gaps of his diary. The appended three-part primary materials consist of publications in the London Gazette. Appendix I contains seven fragments of Gordon’s eight dispatches and letters, which were written between 1667 and 1687. Their full texts can be found in the manuscript collections of the Public Record Office and the British Library in London. These texts were also published by S. Konovalov in the Oxford Slavonic Papers. Appendix II comprises seven texts of probable Gordon correspondence, dated from 1671/2 to 1687. Appendix III contains a list of 38 news items which appeared in the years 1669-97 — those which are neither Gordon’s nor can be attributed to him at present. Authors offive of those items have been identified. Moreover, this source article also reveals the exact date — 5 July 1669 — of Gordon’s departure from Moscow on his first fulough to visit Scotland.