Peter the Great, who died all of 300 years ago today, is widely regarded as a pivotal figure in Russian history, responsible for modernising and westernising the country through extensive reforms. Though not a diarist himself, Patrick Gordon, a friend and military adviser for over 10 years, did keep a diary, one that is widely accepted as providing ‘unparalleled insight’ into some aspects of Peter’s reign.
In consequence of Sophia’s overt exclusion of Peter from the government, he did not receive the usual education of a Russian tsar. Instead of being confined within the narrow bounds of a palace, he grew up in a free atmosphere, enjoying, it is said, noisy outdoor games often of a military ilk, his favourite toys being arms of one sort or another. Early in 1689 Peter’s political marriage was enacted to Yevdokiya Fyodorovna Lopukhina. That same year 1689, after a failed coup by Sophia, Peter forced her to enter a convent, where she gave up her name and her position as a member of the royal family. After assuming sole control and over time, Peter implemented sweeping changes across Russian society, government, and military - though the reforms came at a significant human cost due to forced labor and harsh implementation.
Influenced by travels in Western Europe, Peter sought to bring Russia closer to European standards and practices, and indeed laid the groundwork for Russia’s emergence as a European power. He is credited with establishing the senate, reforming government structure, and creating the ‘table of ranks’ to determine precedence based on merit rather than birth. Economically, he encouraged the development of industry, commerce, and education, establishing factories, shipyards, and schools throughout Russia. He introduced the Julian calendar, reformed the Russian alphabet, and launched the first Russian newspaper. And, in 1703, he founded St. Petersburg.
Peter created a modern standing army and built Russia’s first navy, significantly enhancing the country’s military capabilities. With the initial help and advice of Gordon (who rose to the rank of general), Peter engaged in several significant military campaigns throughout his reign: the Azov campaigns of 1695-1696 against the Ottoman Empire resulted in the capture of Azov and access to the Black Sea; the Great Northern War, lasting from 1700 to 1721, against Sweden (which ultimately led to Russia’s emergence as a major Baltic power); and the Russo-Persian War from 1722 to 1723, which temporarily expanded Russian influence in the Caucasus and Caspian Sea region.
Peter married twice and had 11 children, though many died in infancy. His eldest son from his first marriage, Alexis, was convicted of treason and executed in 1718. Before his death, Peter issued a decree changing the rules of succession, allowing him to choose his heir. However, he died on 8 February 1725 without naming a successor. Further information is widely available online - at Wikipedia, Encyclopaedia Britannica, World History and Library of Congress (which lists primary sources).
Peter the Great did not keep a diary himself. However, his close associate and military adviser, Patrick Gordon of Auchleuchries, maintained a detailed diary, one that is widely accepted as providing ‘unparalleled insight’ into some aspects of Peter’s reign. See A soldier of fortune for a biography of Gordon and much about his diaries. The Gordon diary manuscripts were held in the archives of the Imperial Russian foreign office, and a complete German translation, edited by Dr Maurice Possalt, was not published until the mid-19th century. Only parts of the diary appeared in English, in 1859, thanks to the Spalding Club which published Passages from the Diary of General Patrick Gordon of Auchleuchries (AD 1635-AD 1699), as edited by Joseph Robertson. A 1968 edition is readily available to read online at Internet Archive.
However, much more recently, the diaries (1635 to 1699) have been published in full across six volumes by Aberdeen University Press. The sixth and final volume, edited by by Dmitry Fedosov - Diary of General Patrick Gordon of Auchleuchries 1635-1699 - appeared in 2016. On its website, the publisher quotes the historian Professor Robert Frost: ‘The sixth and final volume of The Diary of General Patrick Gordon of Auchleuchries is in some ways the most significant of all. It covers the vital period in which Peter the Great launched his challenge to the traditional Russian system and set Russia on the path to great power status. Gordon played a central role in two of the great dramas of these years: the successful siege and defence of Azov, which firmly established Russian power on the Caspian Sea, and the crushing of the Revolt of the Streltsy, the most dangerous early challenge to Peter’s reforms. Gordon’s diary gives unparalleled insight into these dramatic events and adds much to our knowledge of one of the most significant and charismatic rulers in Russian history. Gordon tells the story with characteristic detachment and a wealth of detail. As a diarist he ranks with Samuel Pepys, and the publication of Volume VI marks the completion of a project for which Dmitry Fedosov and Paul Dukes deserve to be congratulated. After three centuries, the original text of a hugely important historical work, and what can also be seen to be a significant literary achievement, is fully available for the first time.’
Every one of the six volumes is freely available to read online or to download.
Here is a brief AI overview of what can be found out about Peter from Gordon’s diary.
‘- The diary mentions many contacts between Gordon and the young Peter before and during the tsar’s seizure of power from his half-sister, Regent Sophia.
- Peter’s challenge to traditional Russian systems: Gordon’s diary covers the vital period when Peter launched his efforts to modernise Russia and set it on the path to becoming a great power.
- Peter’s military campaigns: As a general under Peter, Gordon likely recorded details of military operations and strategies employed by the tsar.
- Peter’s personality and behaviour: Gordon’s diary entry from 1690 suggests that Peter enjoyed the company of his boyars, counsellors, and officers, indicating his sociable nature.
- Peter’s early governance: The diary provides context for the political climate during the young tsar’s rise to power and his initial years of rule.
- Peter’s interactions with foreigners: As a Scottish officer in Russian service, Gordon’s diary likely includes observations on Peter’s attitudes towards and dealings with foreigners in his court.’
Here are several verbatim extracts from volume VI of Gordon’s diaries (though the older, single and much edited version is easier to digest!).
1 July 1698
’45 men of Coll. Hunder[t]marks reg-t being by lott to dy were brought out, and after some supposed intercession mercy was showne that every two should cast lotts; w-ch being done & they set apart, it was told them that if yet they would tell who were the ring-leaders of the mutiny, they should be let go tree. After some pawses they began to mumple & tell of one or two, who being brought to the torture, without much ado confessed themselves guilty & told of 3 or 4 more, who were also brought to the torture, and after some stripes they confessed also. So were set apart and ordered to prepare themselves tor death, and these on whom the lotts had fallen wer let tree.
Orders came in the afternoone that these who had twice deserted & some others should be hanged.’
2 July 1698
‘This day were 72 persons hanged to fyve and to three on gibbets. Many streltsees as on the former dayes sent away, the officers & sojours who convoyed them getting a months pay, the sojours getting provisions sent from Mosco, and the podvods who remained with us getting to a kopike a day.
Wee examined many this day and sentenced 4 to be beheaded, and ordered the sick & wounded with 4 persons more tor future further inquisition to be left in the monastery, so that but 25 persons remained here.’
3 July 1698
‘This day his Majesty letters came to dismiss the army and was read publikely, in the beginning whereof wee had all thanks for our services. The gentry departed immediately, and three of the sojours regiments aft[er] dinner. The Generalli[ssi]mus and wee his Towarises with cancellary, chancellours &c writers with the Butirsky regiment stayed all night.
This day were the last of the streltsees sent away.’
19 October 1698
‘Many executed.
Roman & Michael came from Evanofsky and brought with [them] on 4 podrodes 2 kades with honey, 2 czetferiks of hairegroates, a czetverik with a czetfericzok of oate-groates, a 3d p[ar]t of a tunne of brandy, a czetfert & 5 czetferikes ot rey meale, a bagge with wooll, 2 pillowes with feathers.
The Imperiall Envoy gave me a visitt.
My regiment ordered to releeve the guards in his M. Hoffe, castle & towne.’
20 October 1698
‘The Great Ambassade at audience by his Majesty. Was at a great deale more ease this bygone night & today as before.
Payed of the potter Simon Osipuf for 1,431 potts to the 3 ovens in the after chambers & the one in the after hoffe in the lower roome, at 3 dengees the pott, 21 rubles 15 alt. 3 dengees.
My regiment releeved the guardes in the towne.’
21 October 1698
‘I kept my bed still.’
22 October 1698
‘A great feast by Leo Kirilovitz [Naryshkin], where his M. & others.’
It is worth noting that Peter was much moved by the death of Gordon as shown by the final two paragraphs in Joseph Robertson’s edited version of Gordon’s diaries: ‘His strength was now fast failing, and during the following summer he became so weak that he was unable to leave his bed. He died at seven o’clock in the morning of the twenty-ninth of November, 1699. The Czar, who had visited him five times in his illness, and had been twice with him during the night, stood weeping by his bed as he drew his last breath; and the eyes of him who had left Scotland a poor unfriended wanderer, were closed by the hands of an Emperor.
Peter himself ordered the funeral procession, and took his place in its long line, accompanied by all the pomp of his empire, and followed by the representatives of most of the great powers of Europe. The body was carried on the shoulders of twenty-eight colonels; two generals supported the footsteps of his widow, and twenty ladies, the wives of high Muscovite dignitaries, walked in her train. The religious obsequies were performed by the priests of the church which he loved, in the first chapel of stone which the Roman Catholics were suffered to raise in Moscow. It was built chiefly by his bounty, and his tomb was dug before its high altar, in a vault.’
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