learned Scots in Poland (from the mid-sixteenth to the close of the eighteenth century), The

Canadian Slavonic Papers, Mar 2001 by Anna Bieganska

Patrick Gordon, who succeeded William Bruce as mandatory of the English court, can be traced in Poland from 1606 to 1622. His main tasks concerned finding solutions to problems posed by trade, emigration, religion and negative attitude to the Stuart monarch. The merchants in Gdansk complained that they did not enjoy full liberties in trade; there was friction between the inhabitants of England and their own countrymen, who were members of the Eastland Company; the Scottish peddlers illegally trafficked goods all over Poland and did not pay taxes; and the Scottish traders in Ducal Prussia organized an illegal brotherhood. Gordon attempted to solve these issues either by appealing to Zygmunt III or initiating legal action in courts. Apart from the peddlers, there was also a Scottish inflow into Poland of "grite numbers of young boyes incapable of service and destitute of meanis of living, dying in the streeets," which was "a grite scandall." Thus, as a result of Gordon's reports, James VI and I prohibited the "maisters of shipp" to transport them "especially to Dantzig," unless they had friends or pecuniary resources to subsist for one year. The hostile attitude towards James after the sequels of the Gunpowder Plot comprised, above all, libels, and tense existence among the people of various denominations. In 1615 a special envoy, John Dickenson, was sent to Poland to take steps in order to punish the Jesuit Kasper Cichocki (1545-1616) for his publication of Alloquiarum Osiecensium (Cracow, 1615), which libeled and discredited James. Gordon reported on the activities of Abercrombie, this "old Jesuit," who "sundrie tymes entyced" youth from Scotland to arrive in Braniewo and then sent them to Rome or their homeland on missions. He therefore warned that measures should be taken to prevent the danger resulting from their inflow. As regards other denominational problems, he related the controversies between the Catholics and Lutherans pertaining to St. Martin's Church in Elbl4g, as well as the assaults in Vilnius and Lublin, which occurred in 1611 and 1620 respectively. These problems threatened English commerce and were detrimental, as a whole, for the Scots and Englishmen living in Poland.

Gordon's tenure of his office did not pass without controversies. In 1617 he was summoned before the Privy Council in Edinburgh and accused of having neglected his duties in Poland. It was said that he extorted hush money. Nevertheless, in 1620 he made sure of being enrolled at the burgesses of Guild and Trade in Aberdeen, which the town conceded "ex gtatia" as a sign of appreciation of his activities. When James designated Hugh Mowat as a new mandatory in Poland, Gordon fiercely objected. In his report he did not fail to mention all his achievements, of which "one Mowat" would reap the fruits of Patrick's assiduous efforts, while the latter had to be "contended with a small portion of L150 by year." Eventually the post was assigned to his nephew.31

Francis Gordon (d. 1644), the son of John Gordon of Braco, was directed to Poland to perform his agency in 1626. This year set an imprint on the Eastland Company and the English trade for, on 5 July, the Swedish army forced Elblag to surrender. At that time Charles I (1625-1649) showed his amicable disposition towards the Baltic policy of Gustavus Adolphus which, however, was dramatically contradictory for the Eastland Company. Gordon, having a sober judgement of the situation, advised the English court not to expose the king's subjects, living and trading in Poland, to the risks of such royal steps; nevertheless, his suggestions were not taken into consideration. In 1627 the mandatory managed to scuttle the exaction of poll tax from the Scots and English, although dissenters were charged with it. The Diet of the following year abrogated the Eastland Company's residence in Elb!4g which, along with the selling of English cloth throughout the country, was awarded to Gdansk. The Gdansk monopoly proved to be highly detrimental for the Polish economy.