GILBERT, DAVID [SSNE 3894]
Text source
David Gilbert entered Russian service in 1600 with Robert Dunbar with the rank of captain. In 1605-6 he served as an officer under the first 'False Dmitry', whose guard allegedly included 100 Scots. He later served the second 'False Dmitry'. After leaving Russian service, Gilbert then joined the Poles and was imprisoned by Russians for three years but freed through the intercession of King James VI and I in 1617. In 1618 he went back to Muscovy on the diplomatic mission headed by Sir Dudley Digges. He travelled with his son, Thomas, and apparently died there. He was the first Scot to leave an account of his Russian adventures, published in London in 1625.S. Konovalov, Oxford Savonic Papers Vol. 1, 1950 and Vol. 2, 1951; W. Barnhill and P. Dukes, 'North-east Scots in Muscovy in the seventeenth century' in Northern Scotland, vol. 1, no. 1, 1972, pp.49-63; D. Fedosov, The Caledonian Connection (Aberdeen, 1996); Bodleian Library, MS Ashmole 824, ff. 175-86; R. Frost, "Scottish soldiers, Poland-Lithuania and the Thirty Years' War" in S. Murdoch ed. Scotland and the Thirty Years' War, 1618-1648 (Brill, 2001), p.201.
Service record
- RUSSIA, RUSSIAN ARMY
- Arrived 1600-01-01, as CAPTAIN
- Departed 1610-12-31, as CAPTAIN
- Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY
- Arrived 1613-01-01, as CAPTAIN
- Departed 1614-01-31, as CAPTAIN
- Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY
- POLAND, POLISH ARMY
- Arrived 1614-01-01, as PRISONER
- Departed 1617-12-31, as PRISONER
- Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY
- STUART KINGDOMS, MOSCOW
- Arrived 1618-01-01
- Departed 1618-12-31
- Capacity ENVOY, purpose DIPLOMACY
- RUSSIA, RUSSIAN ARMY
- Arrived 1618-06-03, as CAPTAIN
- Departed 1625-12-31, as CAPTAIN
- Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY