While Olga's birthdate is unknown, it is put somewhere between 890 and 925 ACE.
According to the later Slavic writings Olga was of Nordic origin and born in Pskov.
Little is known about her life before her marriage to Prince Igor I of Kiev and the
birth of their son, Svyatoslav.
Igor was the son and heir of Rurik, who had founded the Rurik dynasty, one that would
hold various titles for various Russian states, until it's dissolution in 1610.
After his father's death, Igor was under guardianship of Oleg the prophet, who had consolidated
power in the region, conquering neighboring tribes and establishing a capital in Kiev.
This loose tribal federation became known as Kievan Rus�, a territory covering what
are now parts of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus.
Now, Kievan Rus, had loose control over a large stretch of territory, most of it based
around a tribute based system, with various Slavic tribes in the region.
These tribes had come under the Kievan fold in the tail end of the 9th century, one of
the many campaigns waged during Oleg of Kiev's reign.
The largest of these tribes post conquest, were the Severians in the east, and the Drevlyans,
just to the west of Kiev itself.
The Drevlyans had been a major throne in the side of the Kievian Rus expansion for decades,
Often waging war against them.
In 883, Prince Oleg, made the Drevlians a subject and made them pay tribute to Kiev,
but they were only nominal vassals.
Even still, tensions between the two groups did calm somewhat.
Enough so, that they joined forces in some compacity, to fight against the Eastern Roman
Empire in the early 10th century.
Securing a very favorable trade deal with the Orthodox empire.
It is written that pagan priests had prohepised, that Oleg would die due to his stallion, and,
acting in defiance essentially, Oleg sent off his stallion, not to see it again.
Years later, he asked what became of the beast, and the reply was simply that it died, and
it's remains were located nearby.
How they kept track of this horse for years is beyond me, but whatever.
Upon reaching the site of the horses grave, Oleg touched it's skull with his foot, causing
a snake to slither out and bite him, killing him with its poison, thus, fulfilling the
prophecy.
Upon his death, very little information still exists as to what occurred for nearly thirty
years.
He was succeeded by Igor the first, a member of the Rurik line, yet, outside of him not
being particular popular with the populace, his reign was largely lost to the test of
time, with accounts of his attack on Constantinople in 941 and 44 being well documented, and possible
invasion of Khazaran to the east, being the only major details left-over.
Some outside writings have suggested that Rus faced a civil war of sorts after Oleg's
death, with factions that were loyal to Oleg, and others that were loyal to the Rurik's,
but the foundation of these claims are a bit sketchy.
And even the circumstances surrounding who ruled when, and how people died, is all over
the place, as you'd imagine with such an old event.
Anyway.
The Drevlians stopped paying tribute to Kiev after Oleg died, and instead paid a local
warlord to act as their protector.
Igor had subdued the tribe once before, in 913 when he first gained the throne, yet,
the tribe would attempt once again to refuse tribute in 945.
Igor set out from Kiev to deal with the Drevlyans�s refusal to pay tribute, leaving his wife Olga,
and three year old son Svyatoslav, behind.
Once more, Igor subdued the Drevlyans and as punishment extracted a higher tribute.
On his way back home though, Igor had the brilliant idea to turn around and demand yet
even more tribute.
This idea was even more brilliant, as he instructed the vast majority of his army to go home,
while he and a small guard went back.
And while the exact details of the conversation are lost, it likely went something like this.
�Hey guys, so uhh, I know that you hate me, that I just recently came, stole a bunch
of your money, likely killed a lot of your people and have like.. zero people here to
protect me.
But what would you think about maybe giving me more money?
Like.. a lot more money?
Just because I say so.� The tribesmen agreed to this demand and everyone lived happily
ever..
No.
They executed him.
The way that Igor was executed, it is written, was that they bent down two birch trees, tied
one of Igor's legs to each, then released them both at the same time, splitting him
in two.
Much like a Turkey wishbone, just much more metal.
Do wonder if it'd have a satisfying snap though.
The Drevlyans, somehow thinking she wouldn't be absolutely pissed after her husband was
killed.
Sent a delegation consisting of 20 of the best and brightest, okay maybe not brightest.
Men to Olga, in an effort to have her marry the Drevlyan prince, Mal, thus, granting them
control over the whole of Kievian Rus.
Olga, playing nice, welcomed the 20 ambassadors who had been sent.
She sent messengers to summon the Drevlians to her hall, but the pompous ambassadors demanded
that they, along with their boats, be carried to her court.
Remember when I said they weren't the brightest?
The response was a simply: �Sure, no problem!� and her men lifted the boats, with the men
in them, and marched towards the hall.
What the Drevlians didn�t know, was that before they arrived, Olga had ordered her
men to dig a giant trench.
Her men carried the lazy divas over to the trench and dumped them in, boats and all.
Peering into the trench, Olga asked if this honor was to the there taste.
The Drevlians, responded with �this was worse than Igor�s death, do you know how
hard it is to wash mud off of this fabulous clothing?...
Oh, You're going to bury us, aren't you?� Olga rubbed two fingers together, playing
the world�s tiniest violin for these divas, then ordered her men to bury them alive.
After this, she sent a message to Mal, the Drevlians prince, saying that the first group
that you still haven't heard back from, were unable to convince her, and to send another.
The unsuspecting Prince sent out a second embassy.
When it arrived, Olga invited the ambassadors to refresh themselves in her bathhouse- and
burnt them alive.
With Prince Mal still unaware of the fate of his emissaries.
Olga sent a third message.
�I am coming to you,� she told him � so prepare great quantities of mead in the city
where you killed my husband, that I may weep over his grave and hold a funeral feast for
him.� Mal obliged and granted Olga and her entourage safe passage into their territory.
You know, if 40 of your men were sent to this lady and you hadn't heard back from then,
you'd think that maybe, just MAYBE, you'd have an incline that she wasn't planning something
peaceful.
Anyway, She hosted a massive funeral for Igor, with many of the locals, especially the elite
soldiers, attending.
However, the guests celebrated a little too well, and once they were drunk, Olga ordered
her men to kill them all.
Over 5000 were slain that night.
Having wiped out much of the elite, Olga then set about finishing her revenge.
Her army quickly defeated the Drevlyan army and drove the citizens into the cities.
There, they remained, under siege until one by one they capitulated to the Kievian forces.
Finally, only the capital Iskorosten, the present day city of Korosten, stood left.
The surviving Drevlians, those whom Olga hadn�t buried, burned, or murdered at the funeral,
begged for mercy.
�Lady, hey, like..
We get that you're mad and all, how about we give you all this fur, so much fur that
you'll cause global warming, and we call it good?� Upon hearing the terms, she responded
simply �Global warming hasn't been invented yet!
But, I'll take pity on you, and ask only, that you provide three sparrows, and three
birds from each house in the city, and we'll call it good� The citizenry complied, and
give Olga the birds as she requested, yet.. as you can imagine, she wasn't done just yet.
During the night, she gave one bird to each solider, she told them to tie a thread to
the birds feet, and attach a cloth bound in sulfur, light it, and release the birds.
The birds naturally went home to roost, and soon the whole city was up in flames.
The survivors being killed, captured, or left to pay a massive tribute, and she returned
home.
Her revenge, finally complete.
Olga remained regent until her son was of age.
By the time she handed the reins of power over to him, Olga had forged Kiev into a strong
city-state.
She consolidated its territory, with a string of new forts.
She had made concessions to ensure the situation with the Dervlyans never occurred again, primarily
by murdering them all, but this was done by changing the system of tribute gathering;
the first known legal reform in Eastern Europe.
She also did her best to make friendly treaties and agreements with other powers.
During one of these, is when she would convert, to the Orthodox religion.
In 957, she visited Emperor Constantine VII in Constantinople.
He admired her looks and intelligence, and supposedly ask her hand in marriage, even
though he himself was already married.
Olga refused, as she was still a Pagan, while Constantine was Orthodox.
She agreed to be baptized and thus became a Christian, with the name of Helen, even
though it was not a name that she would ever appear to use.
Again, after the baptism, Constantine requested her hand in marriage, but Olga tricked him,
noting that he called her his daughter in baptism and so such a union is forbidden outside
of West Virgin..
Uhhh.
I mean Christian Law.
The alternative telling, and the one that I personally believe, is that she baptized
herself to add a bit of extra oil to trade negotiations with Constantine.
Olga returned home from the journey with a large amount of material from Constantine,
and she sent various material and goods to Constantinople shortly after.
Efforts to convert the people turned to be rather lack-luster however.
Olga's son, didn't actually care for the religion, viewing it as very weak, and archbishops that
attempted to convert the populace, uttered it impossible due to the hostility.
Little again would survive in writing, until the 968 siege of Kiev, in which the city was
nearly starved out by the Pechenegs A semi-nomatic tribe along the north Baltic.
They were able to siege Kiev, as Svyatoslav, Olga's son, was campaigning against the First
Bulgarian Empire.
With Olga becoming extremely ill during this siege, and later, dying from it.
Her grandson, Vladimir the Great, would be the one to Christianize Kievian Rus, with
whatever efforts she made during her life, as limited in effect.
However, this isn't the exact end of Olga.
Nearly 600 years after her death, in 1569, she would be named a saint by the Russian
Orthodox Church, being dubbed as �Equal to the Apostles� by many national Orthodox
Churches, due to her influence in getting the state to Christianize.
While Olga's life ended over a millennium ago, her tale and her influence, last even
to the modern day.
Hello everyone.
Hope you enjoyed the video, once again, this video was done in collaboration with project
her story, a collaboration of over a dozen creators that I've been honored to be a part
of.
I encourage you to check out the next video in this series, covering Emma of Normandy,
by A Long Long time ago.
A fantastic female creator.
https://bit.ly/2SPKTMd