Vengeance & Redemption

The Reign of Saint Princess Olga, “Equal to the Apostles” (East of Sweden, Pt. 2)

Igor, Grand Prince of Kiev and ruler of the Rus, was a ruler of indomitable energy. His forces twice sailed on Constantinople and put it under siege, concluding a favorable treaty with his southern neighbor. Igor’s reign saw the horizons of the Rus expand dramatically. Expeditions were launched into the Caspian Sea & control of the local Slavic tribes was tightened. The Rus had developed a tribute system in which the prince and his retinue would visit the Slavic settlements during the winter and collect furs, slaves, and coin. This system saw the Rus elite grow powerful; however, it stoked resentment in the native Slavic population. When Igor visited the Drevlians, a tribe just west of Kiev, for a second time in the same winter & demanded more tribute the Drevlians decided they had had enough. The Drevlians seized Igor and tied his legs to bent birch trees. When the trees were released Igor was ripped in half. 

After the death of Igor, Olga assumed power on behalf of their son, Sviatoslav. The Drevlians, sensing weakness, sent a message to Kiev to make Olga aware of Igor’s death and proposed Olga marry Prince Mal, their chieftain. The twenty men of the embassy arrived in Kiev by boat. The boldness of the Drevlians was met with cunning. Olga assured them that she wished to honor them properly and would have them brought to the palace the next day. She proposed they sit in their boat while Kiev’s residents carried them to her. The Drevlians, understanding this as a great honor, complied and were carried. When they reached the court the Kievans threw them into a trench they had dug the night before and buried them alive. Olga asked if “the honor [was] to their taste.” Olga then sent a message to the Drevlians to bring “their distinguished men to her in Kyiv, so that she might go to their Prince with due honor.” Unaware of their embassy’s fate the Drevlians obliged. The Drevlians sent many of their leaders to Kiev unawares.

When the Drevlians arrived at Kiev, Olga had her servants prepare them a bath to wash themselves before presenting themselves in front of her. Grateful, the Drevlians crowded into the bathhouse. Olga had the doors barred and burned down the building with them inside. Olga then sent another message to the Drevlians to “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." She arrived with a few companions & wept and feasted. The hesitant Drevlians joined her. When the Drevlians were drunk she ordered her men to slaughter them, encouraging them in her rage. The Primary Chronicle claims 5,000 Drevlians were killed here.

Olga gathered her army at Kiev and marched on Iskorosten, the Drevlian capital. She laid siege to the city for over a year. Unable to take the city, Olga sent a message to the residents asking why they resisted and starved while the other Drevlians surrendered and lived in peace. The residents of Iskorosten replied that they were willing to pay her tribute but were afraid of her vengeance. Assuring them that the feast satiated her bloodlust, she only asked for 3 pigeons and 3 sparrows from every house in the city.

 Saint Princess Olga & a sparrow

Elated at the turn of events, the Drevlians complied. Olga then had her men tie sulphur and cloth to the feet of every bird. That night she ordered them to light the cloth and released the birds. The burning birds flew back into the city and lit every building on fire. As the citizens fled their burning city, Olga ordered her men to slaughter them. The rest were taken as slaves and given to her warriors, only a few remained at Iskorosten and agreed to pay tribute to Olga in the future.

Despite her brutal revenge on the Drevlians, Olga did not wish to rule through violence. Recognizing the grievances of the Slavic tribes, Olga reformed the poliudie (tribute system). Olga appointed her own officials to collect the tribute. This change gave Olga more control of how tribute was collected and may have helped prevent local chiefs from taking more tribute in order to take a large cut for themselves. Historian Valentin Yanin suggests this reform is the origins of Rus Law, later codified in the Russkaya Pravda.

After this intense episode, Olga busied herself establishing trading posts, hunting grounds, and towns across her lands. These trading posts, pogosti, were used to centralize local trade and administration. This network of pogosti helped foster a Rus identity and administration. Olga also established a line of border posts on the fringes of her kingdom. By delineating control and creating a central system of administration Olga proved the framework necessary for the Rus to coalesce and form a distinct cultural and ethnic character; mixing Norse and Slavic peoples and traditions.

Olga dodged constant proposals for remarriage. If Olga remarried she risked Sviatoslav’s future and safety, as well as her control of the state. Olga’s centralizing reforms and steady hand provided the Rus state with a period of relative peace, stability, and prosperity. However, within these reforms she separated her personal property from that of the state. This would ironically lead to a decentralization of the Rus centuries later as powerful kniaz (dukes) used this separation to wrest power away from Kiev, a key factor in Rus decline.

Despite this, Olga’s rule was generally positive for the Rus and her reforms provided the Rus state with the mechanisms necessary for greater exertions. Her son, Sviatoslav, will harness this power and explode onto the world stage in a series of lightning campaigns.

Another key part of Olga’s reign was her conversion to Christianity and patronage of Eastern Orthodoxy. Saint Olga’s Christian character and support for the church made serious inroads for the Christianization of the Rus, completed by her grandson Vladimir. In 957, Olga travelled to Constantinople as a guest of the Emperor, Constantine VII. Although sources do not give a reason for her visit they detail her conversion to Christianity while in the Queen of Cities.

According to the Primary Chronicle, Constantine wanted to marry Olga for her beauty and intellect. Olga replied that she “was still a pagan, and that if he desired to baptize her, he should perform this function himself; otherwise, she was unwilling to accept baptism.” With the help of the Patriarch and her godfather, Constantine, Olga was baptized and instructed in Christian teaching and practice. Olga was said to have “bowed her head, and like a sponge absorbing water, she eagerly drank in his teachings.” After her instruction, the Emperor received her and asked for her hand in marriage, but Olga replied, “How can you marry me, after yourself baptizing me and calling me your daughter? For among Christians that is unlawful, as you yourself must know."

Once again using her cunning, Olga avoided his proposal. Constantine weighed her down with gifts of gold, silver, and silk when she departed for Kiev, calling Olga his “daughter.” This narrative is not universally accepted. Historian Francis Butler challenged Constantine’s proposal as he was already married at the time. Byzantine sources also contradict Olga’s baptism, claiming she was baptized in Kiev around 955 and chrismated by the Patriarch in 957.

The Baptism of Grand Princess Saint Olga by Sergei Kirillov

Whatever the case, Olga’s conversion and close relationship with the Byzantine Empire were a significant development for the Rus. Despite frequent wars between the Byzantines & Rus, the strong ties they had formed through trade in the preceding century had led to cultural exchange. The Rus were eager to imitate their sophisticated southern neighbors and it's not a stretch to assume many were converted on trading trips to Constantinople, receiving instruction on the Christian faith in Constantinople like Olga. We have evidence for a Christian Rus community and the construction of the Church of St. Elias in Kiev around 944, before Olga’s conversion. However, Olga’s conversion was a major event as the first in the royal family. Despite the growing influence of Christianity, loyalty to the old ways remained strong and Olga’s attempts to convert her own son, Sviatoslav, failed.

Sviatoslav rejected his mother’s overtures to become a Christian, claiming his warriors would mock him. The approval of his druzhina, or retinue, was of paramount importance to the war-like Sviatoslav. However, Sviatoslav agreed to not persecute Christians, a key development. With Sviatoslav’s ambivalence, Olga focused her efforts on nurturing the growing Christian community in her nation. The conversion of the Rus was still measured in individuals rather than the state conversion orchestrated by Vladimir, but we have evidence for growth under Olga’s care. Bolstered by the end of persecution, Olga sponsored the building of churches in Kiev, Pskov, and other towns.

Despite Olga’s measure of success with her subjects, her son’s staunch paganism will color his brief, but electric, rule. Sviatoslav will thunder across the steppe, forests, and mountains of the region at the head of his druzhina and impress Rus domination on his neighbors. Sviatoslav’s ascension to the throne in 964 initiated these campaigns. He was so successful he attempted to move his capital to Pereyaslavets at the mouth of the Danube for its potential as a commercial city. With Sviatoslav and his army gone, the Pechenegs besieged Kiev in 969. Olga and her grandchildren were inside the city. A relief force had gathered on the other side of the river under the general, Pretich, but was too small to offer battle to the large Pecheneg army. Unable to skirt the Pecheneg besiegers, the Kievans could not communicate with Pretich. In desperation, a young Pecheneg boy from the city offered to try to reach them with a message.

Prince Sviatoslav

Sneaking into the Pecheneg camp, the boy walked around with a bridle, pretending to look for a horse. When he jumped in the river the Pecheneg warriors discovered his ruse and fired arrows at him. Once on the other side, the boy told Pretich if he did not attack by the morning Olga would surrender the city. In the morning, Pretich attacked and the city’s defenders rejoiced. Thinking Sviatoslav had returned, the Pechenegs panicked and Olga and her kin escaped to Pretich. The Pecheneg leader met with Pretich, who lied that his force was in the vanguard of Sviatoslav’s army. The Pechenegs departed and on Sviatoslav’s return, discovering the danger his family was in, he “collected an army, and drove the Pechenegs out into the steppes.”

When Sviatoslav returned to Kiev he told his followers he intended to go back to Pereyaslavets because “that is the center of my realm.” Olga begged him to remain in Kiev until her death on account of her ill health. Three days later, Olga died. Olga’s death was mourned by Sviatoslav and all the Rus. She was buried in Kiev. The Primary Chronicle recounts, “Olga had given command not to hold a funeral feast for her, for she had a priest who performed the last rites over the sainted Princess.”

The repose of Saint Princess Olga

Olga’s vengance, centralizing reforms, and Christian conversion all left indelible marks on the Rus and her descendants. Olga’s dramatic reign makes her an enduring figure in Rus history & her Christian character has made her a hugely popular Saint in Eastern Europe. In many ways the rule of her son Sviatoslav the Brave, the tragic saga of the fearsome pagan warlord, was the inverse of Olga’s reign. We will cover Sviatoslav’s conquests and tragic end in the next article.