Olga of Kyiv, Grand Princess & Saint of Ukraine

[Music] queens of the world ulga of keith grand princess and saint of ukraine olga was the wife of igor the grand prince of kevian ruse a federation of people whose capital was the city of kiev now the capital of modern day ukraine when her husband was brutally murdered by a subsidiary tribe olga went on a legendary campaign of cunning and ruthless revenge once in control of her husband's realm she converted to christianity in order to get out of an unwanted marriage proposal she is credited with introducing christianity to the ruse people after her death olga was canonized as a saint and is regarded as equal to the apostles within the ukrainian greek catholic church like many figures in early history the dates and details of olga's early life are shrouded in mystery most of what we know of her comes from the primary chronicle or the tale of bygone years an old east slavic chronicle compiled in kiev around 1113 which freely mixes history with folklore though olga does appear in other more reliable sources she may have been born as early as 8 90 or as late as 9 25. she was most likely a viking origin and born in the city of pleskov some records suggest that she may have been the daughter of a prince while others refer to her common birth she was no more than 15 when she was married to igor prince of kiev he was the son and heir of rurik a viking who seized control of a number of tribes in the area collectively known as the kevian ruse the modern nations of ukraine belarus and parts of western russia were all once the domain of the kievian ruse the name ruse from which both russia and belarus derive their names likely comes from the old norse word for men who row referring to viking longships rurik founded the rurik dynasty when he died his son was only two years old so he entrusted his realm and his son to his kinsmen oleg he further consolidated power in the region conquered neighboring tribes and established his capital in kiev the new capital held a strategic location on the nipper river along the trade route between scandinavia and the mediterranean sea according to legend oleg received a prophecy that his horse would cause his death in an attempt to defy the oracle he had the stallion sent away years later he inquired what had become of his once faithful mount only to be told that it had died he asked to see its remains and when he looked upon its bones he felt foolish for having believed in such a prophecy he kicked the horse's skull jostling a snake which had been coiled inside it slithered out bit him and oleg died by this time igor was 35 and old enough to rule he and olga had one child together a son zveotoslav who was born when olga was somewhere between 18 and 53 depending on which source you gleaned her birth date from prince igor was not a particularly impressive or ingenious ruler he twice besieged constantinople but most of his fleet was destroyed by greek fire the kevian ruse economy was based on the prince collecting tribute in the form of coin fur honey and other goods from the many tribes he ruled over and then selling the goods on to constantinople igor demanded far more tribute than oleg or rurik had one of the tribes the drevlians refused to pay the prince led his army to attack the drevlian capital of iskorusten today the city of korustin in northern ukraine igor won and exacted the tribute he demanded their horses loaded down with valuable goods igor and his men began to march back to kiev but the haughty prince still felt that the drevlians had been insolent while most of his army rode ahead igor turned back with only a few guards to demand even more tribute this was not a wise move the drevlians were outraged and captured prince igor they murdered him in a very brutal way according to byzantine historian leo the deacon they had bent down two birch trees to the prince's feet and tied them to his legs then they let the trees straighten again thus tearing the prince's body apart victorious the drevlians sent an entourage of 20 men on a boat to the city of kiev they informed olga that they had slain her husband and demanded that she marry his murderer their own prince maul as olga's son svetislav was only two years old this would put both olga and svetislav under the drevlian's control and they would rule the keivian ruse olga greeted the diplomats warmly and responded to their demands your proposal is pleasing to me indeed my husband cannot rise again from the dead but i desire to honor you tomorrow in the presence of my people return now to your boat and remain there with an aspect of arrogance i shall send for you on the morrow and you shall say we will not ride on horses nor on foot carry us in our boat and you shall be carried in your boat the ambassadors believed that this was a great honor like being carried in a palanquin olga's people picked up the boat and carried it into her court where the entire boat ambassadors and all were thrown into a large deep pit which had been dug the night before on olga's orders the men trapped inside the boat were buried alive as olga's people filled the pit with earth the drevlians screamed and cried for mercy the princess bent down and inquired whether they found the honor to their taste olga sent a message to prince maul saying that she would be happy to marry him but she was insulted that he had sent mere peasants the first time and demanded that he send his highest ranking men to honor her unaware of the fate which had befallen the first delegation mal complied and sent an entourage of governors to entreaty with his future bride when the men arrived olga ordered that they must cleanse themselves in the bathhouse before she would grant them an audience they were happy to wash the road dust off and proceeded to enjoy a warm bath very warm indeed as once they were all inside olga ordered the doors locked and the bathhouse burned down all the men inside were burned alive olga sent yet another message to the drevlians again asserting her willingness to marry her husband's killer but saying that she must first honor and mourn igor properly she demanded of prince maul 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 the princess and her attendants arrived first at igor's tomb after weeping over her husband's bones she directed her people to prepare a sumptuous feast prince maul and his men arrived to the party and olga's retinue served them generously making sure that their cups never ran dry of the copious funeral mead once the drevlians were all passed out in a drunken stupor olga's people who had not been imbibing massacred them princess olga egged on the bloodshed according to the primary chronicle 5 000 drevlians were killed that night but olga's revenge was not yet complete the kivi and ruse army surrounded the city of ishkristin for a year on the verge of starvation the drevlians surrendered to olga and promised to give her whatever tribute she demanded as long as she would leave them in peace olga responded that she understood the city was now beaten down and impoverished and she would have mercy upon them she would order her army to leave if each household delivered her three pigeons and three sparrows relieved the drevlians delivered their aviary tribute that night all this people tied a sulfur wrapped in cloth to each bird's leg then they set them free pigeons and sparrows are excellent homing birds they each flew back to their nests in wooden dove cots and under thatched roofs throughout the city once warm inside their nests the sulfur ignited burning escorocine to the ground olga's men rounded up and captured anyone who managed to escape the inferno and murdered or enslaved them olga's ruthless campaign of revenge reads more like a myth a season of game of thrones or a medieval kill bill reboot than actual history and it may very well be more apocryphal than truthful the bare facts historians are relatively sure of igor did demand additional tribute from the drevlians and was murdered for it and his widow olga did lead a successful military campaign to force the drevlians to submit to her and pay the demanded tribute the gory details in between may or may not have actually happened once olga was in charge of the keivian ruse and acting as her three-year-old son's regent she was an efficient and effective leader she set up hunting grounds boundary posts towns and trading posts all along the kievian ruse empire she established an administrative state to run her realm efficiently and reformed the system of collecting tribute the cause of all her problems in what may be regarded as the first legal reform recorded in eastern europe olga's work helped to centralize the state and unify diverse ruse people she had a policy of religious tolerance towards the growing number of christians and jews in her realm olga was the first female ruler of keivy and ruse and the only female ruler described in the primary chronicle some years later princess olga traveled to constantinople to court a friendly relationship with her most important trade partner byzantine emperor constantine vii the emperor was impressed and enthralled with the cunning and attractive widow he praised her intellect wisdom and described her as very fair of countenance and worthy of ruling by his side olga responded to the unwanted flattery of this powerful ruler with yet more cunning as she was a pagan and he a christian she said that she was willing to be baptized but only if he did it himself as she would not allow a lesser man the honor constantine called for the patriarch of constantinople to baptize her as a christian the very next day and the emperor stood as her godfather olga was given the christian name helena after constantine's own mother olga studied the christian faith with a patriarch who said of her blessed art thou among the women of ruse for thou hast loved the light and quit the darkness the sons of ruse shall bless thee unto the last generation of thy descendants he instructed her in the doctrine of the church in prayer and fasting in almsgiving and in the maintenance of chastity she bowed her head and like a sponge absorbing water she eagerly drank in his teachings after olga's conversion constantine proposed marriage such a union would have stripped olga of her hard-won power and put kevin ruse under the control of the byzantine empire olga responded to her suitor how can you marry me after you baptized me and called me your daughter for among christians that is unlawful as you yourself must know emperor constantine responded olga you have outwitted me he made peace with her and presented her with lavish gifts of gold and silk she promised to send gifts back to the emperor when she returned to keeve sometime later constantine wrote to olga inquiring when he might receive his promised gifts to which she replied that she would be glad to send them once he spent as much time in her realm as she had spent in his now a christian convert olga destroyed some pagan idols in accordance with christian law but declined to persecute pagans and non-christians in her realm she inquired of her teenage son svatislav if he wanted to be baptized but he declined not wishing to lose the support of the majority pagan population when the prince turned 21 olga stepped back and allowed her son to take over the reigns of power like his ancestors svatislav was often away on military campaign though he was much more successful than his father had been when away he left his mother in charge of the realm svatislav earned the nickname the brave by conquering a number of cities and people along the danube river he wanted to bring all of the ruse and boulder people under one empire he conquered the city of pirutslavitz on the mouth of the danube in present-day romania he moved his court there leaving keeve vulnerable to attack sure enough the petsnag people laid siege to keeve olga was trapped there with her grandsons unable to send word to her son and ask him to return with the army on the verge of starvation olga contemplated surrender but just then a young roost man who knew the petsnag language came forward with a plan he snuck into the army's encampment with a bridle and wandered around pretending to search for his lost horse the petsnags assumed he was one of their own until he jumped into the neighbor river and began to swim away they realized his deception and began shooting at him but he escaped the young man managed to get a message from olga to svetislav in it she informed him of keith's desperate situation and berated him for neglecting his duty to his family and his people the prince made haste to march the army back to kiev fight off the pitch niggs and rescue at the city of kiev and his mother and children once peace had been restored svatislav was eager to return to the danube region as he felt it was more strategically located with better access to trade routes but olga whose health was failing did not want to be parted from her son again she said to him you behold me in my weakness why do you desire to depart from me slaughter's love promised to remain with her until her death which occurred three days later she was somewhere between 44 and 79. the chronicle recounts her son wept for her with great mourning as did likewise her grandsons and all the people they thus carried her out and buried her in her tomb olga did not wish to have a pagan funeral feast if the legends about her revenge spree are to be believed she may have been thinking on the bloody outcome of her husband's funeral feast but more likely she preferred funeral rights to be performed in accordance with her new christian faith though svatislav did not approve he heeded his mother's request and had a priest perform the rights olga's tomb remained in kiev for 200 years but was destroyed by a mongolian tartar invasion in 1240 though olga's attempts to christianize keivi and ruse had failed her grandson vladimir who had been raised at her knee officially adopted a christianity in 988 and converted the kingdom nevertheless the primary chronicle gives olga much credit for introducing the faith to the kibi and ruse olga was the precursor of the christian land even as day spring precedes the sun and as the dawn precedes the day for she shone like the moon by night and she was radiant among the infidels like a pearl in the mire since the people were soiled and not yet purified of their sin by holy baptism but she herself was cleansed by sacred purification she was the first from the ruse to enter the kingdom of god and the sons of ruse thus praise her as their leader four since her death she has interceded with god on their behalf the ukrainian greek catholic church eastern orthodox church and ruthenian greek catholic church all call olga by the honorific isa postolos equal to the apostles the catholic church and the roman orthodox church have both canonized her as a saint she is the patron to widows and converts numerous churches and monuments across ukraine honor saint olga grand princess of kiev ad revenue from this video will be donated to save the children's ukrainian crisis relief fund this fund is helping to provide children and families endangered and displaced by the conflict in ukraine with immediate aid including food water and hygiene kits to give please click the link in the description if you enjoyed this video please like subscribe comment your thoughts and check out my other royal history videos if you really want to help please consider supporting me on patreon a link is in the description thank you for watching

Channel: History Tea Time with Lindsay Holiday

Views: 153,856

Keywords: history, documentary, royalty, queen, queens of the world, european royalty, women in history, Royal history, Lindsay Holiday, History tea time, History tea time with Lindsay Holiday, olga of kyiv, olga of kiev, ukraine, ukrainian history, medieval history, game of thrones real history, game of thrones history, women in ukraine, kyiv ukraine, kievian rus, kievan rus history, ukrainian saints, saint olga of kiev, saint olga of ukraine, history of, history of ukraine

Id: gF3NKIMplVw

Length: 20min 18sec (1218 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 01 2022

Reddit Comments

[u/CeleryCountry]

recently remembered her, what a coincidence

[u/noctkus]

Kiev*

[u/Dudeus-Maximus]

My 28th great grandmother. 🇺🇦👍😎👍

What’s surprising to me is that my connection is so long ago, yet dna still shows as 1% Rus.