Olga of Kiev: Brutal Saint and Revenge-Seeker

I recently finished listening to an audiobook version of Lars Brownworth’s The Sea Wolves: A History of the Vikings. Ever since I fell in love with Uhtred of Bebbanburg (to the point where I made a pilgrimage to Bamburgh in Northumberland, which is the inspiration for Bebbanburg) I’ve wanted to learn more about the Viking age. Lars Brownworth has some great medieval-era podcasts, and when I saw the book pop on up Scribd, I suspected it would be a good short history. And it didn’t disappoint.

One of the characters I learned about, though, was Olga of Kiev (890-969). This woman showed that brutality during this period wasn’t just a masculine trait. When a rival tribe, the Drevlians, killed her husband, she acted as regent for her young son. She needed revenge for her husband’s murder to show that she was up to the challenge, but she wasn’t ready to lead an army to war. So she used her feminine wiles.

The first thing she did was accept a marriage proposal from the Drevlian prince, Mal. When the ambassadors arrived to propose the deal, she acted like she was honored and sent them away for the night, saying she would give an answer the next day. When they arrived the following morning, she had them buried alive in a trench she ordered dug overnight.

Then she sent a message to the Drevlians saying that they should send “their distinguished men to her in Kiev, so that she might go to their Prince with due honor.” They didn’t know what had happened to the first ambassadors, of course, so they sent a bunch of noblemen her way. She greeted them, and suggested they have a lovely bath in the bath house before they sit down for dinner. When they went into the bath house, she locked them in, and burned it down.

Finally, Olga sends a note back to the Drevlians – who are all oblivious to the atrocities going on at her court – saying they will all come back, but before she marries the new prince she wants to have a final goodbye ceremony for her first husband. She asks them to put together a fitting feast, and they agree. She rides with her attendants to the Drevlian court, and when they ask where the ambassadors and noblemen are, she says she was so excited to meet her new husband, she rode off early.

That night they have a feast, but she orders her men to stay sober. The rest of the Drevlian court doesn’t notice, and gets roaring drunk. Olga’s men slaughter them all.

So she successfully took power, and people knew not to mess with Olga of Kiev. Thing is, she then accepted Christianity, and so she became a saint, and that is how she is remembered to many people today. She is responsible for making Russia Orthodox, through her grandson Vladimir, who also shared her faith .

So there we have it. A bit of revenge brutality for a Monday morning. Olga of Kiev: a woman not to ever f*ck with. And the great irony is, of course, that now she is considered a Saint.