Olga of Kiev- History's Most Bad Ass Saint

In honor of Women's History Month. A group of historical Youtubers have come together to tell the stories of women throughout history. In this episode, we will be looking at the most bad-ass saint in History. Olga, of Kiev.

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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.