Oh, those Russians
Jan. 15th, 2012 05:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pallas_athenaToday I have discovered Olga of Kiev: princess, saint and historic badass. She was the grandmother of Saint Vladimir of Kiev, whose statue stands near Holland Park. Both she and Vladimir had extremely non-saintly careers before being canonised.
Olga's husband Igor, who ruled the Rus of Kiev, was killed while gathering tribute from nearby Dereva, leaving her with a three-year-old son, Svyatoslav. The Derevlians saw their opportunity and sought to marry her to their prince Mal. From the Russian Primary Chronicle for the year 945:
The chronicle dates from circa 1113, so its version of events is highly dubious; but Princess Olga made it clear enough that she was not to be fucked with that Svyatoslav reached his majority alive and secure in power. Even after he came of age, she governed the country while he was out on campaign (Richard I of England later had a similar arrangement with his mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine.) She is reported to have been a capable administrator and to have instituted the region's first organised system of taxation; obviously, no one was going to deny her tribute.
Later she visited the Byzantine Emperor; it is unclear whether she converted to Christianity before or during this visit, but she was certainly the first leader of the Rus to do so. She was canonised by the Orthodox Church in 1547 and furthermore declared "Equal of the Apostles", a title held by only five other women in the church's history.
Her son Svyatoslav was a pagan ruler, but her grandson Vladimir adopted Christianity as the official state religion. This is thought to be due in part to Olga's influence, but his baptism only occurred as part of the negotiations for his marriage with the Byzantine Emperor's sister Anna. (The marriage itself was part of a larger negotiation for an alliance between Vladimir and the newly crowned Emperor Bardas Phocas; Vladimir's military assistance kept the young Emperor on his throne.)
An an interesting, if probably apocryphal, tale exists of Vladimir checking out various religions before settling on Orthodox Christianity. He is said to have consulted with some Jewish rabbis, possibly Khazars; with Muslim Bulgars; and with Catholics from Germany. Reportedly, when the Bulgar envoys told him Islam involved giving up alcohol and pork, Vladimir replied "Drinking is the joy of the Rus! We cannot exist without that pleasure."
So there we have it: Russian saints are stone cold killers and badass drunks. Do not, I repeat, do not fuck with them lest you be assaulted by incendiary pigeons. Hell yeah.
Olga's husband Igor, who ruled the Rus of Kiev, was killed while gathering tribute from nearby Dereva, leaving her with a three-year-old son, Svyatoslav. The Derevlians saw their opportunity and sought to marry her to their prince Mal. From the Russian Primary Chronicle for the year 945:
The Derevlians then said, "See, we have killed the Prince of Rus'. Let us take his wife Olga for our Prince Mal, and then we shall obtain possession of Svyatoslav, and work our will upon him." So they sent their best men, twenty in number, to Olga by boat, and they arrived below Borichev in their boat.
Olga was informed that the Derevlians had arrived, and summoned them to her presence with a gracious welcome. When the Derevlians had thus announced their arrival, Olga replied with an inquiry as to the reason of their coming. The Derevlians then announced that their tribe had sent them to report that they had slain her husband, because he was like a wolf, crafty and ravening, but that their princes, who had thus preserved the land of Dereva, were good, and that Olga should come and marry their prince Mal. For the name of the Prince of Dereva was Mal.
Olga made this reply, "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 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 or go on foot; carry us in our boat.' And you shall be carried in your boat." Thus she dismissed them to their vessel.
Now Olga gave command that a large deep ditch should be dug in the castle with the hall, outside the city. Thus, on the morrow, Olga, as she sat in the hall, sent for the strangers, and her messengers approached them and said, "Olga summons you to great honor." But they replied, "We will not ride on horseback nor in wagons, nor go on foot; carry us in our boats." The people of Kiev then lamented, "Slavery is our lot. Our Prince is killed, and our Princess intends to marry their prince." So they carried the Derevlians in their boat. The latter sat on the cross-benches in great robes, puffed up with pride. Thus they were borne into the court before Olga, and when the men had brought the Derevlians in, they dropped them into the trench along with the boat. Olga bent over and inquired whether they found the honor to their taste. They answered that it was worse than the death of Igor. She then commanded that they should be buried alive, and they were thus buried.
Olga then sent messages to the Derevlians to the effect that, if they really required her presence, they should send after her their distinguished men, so that she might go to their Prince with due honor, for otherwise her people in Kiev would not let her go. When the Derevlians heard this message, they gathered together the best men who governed the land of Dereva, and sent them to her. When the Derevlians arrived, Olga commanded that a bath should be made ready, and invited them to appear before her after they had bathed. The bathhouse was then heated, and the Derevlians entered in to bathe. Olga's men closed up the bathhouse behind them, and she gave orders to set it on fire from the doors, so that the Derevlians were all burned to death.
Olga then sent to the Derevlians the following message, "I am now coming to you, 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." When they heard these words, they gathered great quantities of honey and brewed mead. Taking a small escort, Olga made the journey with ease, and upon her arrival at Igor's tomb, she wept for her husband. She bade her followers pile up a great mound and when they had piled it up, she also gave the command that a funeral feast should be held. Thereupon the Derevlians sat down to drink, and Olga bade her followers wait upon them.
The Derevlians inquired of Olga where the retinue was which they had sent to meet her. She replied that they were following with her husband's bodyguard. When the Derevlians were drunk, she bade her followers to fall upon them, and went about herself egging on her retinue to the massacre of the Derevlians. So they cut down five thousand of them; but Olga returned to Kiev and prepared an army to attack the survivors.
[The chronicle reports that Olga rode at the head of the army with the child Svyatoslav, which seems rather unlikely. Svyatoslav is said to have cast the first spear, succeeding only in striking his own horse in the ear and foot. The army besieged Dereva for a year, and then negotiations for tribute were opened.]
The Derevlians then inquired what she desired of them, and expressed their readiness to pay honey and furs. Olga retorted that at the moment they had neither honey nor furs, but that she had one small request to make. "Give me three pigeons," she said, "and three sparrows from each house. I do not desire to impose a heavy tribute, like my husband, but I require only this small gift from you, for you are impoverished by the siege." The Derevlians rejoiced, and collected from each house three pigeons and three sparrows, which they sent to Olga with their greetings. Olga then instructed them, in view of their submission, to return to their city, promising that on the morrow she would depart and return to her own capital. The Derevlians re-entered their city with gladness, and when they reported to the inhabitants, the people of the town rejoiced.
Now Olga gave to each soldier in her army a pigeon or a sparrow, and ordered them to attach by thread to each pigeon and sparrow a piece of sulfur bound with small pieces of cloth. When night fell, Olga bade her soldiers [set the fabric alight and] release the pigeons and the sparrows. So the birds flew to their nests, the pigeons to the cotes, and the sparrows under the eaves. The dove-cotes, the coops, the porches, and the haymows were set on fire. There was not a house that was not consumed, and it was impossible to extinguish the flames, because all the houses caught on fire at once. The people fled from the city, and Olga ordered her soldiers to catch them. Thus she took the city and burned it, and captured the elders of the city. Some of the other captives she killed, while some she gave to others as slaves to her followers. The remnant she left to pay tribute.
The chronicle dates from circa 1113, so its version of events is highly dubious; but Princess Olga made it clear enough that she was not to be fucked with that Svyatoslav reached his majority alive and secure in power. Even after he came of age, she governed the country while he was out on campaign (Richard I of England later had a similar arrangement with his mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine.) She is reported to have been a capable administrator and to have instituted the region's first organised system of taxation; obviously, no one was going to deny her tribute.
Later she visited the Byzantine Emperor; it is unclear whether she converted to Christianity before or during this visit, but she was certainly the first leader of the Rus to do so. She was canonised by the Orthodox Church in 1547 and furthermore declared "Equal of the Apostles", a title held by only five other women in the church's history.
Her son Svyatoslav was a pagan ruler, but her grandson Vladimir adopted Christianity as the official state religion. This is thought to be due in part to Olga's influence, but his baptism only occurred as part of the negotiations for his marriage with the Byzantine Emperor's sister Anna. (The marriage itself was part of a larger negotiation for an alliance between Vladimir and the newly crowned Emperor Bardas Phocas; Vladimir's military assistance kept the young Emperor on his throne.)
An an interesting, if probably apocryphal, tale exists of Vladimir checking out various religions before settling on Orthodox Christianity. He is said to have consulted with some Jewish rabbis, possibly Khazars; with Muslim Bulgars; and with Catholics from Germany. Reportedly, when the Bulgar envoys told him Islam involved giving up alcohol and pork, Vladimir replied "Drinking is the joy of the Rus! We cannot exist without that pleasure."
So there we have it: Russian saints are stone cold killers and badass drunks. Do not, I repeat, do not fuck with them lest you be assaulted by incendiary pigeons. Hell yeah.
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on 2012-01-15 05:57 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2012-01-15 11:23 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2012-01-16 12:35 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2012-01-16 03:59 pm (UTC)Hysterically awesome!
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on 2012-01-19 12:32 pm (UTC)Hello! I'm friending you if that's ok - I'm S. who visited last night. Great to meet you properly at last, I had a lovely evening.
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on 2012-01-20 06:48 pm (UTC)