Episode 57: Queen Olga of Kiev: A Tale of Vengeance and Legacy

What if a queen's ultimate revenge could change the course of a nation's history? Discover the chilling yet riveting story of Queen Olga of Kiev, a formidable ruler whose cunning and ruthless tactics left an indelible mark on medieval Eastern Europe. Start your journey with us as we bring the flavors of history to life, beginning with a mouth-watering discussion about Ukrainian braised pork with mashed potatoes. From there, we unravel the mysterious origins of Queen Olga, delving into her possible Varangian, Slavic, or Northern Russian Viking roots. The episode chronicles her marriage to Prince Igor of Kiev and the shocking events following his assassination by the Drevlians, which propelled Olga to the forefront of Kievan Rus politics as regent for her young son, Sviatoslav.

Witness the sheer brilliance and brutality of Queen Olga's revenge strategies—from burying emissaries alive to setting an entire city ablaze using pigeons and sparrows. These audacious acts not only secured her power but also etched her name into the annals of history. Olga's journey didn't end there; her conversion to Christianity in Constantinople marked a pivotal moment in the Christianization of Kievan Rus, influencing her descendants and shaping the religious landscape for generations. Join us for an enthralling episode that captures the essence of a queen who mastered both the art of vengeance and the path to sainthood, leaving a legacy celebrated in Eastern Orthodox and Greek Catholic traditions. This is history brought to life with gripping stories and compelling insights you won't want to miss.

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Recipe:
https://tatyanaseverydayfood.com/ukrainian-braised-pork/#recipe


Sources:
https://theconversation.com/saint-olga-of-kyiv-is-ukraines-patron-saint-of-both-defiance-and-vengeance-178019

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olga_of_Kiev#:~:text=Olga%20then%20instructed%20her%20army,subsequently%20set%20the%20city%20ablaze. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Smartacus.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
Tells.

Speaker 1 (00:04):
History.
Alright, enough with the echoand fanfare.
You're here for history, right,and not that boring crap you
learned in high school.
This stuff's actuallyinteresting, like things you've
never heard about the Civil War,cleopatra, automobiles,
monopoly, the Black Plague andmore Fascinating stories,
interesting topics and somedownright weird facts from the

(00:28):
past.
It's a new twist on somestories you may know and an
interesting look at some thingsyou may have never heard.
So grab a beer, kick back andenjoy.
Here's your host, smarticus.

Speaker 2 (00:40):
Greetings history enthusiasts.
Welcome to another episode ofSmarticus Tells History.
I am your host, smarticus,accompanied by my co-host,
phoenix.
Hello.
And today we journey back tomedieval times to uncover the
remarkable story of Queen Olgaof Kiev, a woman of strength,
cunning and enduring legacy.

Speaker 3 (00:59):
But first food.
Today we've got Ukrainianbraised pork with mashed
potatoes.

Speaker 2 (01:04):
Yeah, and I dang it.
I forgot, forgot.
I was going to pull that stupidrecipe up.

Speaker 3 (01:08):
I won't even think about it.

Speaker 2 (01:10):
I was going to pull it up so we could discuss it.
Oh my gosh, it is amazing.
Is it really good?
Yes, I'm sure it is.

Speaker 3 (01:19):
I think I put too much parsley on it though.

Speaker 2 (01:22):
So I put mine on at the last uh or at the end there,
like it uh said to um, and Ijust I almost use my ground, or
not my ground, my uh, but my theparsley.
You know it comes in the thing,whatever.
Um, but I was like no, I'll.
I was already at walmart thismorning so I was like I'll go
ahead and I'll grab some fresh,some fresh parsley for it.
Um, we grabbed our stuffyesterday, yeah, and I, I have
some fresh parsley on it.

Speaker 3 (01:42):
We grabbed our stuff yesterday.

Speaker 2 (01:45):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:46):
And I have some fresh parsley on it too.
But yeah, I might have gotten alittle overzealous with that
particular herb.

Speaker 2 (01:53):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:58):
I will say it tastes very fresh with all that parsley
on it.

Speaker 1 (02:03):
Yeah, man this is really good.

Speaker 2 (02:07):
So this is.
Did you already say what it wasyou did, didn't you?
I did, yeah, yeah, it'sUkrainian braised pork With
creamy mashed potatoes.
So it's it's a pork shoulder.
I didn't have everything thistime.
I had most of it, though.

Speaker 3 (02:28):
Hmm, it's a pork shoulder.
I didn't have everything thistime.
I had most of it, though Ididn't have the pork shoulder or
the mushrooms, yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:32):
So I didn't have pork shoulder mushrooms.
I had a large onion already.
I did not have any carrots.
So while I was there I saw allthe sliced mushrooms, so I
grabbed those, and right next tothem was diced onions.
So it was already diced.

(02:53):
I was like, screw it, I'll justgrab those too, because that
way I don't have to dice them.

Speaker 1 (02:57):
Right.

Speaker 2 (02:58):
And so I just did that.
And then, surprisingly, rightnext to those, a little bit
further over, there was thegrated carrots.
So I was like, oh nice, I don'thave to do that either.
So, and I just put about halfthe bag of the grated carrots in
there and then I just put thewhole thing of mushrooms in

(03:21):
there, and it was kind of abigger box, yeah, of a thing of
mushrooms.
I was just like, whatever, I'lljust throw them all in there.
And I just put the whole thingof mushrooms in there, and it
was kind of a bigger box, yeah,of a thing of mushrooms.
So I just like, whatever, I'lljust throw them all in there.
And I didn't dice them upanymore, I just left them sliced
.

Speaker 3 (03:32):
I thought about leaving them sliced so I could
pick around them, but I was likeno, I actually want to try and
eat mushrooms Because I want tolike mushrooms.
So bad yeah.

Speaker 2 (03:45):
I don't mind them texture thing.

Speaker 3 (03:45):
Yeah, I used to not like them, but I like them a lot
better now, so it's a loteasier for me to eat them when
they're diced up.
So that's what I did.
Yay, yeah, I'm a big fan.
I'll be making this again,that's for sure.

Speaker 2 (03:53):
Yeah, it tastes really good.
Queen Olga of Kiev, also knownas Saint Olga, stands as a
remarkable figure in medievalhistory, particularly in the
context of Eastern Europe.
Her life, which was marked bypolitical astuteness, religious
transformation and the pursuitof justice, is a testament to
the complex interplay of power,faith and personal agency in the

(04:16):
early medieval period,something that legends of the
time were littered with but wereoften forgotten in the history
books.

Speaker 3 (04:26):
Olga's early life is quite a mystery, as there are
conflicting accounts of herorigins.
Some sources suggest she was ofVarangian descent, while others
propose a Slavic lineage.
There's also my personalfavorite that she was of
Northern Russian Viking descent.
There's also my personalfavorite that she was of
northern Russian Viking descent,regardless her marriage to

(04:49):
Prince Igor of Kiev, the secondruler of the Rurikid dynasty was
around the turn of the 10thcentury.

Speaker 2 (04:51):
It's possible that she was 20 around the time of
her husband's assassination bythe Drevlians, a neighboring
tribe.
There's several accounts of hisdeath, none of which are pretty
and all of which might behighly exaggerated.
Either way, igor was in piecesand Olga had to assume regency
on behalf of her three-year-oldson, svetislav.
This is a dangerous position ina region under almost constant

(05:12):
warring during the brutalmedieval time period for any
ruler, not just a woman.

Speaker 3 (05:17):
The Drevlians wanted what Olga and her son possessed,
so they sent emissaries with asuggestion that she marry their
single royal Prince Mal.
Now, if you think that datingnow is a wild experience, olga
might just blow your mind on thematter.
According to medievalhagiography, which is an
official biography of saints orvenerated persons, she was

(05:38):
quoted as replying your proposalis pleasing to me.
Indeed, my husband cannot riseagain from the dead, but I
desire to honor you tomorrow inthe presence of my people.
Return now to your boat andremain there.

Speaker 2 (05:53):
I shall send for you on the morrow.
Naturally, the Drevliansthought they had won an easy
victory as they went back totheir boat.
They were absolutely wrong,because Olga had arranged for a
trench to be dug and then forthem and their boat to be flung
into it and buried alive.
Pretty brutal right.

Speaker 3 (06:12):
But wait, there's more Correct.

Speaker 2 (06:15):
Before news of the first delegation's death could
reach the Drevlians, Olga sent amessage requesting a second
emissary group to come to hercity, Thinking that this was a
very good sign.
They happily complied.
When they arrived, Queen Olgahad ordered her people to draw a
bath for them.
Once the Drevlians were in thebathhouse, she ordered all the
doors to be bolted and then setthe building on fire.

Speaker 3 (06:36):
Once again, hold on to your seats, folks, because
Olga isn't done.

Speaker 2 (06:43):
She then went to the place where her husband had been
killed.
The Drevlins gathered around,interested in what she could be
doing there.
Olga told them that she wouldlike to have a funeral feast to
commemorate her late husband.
This wouldn't seem too strangeto anyone at the time,
especially if they hadn't yetheard about the first two
emissary groups.
In fact, it would sound rathersweet, until they all got drunk
at the feast and Olga had hermen massacre.

Speaker 3 (07:05):
Olga laid siege on Iskorostan, the Drevlians' home
base, which is now the Ukrainiancity of Korostan.
She came with an offer of peace.
All they had to give up wasthree pigeons and three sparrows
from each home.
Not a bad deal if you're upagainst the three-time champion
of death.
Except that Olga then had hermen tie a sulfurous cloth to one

(07:27):
leg of each bird.
Then the cloths were set onfire and the birds were released
to go back to their home nestfor the night.
This resulted in every buildingsimultaneously bursting into
flames.
Olga had her soldiers catcheveryone that fled the city to
either be killed or turned intoslaves, and so her revenge was
achieved.

Speaker 2 (07:48):
Pretty brutal.

Speaker 3 (07:49):
She's a boss.
You know, know it's just likedon't mess with her man, leave
her alone I mean, a lot ofpeople were like that.

Speaker 2 (07:58):
Back then too, though .
Her cutting stratagem andavenging igor's death, which
involved a series of deceptivenegotiations followed by a
meticulously planned massacre ofthe Drevlian tribe, is
recounted in the Russian PrimaryChronicle.
That is, an 11th centurymanuscript.
That can be summed up with itsopening sentence these are the

(08:20):
narratives of bygone yearsregarding the origin of the land
of Rus, the first princes ofKiev and from what sourced the
land of Rus at its beginning.
It is considered a fundamentalsource work for the early
history of the East Slavs.

Speaker 3 (08:35):
Queen Olga's legacy doesn't stop there, though.
Living another 25 years, sheresided in the capital of Kiev
with her son.
She was the persuasive voicethat encouraged him not to
abandon the Ukrainian lands forbetter prospects, which he felt
were south along the DunabesBank, which, if anyone has done
any research into why Russiadecided they wanted to take

(08:55):
Ukraine recently and turn itinto a principality, you'll know
that that land is exceedinglyrich in resources.
In 2020, they made up 15% ofthe grain exports of the world.
Wow, that's pretty impressive,right, and that's just the grain
.
Yeah, it's not a very bigcountry.
It's pretty impressive, right,and that's just the grain.

Speaker 2 (09:11):
Yeah, it's not a very big country.

Speaker 3 (09:13):
It's not, but they are also one of the leading
sources for what was it metalproducts that are exported?

Speaker 2 (09:23):
Oh really.

Speaker 3 (09:24):
Yeah, they've got a lot of natural resources.
It's just crazy.

Speaker 2 (09:30):
Another significant episode in Olga's life was her
conversion to Christianity.
In 957, she traveled toConstantinople, the seat of the
Byzantine Empire, where she wasbaptized and received into the
Christian faith.
This decision not only hadpersonal implications, but also
had far-reaching consequencesfor the Kievan Rus.

Speaker 3 (09:47):
Olga's conversion laid the groundwork for the
Christianization of the Ruspeople, a process that would
continue under her son andgrandson, Volodymyr.
The Great Volodymyr would go onto become a saint as well for
completing the Christianizationof his people, finishing the
work his grandmother started.

Speaker 2 (10:04):
Her embrace of Christianity positioned Kiev as
a key player in the Byzantinecultural sphere and facilitated
diplomatic ties withConstantinople.
Queen Olga's legacy enduresthrough the annals of history,
revered as a saint in theEastern Orthodox and the Greek
Catholic Church for her pietyand contributions to the
Christianization of the Rus.
Her reign marked a pivotalmoment in the history of Eastern

(10:27):
Europe, laying the foundationsfor the rise of Kiev as a center
of cultural, religious andpolitical significance.

Speaker 3 (10:34):
To sum things up, Queen Olga of Kiev emerges to us
now as a multifaceted figurewhose life embodies the
complexities of medievalrulership, From her astute
political maneuvers to hertransformative conversion to
Christianity.
Olga's legacy resonates as atestament to the enduring power
of individual agency and shapingthe course of history.
Today, Kiev celebrates her andSt Michael the Archangel as

(10:57):
their patron saints andintercessors for those that need
comfort, which they areunfortunately in great need of
these days.

Speaker 2 (11:05):
Well, folks, that wraps up this episode of
Smartica's Tales History.
We hope you learned somethingnew from this intriguing tidbit
from the annals of history.
If you have any historicalquestions or topics that you
would like us to explore infuture episodes, don't hesitate
to reach out.
Thank you for joining us and ifyou enjoyed this episode,
please subscribe and leave us areview.

(11:26):
We'll be back with more storiesfrom the past.
Until then, keep exploring.

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