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Welcome to Noble Blood, a production

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of I Heart Radio and Grimm and Mild

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from Aaron Miinki. Listener discretion

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is advised. In

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the year nine hundred and fifty

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seven, Olga of Kiev

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traveled to Constantinople to

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meet with the Byzantine Emperor. Olga

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was the regent leader of Kievan Russ,

0:26

a federation of East Slavic

0:28

tribes. Kievan Rus

0:31

spread from the White Sea in the north

0:33

all the way down to the Black Sea in the south,

0:36

and its people would eventually go on to

0:38

form Belarus, Russia and

0:41

Ukraine. Olga

0:43

had been married to the Grand Prince of Kiev,

0:45

Igor, and the two had a young son,

0:48

Sviatoslav. But Igor

0:50

had been murdered while on tour to

0:52

collect tributes from his tribes,

0:56

and Sviatoslav was just in his early

0:58

teens and nine hundred and fifty Oven and

1:01

so until he came of age. Officially

1:03

it was Olga who acted as regent

1:06

as she was on this diplomatic mission

1:08

to Constantinople. Olga

1:11

and the people of Kievan Ruce were Pagans,

1:14

but Constantine the Seventh, the Byzantine

1:17

Emperor, was a Christian. He

1:19

was also smitten with the attractive,

1:22

sophisticated, self assured

1:24

widow Olga, and he made

1:27

his feelings clear when he sidled

1:29

up next to her and said, a

1:31

fine woman like you would make a marvelous

1:34

empress. But Olga

1:36

was already an autonomous ruler, and

1:38

after the death of her husband Igor, she

1:41

had no interest in being another man's

1:43

wife. But she couldn't outright

1:46

reject him, and so,

1:48

according to a historical text known

1:50

as the Primary Chronicle, Olga

1:53

did something clever, something that

1:55

many women today are familiar with.

1:58

She tricked Constantine in

2:01

order to spare his feelings and prevent

2:03

the possibility of him becoming

2:05

violent. Oh,

2:08

Olga said, flirtatiously, Well,

2:10

the Byzantine Empire is so wonderfully

2:13

Christian, while back in Kievan russ

2:15

we're all terrible pagans. Before

2:18

I would even think of becoming empress,

2:21

I would need to be baptized. Constantine

2:25

was ecstatic. The very

2:27

next day, Olga was baptized,

2:30

and he himself stood as her

2:32

godfather. When the ceremony

2:34

was over, Olga wrapped herself in one

2:37

of the many furs that she had brought with

2:39

her on the trip. Oh, what

2:41

a shame, she said, you being

2:43

my Godfather now and all, and us

2:45

not being able to get married. It would

2:47

just feel so wrong to me, you know, me caring

2:50

so much about your spiritual

2:52

paternity, no hard feelings,

2:56

Like a clever cartoon rabbit. Olga

2:58

had escaped the too of her enemy

3:01

through cunning, and she returned

3:03

to kievan Rus' Christian but

3:05

still single. Now.

3:07

There are a few problems without folksy

3:10

version of the story. For one,

3:12

Constantine was already married at

3:14

the time to a woman named Helena.

3:18

According to Byzantine records for Olga's

3:20

visit, Helena hosted Olga

3:22

in her court a number of times. Olga

3:25

actually took the Christian name Helena when

3:27

she was baptized in the Empress's

3:29

honor. There are also records

3:32

that Olga had actually already become

3:34

a Christian a few years earlier, in

3:36

nine hundred and fifty five, and

3:39

that her trip to Constantinople was more

3:41

of a courtesy visit. The

3:43

facts are that Olga visited

3:46

Constantinople in nine hundred and fifty

3:48

seven, that she was bestowed

3:50

with a bevy of generous gifts,

3:52

and that she converted to Christianity

3:55

and then attempted to spread the good word back

3:57

to her people. Her clever manipular

4:00

ation of Constantine, at least

4:02

to me, sounds apocryphal, the type

4:04

of story you'd get from a trickster,

4:06

Norse god, or Greek nymph, if not

4:09

from bugs Bunny or scooby Doo.

4:12

The primary source, also known as

4:14

the Tale of Bygone Years where

4:16

we get that story, is a history

4:18

of Kievan Ruce from eight hundred and fifty

4:21

to one thousand, one and ten.

4:24

It's an essential document for

4:26

scholars of East Slavs, but

4:28

it had been rewritten by so many

4:31

different regimes, tweaked

4:33

through word of mouth, misinformation, or

4:36

modified to flatter a current ruler

4:39

that now some sections of it read

4:41

almost like folk tales, and

4:44

its most compelling folk hero is

4:46

Olga, the clever, vengeful

4:49

wife of a murdered king. Eventually,

4:52

Olga would become a saint of the Eastern

4:55

Orthodox Church, known as equal

4:57

to the Apostles, for her efforts to bring

4:59

Christian entity to her people. But

5:02

a much more interesting story about

5:04

Olga, in my opinion, is

5:06

the bloody revenge she would enact

5:09

on the people who killed her husband.

5:12

Someone said something sometime about

5:14

turning the other cheek, didn't they?

5:17

Well, remember when Olga murdered

5:19

a boatload of people and burned

5:22

an entire village to the ground. She

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wasn't Christian yet. I'm

5:27

Dani Schwartz and this is

5:29

noble blood. M

5:37

Keevan. Ruth was a loose federation

5:39

of East Slavic tribes across

5:41

what is now the western border of Russia,

5:44

with a capital at the strategic hub

5:47

of Kiev. The grand prince

5:49

would make a yearly pilgrimage to

5:51

collect tributes from his subordinate

5:53

people's. In nine

5:55

hundred and forty five BC, the

5:58

grand prince was Igor the First,

6:01

who ruled alongside his wife,

6:03

the Grand Princess Olga. The

6:06

pair already had a three year old son,

6:08

s Viadislav, so succession

6:10

was secure. For now. All

6:13

Igor had to worry about in nine hundred

6:15

and forty five was collecting his

6:17

tributes. One of the tribes

6:20

he collected from was the Drevillians,

6:23

a name which literally translates

6:25

to among the trees. The

6:28

Drevillians lived in a resource

6:30

rich area dense with as

6:33

you might imagine, trees. They

6:36

were craftsmen and workers,

6:38

and when the terrifying Igor the First

6:41

and his retinue came to town, to demand

6:43

his annual tribute. They gave

6:45

him a respectable amount of wax,

6:48

honey, leather, and fur, and

6:51

then returned to their wooden houses with

6:53

the relief of not having given

6:55

in to the temptation of spitting

6:58

at Egor's feet. They

7:00

had to give him tribute, but they

7:02

didn't have to like it. As

7:04

Igor and his retinue rode away,

7:07

Igor got to thinking, sure,

7:09

the honey, wax, leather, and furs

7:12

that the Drevelands gave were nice, but

7:14

it was a rich region. They

7:16

barely would even feel the pinch of that. And

7:19

they've been so insubordinate all

7:22

but scoffing at him when he rode by.

7:24

It was only a matter of time before they

7:27

enacted a full out rebellion and

7:29

pulled away from Kiev and Ruse, and

7:32

that would be no good. Their tributes

7:34

were an essential part of his yearly income.

7:38

Tributes don't mean anything if the

7:40

citizens don't feel the sacrifice.

7:43

Maybe that's why they were becoming rebellious.

7:46

When you think about it, it's like the dread

7:48

Lands never gave him any tribute at all.

7:51

There was no respect, no deference.

7:53

They were just buying him off with a bit of

7:56

their wealth they didn't even care about. Someone

7:59

needed to lay down the law. Igor

8:02

was an hour outside of is Garston,

8:05

the principal Drevelan city, when

8:07

he pulled his horse to a stop.

8:10

You guys go on ahead, He called to his

8:12

attendants, whose horses were

8:14

slowed with the weight of all of the

8:16

tributes they had already collected. I'm

8:19

going to go back to Isgorston and

8:22

get a real tribute. And

8:25

so Igor rode back and

8:27

met the Prince of the Drevelians, Prince

8:30

Mall, in the town's main assembly.

8:33

Loudly, Igor demanded

8:35

a larger tribute. Prince

8:38

Mall was silent for a moment. They

8:41

had already given their tribute to Kievan

8:43

Russ. If they just agreed

8:45

to Egor's demands, well, where

8:47

would it end, well,

8:50

Igor demanded of the silent

8:52

Prince. A wolf

8:55

chasing a single sheep will

8:57

eventually reach all of the sheep

9:00

unless the wolf is killed, Prince

9:02

Moll said. The Prince

9:04

made a gesture with his hand, and

9:06

Igor was captured. The

9:12

Dreveland went to a hill in

9:14

the woods, where they found two supple

9:17

birch trees not too far away

9:19

from one another. They forced

9:21

the birches to bend down towards

9:24

the ground, half a dozen men pulling

9:27

with all of their strength until

9:29

the tops of the trees grazed

9:31

the dirt. The men secured

9:33

the trees to the ground with rope.

9:37

One of Igor's arms was then

9:39

tied to each tree, and

9:42

then the ropes securing the

9:44

trees to the ground were cut. The

9:47

birch trees snapped back

9:49

up into place and ripped

9:52

Grand Prince Igor in half.

9:55

It was a bloody, violent

9:58

death, but it was also a

10:00

symbolic one. The birch

10:02

trees were bowed. Deference

10:05

can be safe, but if something

10:07

is bowing under enough pressure, well

10:10

look what happens When they decided to

10:12

stand straight up. Twenty

10:20

men came from Koristan in

10:22

a single, long wooden boat to

10:25

inform Grand Princess Olga

10:28

that her husband was dead. Your

10:31

husband was a wolf, they said to her,

10:33

as they rose from their respectful greetings.

10:36

He got what he demanded, and then he

10:38

demanded more. But our

10:40

prince, Prince Mal is a good

10:42

man. You're a woman without

10:45

a husband, and your son is

10:47

still an infant. Marry our

10:49

prince, mall Olga

10:51

thought. For a moment, it was obvious

10:54

why they wanted her to marry Prince Maul,

10:57

to undo the domination of Kievan

10:59

Ruce, to win back drively

11:01

in autonomy. They had

11:03

murdered Grand Prince Igor,

11:06

and so they thought that they had the upper

11:08

hand. Olga would

11:10

let them know soon enough that they

11:12

didn't, but she

11:15

pretended to play along. You're

11:17

right, she said, my husband

11:19

isn't going to return from the dead. Let's

11:22

let bygones be bygones. And

11:24

of course I'll marry Prince Mal. I

11:27

mean not like I would hold a grudge

11:29

against the guy who just killed

11:32

my husband. But first

11:34

I need you to return to my court as

11:36

honored guests, with all of the

11:38

respect you deserve. Go back

11:40

to your boat tonight and tomorrow

11:43

morning i'll send a request

11:45

for your presence. You must

11:47

insist that you won't come to the

11:49

castle by foot nor by horse.

11:52

That you demand that my people carry

11:54

you in your boat like they would carry

11:57

you in a palanquin. It's a great

11:59

sign of her spect here. The

12:01

Drevelan men agreed, and

12:04

they went back to their boat for the night.

12:10

Meanwhile, Olga had a massive

12:13

ditch dug inside the castle

12:15

walls as deep as her

12:17

servants and slaves could make it. The

12:20

next morning, the drevelands did

12:23

as Olga instructed. They

12:25

demanded that they be carried to her

12:27

court in their boat. The

12:30

entire way there they puffed

12:32

with pride, sitting on the rowing

12:34

benches in the open air, wearing

12:36

their finest robes, waving merrily

12:39

to the miserable passers by who had

12:41

just lost their grand prince. When

12:44

the servants carrying the boat reached

12:46

the trench, they threw the

12:49

boat and all of the men inside

12:51

it down into the hole and

12:53

began to fill it with dirt, while

12:55

the men shouted. Trapped beneath

12:58

the boat, Do you

13:00

find the honor to your taste?

13:02

Olga asked, looking down at

13:04

them. All twenty men

13:07

were buried alive. Olga

13:10

sent her own messenger to Escoraston,

13:12

saying that she agreed to marry Prince

13:15

Maul, but that she wanted more

13:17

distinguished men to come. Ask her,

13:20

you just sent common men. Don't

13:22

I deserve high ranking envoys to

13:24

escort me to my new husband. The

13:26

people of kievan Rus will hardly agree

13:29

to let me go if you don't at least

13:31

do me that honor. She

13:33

didn't mention that those twenty men

13:35

were now dead in a trench. But

13:41

soon enough a dozen distinguished

13:43

men arrived in Kiev, all governors

13:46

wearing their best finery. Before

13:48

you hold court with me, Olga said,

13:51

after she greeted them, you have to

13:53

take a bath right this way, gentlemen,

13:55

and not to worry, the bath house is heated.

13:58

The gentleman agree, you believe, filed

14:00

into the wooden bathhouse. When

14:03

they were all inside, Olga gave

14:05

the order for the door to be locked.

14:08

The bathhouse was then set on fire.

14:11

Now it was time for Olga to go on the

14:14

offensive. Rather

14:16

than wait for yet another group of emissaries

14:18

to arrive from Miss Corrison, Olga

14:21

brought her army and her three year

14:23

old son to the city. Little

14:25

Swiadislav was technically the grand

14:28

Prince now, and so he was equipped

14:30

with a tiny toddler sized

14:32

bow and arrow, which Olga bade

14:35

him to pull and release. The

14:37

toddler did, but the arrow just

14:39

teetered and then fell from his bow. But

14:43

technically it was the first shot

14:45

of the siege. The grand Prince

14:47

had signaled them, and so the Kievan

14:50

Russ army began to attack. The

14:53

siege lasted all summer with

14:55

very little progress. The

14:57

city was well defended, but even

14:59

so the Kievan Ruth's army could cut them

15:01

off from all trade. So

15:04

by the end of three months, the

15:06

people inside the city were starving

15:08

and poor, and the soldiers outside

15:10

the city had grown impatient

15:13

from the endless battle with no victory,

15:16

and so Olga, reading the attitude

15:19

of her men, signaled to the Drevelians

15:21

that she had a message for them.

15:24

I have forgiven you the death of my

15:26

husband. Let us not continue

15:28

this endless siege. You're

15:31

hungry and we're tired, so

15:33

it's time to move on. I

15:36

just ask that you prepare great

15:38

quantities of meat on the

15:40

hill where you killed my husband, so

15:42

that I can properly celebrate his life

15:45

and weep over his grave. The

15:48

Drevelans readily agreed

15:51

and set out all of their best meat for Olga

15:53

and the Kievan Ruth's army. While

15:55

they waited for them to arrive, the Drevelans

15:58

began to drink. Olga

16:01

and her army waited. When

16:03

the Drevelians were drunk and passed

16:06

out on the hill, she and

16:08

her men ambushed and

16:10

massacred their army.

16:17

The siege was over, and Olga

16:19

had won but she wasn't done yet.

16:22

Okay, she said, all of this

16:24

began because you wouldn't pay tribute.

16:27

If you give me a tribute, I'll go back

16:29

to Kiev tomorrow and the siege

16:31

will be over for good scouts

16:34

on her. If the Peanuts

16:36

cartoon had existed in nine hundred

16:38

forty five, I imagine she

16:40

would have looked a little like Lucy holding

16:43

of football. Yes,

16:45

the Drevelands cried, anything, please,

16:48

we have honey and furs. What

16:50

do you want for your tribute? Olga

16:53

smiled a kind, wide

16:56

smile that didn't quite

16:58

reach her eyes. Your

17:00

people are impoverished by

17:02

the siege, she said, I

17:05

know that, and so I'm going to take mercy

17:07

on you. All I want

17:09

is three pigeons and three sparrows

17:12

from each house no more. The

17:15

Drevelans rejoiced. Every

17:18

household gathered the requisite birds

17:21

and gave them to Olga, who, true

17:23

to her word, took their offering and

17:25

headed out of town. But

17:27

that night she embarked on

17:29

her final revenge. She

17:32

had her army attached a tiny

17:34

piece of sulfur to each bird's

17:37

leg, bound by a long

17:39

piece of cloth. When

17:41

she gave the signal, the sulfur

17:44

dangling from each bird was the lit

17:46

on fire, and then the birds

17:49

were a leased into the sky. Pigeons

17:52

and sparrows, you might know, are

17:54

extremely good at being able to

17:57

find their way home. The

17:59

birds all flew back to their nests

18:02

in the eaves of roofs, nestled

18:04

near houses, and all of

18:06

escorsed and caught fire. Within

18:10

hours, the entire city,

18:12

built mainly of wood, had burnt

18:14

to the ground and become ashes.

18:17

As people fled to the burning city,

18:20

Olga gave orders to capture them.

18:23

They were either killed outright or

18:25

gifted as slaves to her loyal kievan

18:27

Ruth soldiers. Prince

18:30

Mal was killed, and from

18:32

nine dty six on there

18:34

was never another problem with the dreve

18:36

Llans being able to pay their tribute into

18:39

Olga's treasury.

18:45

If some of that story sounds apocryphal

18:47

to you, you're probably right. Homing

18:50

birds are a staple in Scandinavian

18:53

folklore, and Olga's

18:55

clever tricks, one after another, sound

18:58

more like myth than reality.

19:00

She even nailed the rule of threes. One

19:04

detail that sounds made up. That the

19:06

evil prince is named Prince Mal

19:09

Latin for bad, isn't

19:11

it actually is true that was his name.

19:15

Here's what else We know for sure. That

19:17

Igor attempted to extort additional

19:19

revenue from the Dravelans, and

19:22

that when he returned, they murdered him

19:24

and his widow, Olga led a successful

19:27

revenge campaign against them.

19:30

Later, Olga would convert to Christianity,

19:33

the first Kievan Ruce royal to do

19:35

so, and for her efforts

19:38

to bring Christianity to the East Slavs,

19:41

she would be made a saint in fifteen

19:43

forty seven by the Russian Orthodox

19:45

Church and then the Roman Catholic

19:48

Church. Olga is the saint

19:50

of widows and converts. Her

19:53

grandson, Vladimir, would actually succeed

19:56

in bringing Christianity to Kievan Rus

19:58

and he was made a saint too. In

20:01

fact, the only church in the United States

20:03

named after St. Vladimir and Olga is

20:06

in Chicago, where I happened to be recording

20:08

this episode. Any specifics

20:11

of the raid against the Drevelans and their deaths,

20:13

clever or otherwise, are lost

20:16

in that mist of unknowable history

20:18

that's been made soft and around by

20:20

centuries of retelling. I

20:23

imagine if in the end the Drevelans

20:25

had come out on top, and it was their sources

20:28

we were reading. The story

20:30

would be more about a brutal, extortionist

20:33

king and a brave people

20:35

who stood up to him and then nobly

20:37

extended their arms out to his widow,

20:40

only for her to enact a series

20:42

of saw style murders

20:44

on those good, generous common

20:47

people in her wicked fury.

20:50

I can tell you that the Drevelans probably

20:52

wouldn't have made her a saint. That's

21:01

the story of Olga of Kiev. But

21:03

keep listening after a brief sponsor break

21:05

to hear a bit more about her politics. While

21:07

she was regent, like

21:19

any good ruler, Olga of Kiev

21:21

understood that to truly avenge her

21:23

husband's death, it wasn't enough

21:25

just to punish the people responsible.

21:29

She also had to undo the circumstances

21:31

that made his death possible in the

21:34

first place. Olga

21:36

established what can be considered the first

21:38

internal revenue service in Russia.

21:42

She abolished the annual trip

21:44

by the Kievan Prince to collect

21:46

his tributes from various tribes.

21:49

Instead, she built a system

21:51

in which the land was divided into

21:53

districts, and each district

21:56

had their taxes collected by an

21:58

authorized board or or agent.

22:01

Olga would then go from district

22:03

to district personally to get

22:06

the payments from that agent. She

22:09

traveled by sleigh covered

22:11

in as many furs as possible.

22:14

You have to make an impression during

22:16

these sorts of things, just so everyone

22:19

knows you mean business. Although

22:22

with Olga, I can't imagine anyone

22:24

ever forgot. One

22:28

final note for anyone who

22:30

hears the story of Olga of Kiev

22:32

and is tempted to paint her as a

22:35

quote badass warrior queen

22:38

with multiple exclamation points, remember

22:41

that she didn't really participate in any

22:43

of the fighting. She was

22:45

a general, if anything else, a leader

22:47

and orchestrator. Her own

22:49

mythology is to emphasize

22:52

her cleverness. There's

22:54

no need to paint all women in history

22:56

who have some modicum of power with

22:59

the exact same brush.

23:07

Noble Blood is a production of I Heart Radio

23:09

and Grimm and Mild from Aaron Mankey.

23:11

The show is written and hosted by Dana Schwartz

23:14

and produced by Aaron Mankey, Matt Frederick,

23:17

Alex Williams, and Trevor Young.

23:19

Noble Blood is on social media at Noble

23:22

Blood Tales, and you can learn more about

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the show over at Noble blood Tales dot com.

23:26

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