It is believed that a woman is less endowed with the ability to manage the state, to solve domestic and foreign policy problems than a man. However, in Russian history there are many examples that refute this traditional opinion. And one of them is the reign of Olga.
Where is she from, Princess Olga, what kind? Was she of noble birth or was she born into a simple family? The chronicles do not give an exact answer to this question. According to some sources, Prince Igor accidentally met Olga while hunting in his possessions, and fell in love with a humble girl so much that he made her a princess.
There is no record of her youth either. Her story begins after the death of her husband, when she, with the support of the governor, took the princely throne before her son Svyatoslav came of age.
The first thing Olga did was to restore order in the lands subject to her with a firm hand. Traditions have preserved information about this as revenge on the Drevlyans. Their head Mal, allegedly desiring to marry Olga in order to annex Kyiv to his possessions, sent messengers to Olga. The princess ordered them to be buried in the ground, and she herself asked to tell Mal that she did not mind getting married, but she needed more noble Drevlyans to come to Kyiv, otherwise the inhabitants of Kyiv would not give consent to the marriage. Mal fulfilled the condition. The second batch of messengers was expected to die in a burning hut, set on fire by order of Olga.
Further, the stern princess went to the Drevlyans and laid siege to their city of Korosten. Waiting until the besieged began to beg for mercy, she said that she would leave the city if its inhabitants sent several pigeons from each courtyard to her. The Drevlyans, who believed her, hurried to fulfill the demand, but did it to themselves on the mountain: Olga tied smoldering coals to the paws of the birds, and, returning home, they set fire to the city.
This was the end of Olga's revenge. Through the prism of centuries, it is no longer clear whether all her actions were related to the Drevlyans and whether it was revenge for the death of her husband, or whether she pacified all those who tried to rebel in a similar way, but only after some time peace and tranquility were established in the state.
Governance reforms
Olga established and streamlined the collection of tribute. She divided her lands into administrative units, each of which was ruled by a tiun - a tribute collector and a princely protege. He solved all issues, was the representative of the supreme power.
In 946, Olga made a personal inspection of the territories of the principality, traveling around Northern Russia. Until the time of Nestor in Pskov, they took care of the sleigh on which the princess made her journey. The princess introduced new system- a system of churchyards, that is, places where they traded and where taxes were collected. It was on the graveyards that later they began to build temples. Many of these places have turned into cities.
The princess laid the foundation for stone construction: the first stone buildings in Kyiv were her palace and country tower.
Having traveled around Northern Russia, Olga returned to Kyiv. She had to educate and instruct her heir Svyatoslav.
Adoption of Christianity
Princess Olga was a far-sighted politician. In her travels, she got acquainted with the life of other states and tried to adopt what seemed to her to be conducive to the development of Russia. So, in 955, she went to Constantinople to learn more about the Christian religion. Olga understood that Christianity was precisely the faith that could play a big role in the further rallying of Kievan Rus, and help strengthen princely power.
The Greeks received the Russian princess with honor. The idea that Christianity could spread in Russia, and Byzantium would gain unlimited influence on the young state, appealed to them. The patriarch himself talked with Olga, spoke about the life and death of Christ, about his teachings, performed the rite of baptism.
The emperor Konstantin Porphyrogenitus became the godfather of the Russian princess, who arranged a rich feast in her honor, gave her a lot of golden chervonets. Legend has it that he was struck by Olga's beauty and intelligence, even proposed marriage to her. However, the princess, giving away expensive furs, politely declined the offer. It is not known how true the legend is: after all, Olga by the time of her trip to Constantinople was already far from young. However, its very appearance speaks of how honored and respected the princess Rusichi.
Olga also tried to persuade Svyatoslav to adopt a new religion, but he did not heed her advice. However, the fact that Olga became a Christian still played a role: in the future, when Prince Vladimir decides to baptize Russia, he will remember the example of his grandmother Olga.
Olga died in 969, having retired from business 3 years before her death and handing over the reins of government to her son Svyatoslav.
Board results
It would seem that Olga's reign began with rather cruel actions on her part. However, the people did not have hatred for her, on the contrary, she was long remembered as Olga the Wise. The condition in which she inherited the principality required the adoption of immediate and decisive measures. Having established peace in her principality, Olga took up its improvement. Under her there were no bloody wars, trade flourished, cities grew. The people bitterly mourned the strict but fair ruler, under whom Russia lived a peaceful life for 20 years.
Name: Princess Olga (Elena)
Date of Birth: 920
Age: 49 years old
Activity: princess of Kyiv
Family status: widow
Princess Olga: biography
Princess Olga - the wife of the Grand Russian Prince, mother, ruled Russia from 945 to 960. At birth, the girl was given the name Helga, her husband named her own name, but the female version, and at baptism she began to be called Elena. Olga is known for being the first of the rulers of the Old Russian state to voluntarily accept Christianity.
Dozens of films and series have been shot about Princess Olga. Her portraits are in Russian art galleries, according to ancient chronicles and relics found, scientists have tried to recreate a photograph of a woman. In his native Pskov there is a bridge, an embankment and a chapel named after Olga and two of her monuments.
Childhood and youth
The exact date of Olga's birth has not been preserved, but the Book of Powers of the 17th century says that the princess died at the age of eighty, which means that she was born at the end of the 9th century. According to the "Arkhangelsk chronicler", the girl got married when she was ten years old. Historians are still arguing about the year of birth of the princess - from 893 to 928. The 920th is recognized as the official version, but this is the approximate year of birth.
Ancient chronicle The Tale of Bygone Years, describing the biography of Princess Olga, indicates that she was born in the village of Vybuty, Pskov. The names of the parents are not known, because. they were peasants, not persons of noble blood.
The story of the end of the 15th century says that Olga was the daughter who ruled Russia until Igor, the son of Rurik, grew up. He, according to legend, married Igor and Olga. But this version of the origin of the princess has not been confirmed.
Governing body
At the moment when the Drevlyans killed Olga's husband, Igor, their son Svyatoslav was only three years old. The woman was forced to take power into her own hands until her son grew up. The first thing the princess did was to take revenge on the Drevlyans.
Immediately after the murder of Igor, they sent matchmakers to Olga, who persuaded her to marry their prince, Mal. So the Drevlyans wanted to unite the lands and become the largest and most powerful state of that time.
Olga buried the first matchmakers alive along with the boat, making sure that they understood that their death worse than death Igor. The princess sent a message to Malu that she deserved the best matchmakers from the strongest men in the country. The prince agreed, and the woman closed these matchmakers in a bathhouse and burned them alive while they were washing to meet her.
Later, the princess came with a small retinue to the Drevlyans, in order, according to tradition, to celebrate a feast at the grave of her husband. During the feast, Olga drugged the Drevlyans and ordered the soldiers to chop them down. The annals indicate that the Drevlyans then lost five thousand fighters.
In 946, Princess Olga went into open battle on the land of the Drevlyans. She captured their capital and after a long siege, using cunning (with the help of birds, to the paws of which incendiary mixtures were tied), burned the entire city. Part of the Drevlyans died in battle, the rest submitted and agreed to pay tribute to Russia.
Since the grown-up son of Olga spent most of his time on military campaigns, power over the country was in the hands of the princess. She introduced many reforms, including the creation of trade and exchange centers that made it easier to collect taxes.
Thanks to the princess, stone construction was born in Russia. After looking at how easily the wooden fortresses of the Drevlyans burn, she decided to build her houses from stone. The first stone buildings in the country were the city palace and Vacation home rulers.
Olga set the exact amount of taxes from each principality, the date of their payment and frequency. They were then called "polyudya". All lands subject to Kyiv were obliged to pay it, and a princely administrator, tiun, was appointed in each administrative unit of the state.
In 955, the princess decided to convert to Christianity and was baptized. According to some sources, she was baptized in Constantinople, where Emperor Constantine VII personally baptized her. At the time of baptism, the woman took the name Elena, but in history she is still better known as Princess Olga.
She returned to Kyiv with icons and church books. First of all, the mother wanted to baptize her only son Svyatoslav, but he only mocked those who accepted Christianity, but did not forbid anyone.
During her reign, Olga built dozens of churches, including a monastery in her native Pskov. The princess personally went to the north of the country to baptize everyone. There she destroyed everything. pagan symbols and put Christian.
The combatants reacted with apprehension and hostility to the new religion. They emphasized their pagan faith in every possible way, tried to convince Prince Svyatoslav that Christianity would weaken the state and should be banned, but he did not want to argue with his mother.
Olga was never able to make Christianity the main religion. The warriors won, and the princess had to stop her campaigns, closing herself in Kyiv. She raised the sons of Svyatoslav in the Christian faith, but did not dare to baptize, fearing the wrath of her son and the possible murder of her grandchildren. She secretly kept a priest with her, so as not to give rise to new persecutions of people of the Christian faith.
There is no exact date in history when the princess handed over the reins of government to her son Svyatoslav. He was often on military campaigns, therefore, despite the official title, Olga ruled the country. Later, the princess gave her son power in the north of the country. And, presumably, by 960 he became the ruling prince of all Russia.
Olga's influence will be felt during the reign of her grandchildren and. Both of them were raised by their grandmother, from infancy they got used to the Christian faith and continued the formation of Russia on the path of Christianity.
Personal life
According to The Tale of Bygone Years Prophetic Oleg married Olga and Igor when they were still children. The story also says that the wedding took place in 903, but, according to other sources, Olga was not even born then, so there is no exact wedding date.
There is a legend that the couple met at the crossing near Pskov, when the girl was a boat carrier (she changed into men's clothes - this was a job only for men). Igor noticed a young beauty and immediately began to pester, to which he was rebuffed. When it was time to get married, he remembered that wayward girl and ordered to find her.
If you believe the chronicles describing the events of those times, then Prince Igor died in 945 at the hands of the Drevlyans. Olga came to power while her son was growing up. She did not marry again, and there is no mention of ties with other men in the annals.
Death
Olga died of illness and old age, and was not killed, like many rulers of that time. The chronicles say that the princess died in 969. In 968, the Pechenegs for the first time raided Russian lands, and Svyatoslav went to war. Princess Olga with her grandchildren locked herself in Kyiv. When his son returned from the war, he lifted the siege and wanted to leave the city immediately.
His mother stopped him, warning him that she was very ill and felt her own death approaching. She was right, 3 days after these words, Princess Olga died. She was buried according to Christian customs, in the ground.
In 1007, the grandson of the princess - Vladimir I Svyatoslavich - transferred the relics of all the saints, including the remains of Olga, to the Church of the Holy Mother of God founded by him in Kyiv. The official canonization of the princess took place in the middle of the 13th century, although miracles were attributed to her relics long before that, they were revered as a saint and called equal to the apostles.
Memory
- Olginskaya street in Kyiv
- St. Olginsky Cathedral in Kyiv
Movie
- 1981 - ballet "Olga"
- 1983 - the film "The Legend of Princess Olga"
- 1994 - cartoon "Pages Russian history. Land of the Ancestors"
- 2005 – film “The Saga of the Ancient Bulgars. The Tale of Olga the Holy»
- 2005 – film “The Saga of the Ancient Bulgars. Ladder of Vladimir the Red Sun»
- 2006 - "Prince Vladimir"
Literature
- 2000 - “I know God!” Alekseev S. T.
- 2002 - "Olga, Queen of the Rus".
- 2009 - "Princess Olga". Alexey Karpov
- 2015 - "Olga, the forest princess." Elizabeth Dvoretskaya
- 2016 - "Unified in power". Oleg Panus
Princess Olga was the very first ruler who converted to Christianity. Moreover, this happened even before the baptism of Russia. She ruled the state from hopelessness, since her husband, Prince Igor, was killed, and his heir, their son Svyatoslav, was still too small to rule. She ruled from 945 to 962.
After the murder of Prince Oleg, the Drevlyansky Prince Mal really wanted to take his place. His plans were to marry Princess Olga and capture Kievan Rus. He sent her a lot of gifts and jewelry through his ambassadors. Olga was very smart and cunning. The first ambassadors of Mala, who sailed on a boat, she ordered to be carried along with the boat over the abyss, the ambassadors were thrown into the abyss and they were buried alive.
Olga burned the second batch of ambassadors in the bathhouse. Then she herself went to the prince of the Drevlyans, allegedly to get married, on that day more than 5,000 Drevlyans were drunk and killed.
The reign of Princess Olga.
Activities of Princess Olga.
Olga was inspired by the thought that she needed to take revenge on the Drevlyans for the death of her husband. She was going on a military campaign. It was 946. The siege of the Drevlyans continued almost all summer. In this case, Olga showed the strength of mighty Russia. After the siege, she sent a message that they were retreating, but asking the inhabitants to give them a dove and three sparrows from each Drevlyan. Then the birds were tied with lit tinder and released. So the city of Iskorosten was completely burned.
Domestic policy and reforms of Princess Olga.
Olga systematized the collection of taxes from the population. She organized special places for collecting tribute, which were called churchyards. The princess was actively engaged in urban planning and beautification of the territory. All the lands that were in the power of the princess were divided by her into administrative units. Each unit was assigned its manager - tiun.
The foreign policy of Princess Olga.
Since Olga was still a woman, she rarely went on hikes. She developed the trade with her mind and quick wits. Olga was a supporter of a peaceful solution to the conflicts that arose. Scandinavians and Germans went to work as hired workers in the Russian troops.
) from 945, after the death Prince Igor, until 962.
She adopted Christianity even before the baptism of Russia - under the name Elena, since Olga is a Scandinavian name, not a Christian one. According to The Tale of Bygone Years, she was from Pskov, from a poor family, and Oleg brought her to Igor.
After Igor's death, her determination swayed her husband's squad in her favor - thanks to this, she became the ruler, which was not typical for Russia of those times. For the death of her husband Drevlyans(who killed him) Olga took revenge four times:
- When 20 matchmakers of the Drevlyansky prince Mala arrived to Olga on a boat to woo, she buried them alive along with the boat.
- After that, she asked to send a new embassy of the Drevlyans from best husbands(they say the first twenty were not God knows what). She burned the new ambassadors alive in the bathhouse, where they bathed before meeting the princess.
- Olga arrived in the lands of the Drevlyans with the official version of celebrating a feast for her dead husband at his grave. The Drevlyans fell for it again - Olga drugged them and cut them clean (the chronicles speak of 5 thousand dead).
- The campaign of 946 on the lands of the Drevlyans. Princess Olga surrounded the capital Korosten (Iskorosten) and, after a long unsuccessful siege, burned the city with the help of birds (tying a set fire tow with sulfur to their paws). She left only ordinary peasants alive.
Having avenged the death of her husband, Olga returned to Kyiv and ruled there until Svyatoslav came of age, and in fact even after that, because Svyatoslav was constantly on campaigns and did little to manage the principality.
The main achievements of Olga in the reign of Rus:
- Strengthened the centralization of power in Russia, going to Novgorod and Pskov in 947, and assigning tribute (lessons) there.
- Formed a system of trade and exchange centers (the so-called " churchyards”), which later turned into administrative-territorial units. Initially, these were small settlements with a temple and a market, as well as an inn.
- She conquered the Drevlyane lands and Volyn, opening trade routes to the west, as well as control over them.
- She was the first to start building houses in Kyiv from stone, not wood.
- Back in 945, she developed a new taxation system ( polyudya) with different terms, frequency and size of payments - taxes, dues, charters.
- She divided the lands subject to Kyiv into administrative units with princely administrators ( chiunami) in charge of.
- She was baptized in 955 in Constantinople, then promoted Christian ideas among the Kievan nobility.
An interesting fact from the "Tale ...": the Byzantine emperor Constantine VII wanted to take Olga as his wife, but she replied that it was useless for a pagan to marry a Christian. Then the patriarch and Constantine baptized her, and the latter repeated his request. Olga told him that he was now her godfather and tricked him that way. The emperor laughed, gave Olga gifts and let her go home.
Olga, the wife of Prince Igor, the mother of Svyatoslav and the grandmother of the baptist of Russia Vladimir, entered our history as a holy princess, the first to bring the light of Christianity to our land. However, before becoming a Christian, Olga was a pagan, cruel and vengeful. This is how she entered the annals of The Tale of Bygone Years. What did Olga do?
Igor's campaign
You should start with the last campaign of her husband, Prince Igor. The entry for 945 says that the squad began to complain to Igor that the “youths of Sveneld”, that is, the people who make up the inner circle of his governor Sveneld, all “dressed themselves with weapons and clothes”, while Igor’s warriors themselves “ naked." It is unlikely that the prince's warriors were so "naked" that it was worth talking about it seriously, but in those days they tried not to argue with the squad, since it depended on it whether the prince would sit on the throne of Kiev. Therefore, Igor went to the Drevlyans - this is a tribe that lived on the territory of the Ukrainian Polissya - and carried out a formal pogrom there, adding more new payments to the previous tribute in order to cover up the blatant nakedness of his combatants. Having collected this tribute, he was about to go home, but on the way, apparently, he decided that the cunning Drevlyans had hidden something somewhere else. Having sent the main part of his people home, he himself returned with a small retinue to the Drevlyan capital Iskorosten, "desiring more wealth." It was a mistake. The Drevlyans, led by their prince Mal, rebuffed him, killed all the soldiers, and subjected Igor himself to terrible execution: they tore it apart, tying it by its feet to the tops of two bent trees.
Olga's first revenge
Having dealt with Igor in this way, the Drevlyansky prince sent a delegation to Kyiv, to a helpless widow, as it seemed to him. Mal offered Olga his hand and heart, as well as protection and patronage. Olga received the ambassadors affectionately, uttered courtesies in the spirit that, they say, you can’t return Igor, and why not marry such a wonderful prince as Mal. And so that the wedding arrangement was even more magnificent, she promised the ambassadors to show them great honor, promising that tomorrow they would be brought with honor to the prince's court right in the boat, after which the prince's will would be solemnly announced to them. While the ambassadors were sleeping at the pier, Olga ordered to dig a deep hole in the yard. In the morning, the boat with the Drevlyans was picked up by Olga's servants and solemnly carried through Kyiv to the very prince's court. Here they, together with the boat, were thrown to the bottom of the pit. The chronicler reports that Olga, approaching the edge of the pit and bending over it, asked: “Well, what is your honor?”, To which the Drevlyans answered: “More bitter than Igor's death.” At a sign from Olga, the wedding embassy was covered with earth alive.
Olga's second revenge
After that, the princess sent an ambassador to Mal with a request to send her the most the best people so that the people of Kiev can see what honor they give her. Otherwise, after all, they may resist, not let the princess go to Iskorosten. Mal, not suspecting a trick, immediately equipped a large embassy. When the matchmakers arrived in Kyiv, Olga, as befits a hospitable hostess, ordered them to prepare a bathhouse so that the guests could wash themselves on the way. And as soon as the Drevlyans began to wash, the doors of the bath were propped up from the outside, and the bath itself was set on fire from four sides.
Olga's third revenge
Having dealt with the matchmakers, the princess sent to tell Mal that she was going to him, but before the wedding she would like to perform a feast on the grave of her husband. Mal began to prepare for the wedding, ordering mead to be boiled for the feast. Having come to Iskorosten with a small retinue, Olga, accompanied by Mal and the most distinguished Drevlyans, came to Igor's grave. The feast on the mound was almost overshadowed by the questions of Mal and his entourage: where, in fact, are the matchmakers whom he sent to Kyiv? Why are they not in the princess? Olga replied that the matchmakers were following and would soon appear. Satisfied with this explanation, Mal and his men began to drink intoxicating drinks. As soon as they got drunk, the princess gave a sign to her warriors, and they laid down all the Drevlyans in their place.
Hike to Iskorosten
After that, Olga immediately returned to Kyiv, gathered a squad and went on a campaign to the Derevskaya land. In an open battle, the Drevlyans were defeated, they fled and hid behind the walls of Iskorosten. The siege lasted all summer. Finally, Olga sent an ambassador to Iskorotten, who proposed lifting the siege for a very long time. mild conditions: Olga will confine herself to expressions of humility and tribute: three doves and three sparrows from each yard. Of course, the requested tribute was immediately sent. Then Olga ordered to tie a lit tinder to each bird and let it go. The birds flew, of course, to their nests, and a fire started in the city. Thus fell Iskorosten, the capital of the Drevlyan prince Mala. On this, Olga was fed up with revenge. Further, according to the chronicle, she no longer behaved like an angry woman, but like a wise statesman. She went through vast lands, subject to Kyiv princes, establishing "lessons and graveyards" - that is, the amount of tribute and the place of its collection. Now no one could, like the foolish Igor, go for tribute to the same place several times, arbitrarily setting its size. Princely tribute from robber booty began to turn into normal taxation.
