945-962 Grand Princess of Kiev (regent).
Olga was the first female ruler of Kievan Rus, also one of the first who adopted Christianity and the first Russian Orthodox saint.
Background
Lived: ?-969.
Olga was the wife of Igor I, Rurik’s son who had come to rule Kievan Rus after Oleg had died in 912. When Igor I was assassinated by the Slavic tribe of the Drevlyans in 945, their son Svyatoslav was still too young to rule and Olga was made regent.
Regency
Olga proved to be a wise but brutal and ruthless ruler ruler. She first punished her husband’s killers, the Drevlyans, by burying their emissaries alive, boiling them alive, and chopping them into pieces.
He initiated the construction of the first stone building in Kievan Rus, sent diplomatic envoys to the Byzantine and Holy Roman Empires, and converted to Christianity.
Svyatoslav I
When her son Svyatoslav I came of age and was away on long military campaigns, Olga managed the defense of Kiev.
Olga
945-962 Grand Princess of Kiev (regent).
Olga was the first female ruler of Kievan Rus, also one of the first who adopted Christianity and the first Russian Orthodox saint.
Background
Lived: ?-969.
Olga was the wife of Igor I, Rurik’s son who had come to rule Kievan Rus after Oleg had died in 912. When Igor I was assassinated by the Slavic tribe of the Drevlyans in 945, their son Svyatoslav was still too young to rule and Olga was made regent.
Regency
Olga proved to be a wise but brutal and ruthless ruler ruler. She first punished her husband’s killers, the Drevlyans, by burying their emissaries alive, boiling them alive, and chopping them into pieces.
He initiated the construction of the first stone building in Kievan Rus, sent diplomatic envoys to the Byzantine and Holy Roman Empires, and converted to Christianity.
Svyatoslav I
When her son Svyatoslav I came of age and was away on long military campaigns, Olga managed the defense of Kiev.
Svyatoslav I