In 945, twenty men arrived in Kyiv, the capital and principal political center of Rus', to see Princess Olga. They had just killed her husband, Prince Igor of Kyiv, and now they had come to ask her to marry their own ruler, Prince Mal.
At least, that is how one of the best-known episodes in the Primary Chronicle, the medieval East Slavic chronicle, begins. Kyiv-today the capital of Ukraine-was the main political center of Rus' in the 10th century, an early medieval state that gradually brought together lands across what is now Ukraine, Belarus, and part of Russia. Although Igor had extended Kyiv's authority over the surrounding territories, separate tribal groups still retained their own elites and occasionally rebelled against central rule.
One of those groups was the Drevlians, an East Slavic people who lived to the west of Kyiv. Although Kyiv had brought them under its authority as early as the 9th century, relations remained tense. In 945, Igor traveled into Drevlian territory to collect tribute.
At the time, tribute was one of the main ways a prince and his military retinue were supported: dependent territories paid Kyiv in furs, honey, and other valuables. According to the chronicle, the Drevlians had already paid what was due, but Igor returned demanding a second payment. The Drevlians rebelled, reasoning that "if a wolf gets among the sheep, it will not stop until it has carried off the entire flock," and killed Igor near Iskorosten before that could happen.
For Olga, her husband's death created more than a personal tragedy; it was also a political crisis. Their son Sviatoslav was still a child. Formally, power was supposed to pass to him, but in practice Olga would have to govern Rus' as regent for the young heir. If she lost control, both Sviatoslav's future and Kyiv's political position would be at risk.
The Drevlians decided to take advantage of the moment. Their prince, Mal, proposed marriage to Olga, a union that would have allowed him to claim power in Kyiv while restoring peace between the two sides. Twenty noble envoys were sent to Kyiv with the proposal. Olga heard them out and said that she liked the idea, but asked one favor: the next day, rather than arriving on foot or horseback, the envoys were to insist that the people of Kyiv carry them directly to her in the boat in which they had arrived. It was meant to look like a gesture of extraordinary honor.
The Drevlians agreed. In the meantime, a large pit was dug in Olga's courtyard. The next morning, the envoys were lifted together with their boat and carried toward her. They sat inside wearing ceremonial clothing, convinced that they were being received as honored guests, but instead of being welcomed, the entire boat was thrown into the pit.
According to the chronicle, Olga leaned over and asked whether they were pleased with the honor they had been shown. The men were then buried alive.
Back in Iskorosten, no one yet knew what had happened to the first delegation. Olga sent another message to the Drevlians: if they truly wanted her to marry Mal, they should send the most distinguished men in their land, otherwise the people of Kyiv would never allow their princess to leave. Once again, the Drevlians believed her and sent another group of envoys. Before receiving them, Olga suggested that her guests recover from the journey by bathing in a bathhouse. Once the men were inside, the doors were locked and the building was set on fire.
Even after these two killings, Olga still did not openly declare war on the Drevlians. Instead, she announced that she wished to travel to the place where Igor had died, mourn her husband, and hold a funeral feast in his honor. She asked the Drevlians to prepare large quantities of mead, the alcoholic drink traditionally served at such gatherings.
This time, Olga traveled into Drevlian territory herself with a small escort. A burial mound was raised near Igor's grave and the feast began. The Drevlians drank alongside Olga's men and eventually asked where the nobles they had previously sent to Kyiv were. Olga replied that they would arrive soon. Once the guests were drunk, she stepped aside and ordered her retinue to attack. The Primary Chronicle claims that five thousand people were killed that day.
Yet even after this third act of revenge, the story was not over. The following year, Olga raised an army and openly marched against the Drevlians. The young Sviatoslav accompanied her, and the chronicler even credits the child with the symbolic first throw of a spear that opened the battle. The Drevlian army was defeated, but Iskorosten-the same city near which Igor had been killed-refused to surrender.
A prolonged siege followed. Eventually, Olga assured the townspeople that her husband had been avenged in full and offered peace. In exchange, she asked for what appeared to be an almost symbolic tribute: three pigeons and three sparrows from every household.
The people of Iskorosten were delighted by such easy terms and gathered the birds. Olga distributed them among her soldiers, who tied a small piece of highly flammable sulfur material to each bird's leg. The pigeons and sparrows were then released, and they did exactly what Olga had counted on: they flew back to their nests and set fire to the houses of Iskorosten beneath whose roofs they lived.
Despite the brutality of her revenge, Olga also drew a lesson from Igor's death and reformed the tribute system. Instead of sending the prince out each year to travel through dependent lands collecting payments in person, fixed tribute amounts were established along with designated places where those payments would be collected. The Drevlian rebellion was crushed, the Kyiv throne was preserved for Sviatoslav, and Olga continued to rule until her son came of age, entering history as one of the most cunning and uncompromising rulers of medieval Rus'.
