Hell Hath no Fury
Believing Kiev to be at a disadvantage without an adult male ruler, the Drevlyans proposed that Olga should marry the Drevlyan Prince, Mal. So a delegation of twenty Drevlyan nobles arrived at Kiev to petition the Princess. As they expected, Olga, being a woman, heard them graciously. “Your proposal is pleasing to me, ” she declared. However, she needed to announce all of Kiev. Could they return the next day? The Drevlyans were more than happy to and went away. Meanwhile, Olga made her preparations.
The next day, the Drevlyans returned by boat, dressed in their best. They were greeted by Olga’s guard who carried them in State, still in their craft, into the Great Hall. However, once there, all pretense of respect evaporated. The guards dumped the Drevlyans, boat and all into a vast ditch Olga had ordered prepared the night before. They were buried alive. Meanwhile, Olga contacted Prince Mal. She explained his first delegation had failed to convince her. Could he do better a second time? The unsuspecting Prince sent out a second embassy. When it arrived, Olga invited the ambassadors to refresh themselves in her bathhouse- and burnt them alive.
With Mal still unaware of the fate of his emissaries, Olga sent a third message. “I am coming to you,” she told him “ so prepare great quantities of mead in the city where you killed my husband, that I may weep over his grave and hold a funeral feast for him.” Mal obliged and granted Olga and her entourage safe passage into Drevlyan territory. There, she hosted a magnificent funeral for Igor, which many Drevlyans attended. However, the guests celebrated a little too well, and once they were drunk, Olga ordered her men to kill them. The Primary Chronicle estimates 5000 Drevlyans died that day.
Having wiped out much of the elite, Olga now set about finishing her revenge. Her army quickly defeated the Drevlyan army and drove the people into their cities. There they remained, under siege until one by one they capitulated to the Kievian forces. Finally, only Iskorosten prevailed. Mindful of Olga’s past actions, the city’s elders were reluctant to surrender. However Olga told them, she had had her fill of vengeance. All she required was: ” three pigeons and three sparrows from each house. “ This token tribute was in recognition of Iskorosten’s impoverishment by the war.
Finally, the desperate citizens gave up their birds, to Olga, who, in her turn gave one to each of her soldiers. When night fell, the soldiers tied a sulfur filled cloth to their bird’s leg, lit it and released the creatures who flew home to roost- and left Iskorosten in flames. As the people finally evacuated the city, the Kievans rounded them up. They killed some and enslaved others while the rest were left alive to scrape together an enormous tribute. Olga had completed her revenge- and had succeeded in utterly crushing the Drevlyans.
So how did such a woman become a saint?