[Teaser] Olga: Queen of Kyiv

Here's an exclusive sneak peak of our next video Olga: Queen of Kyiv, premiering this weekend. I am very excited about this video and would like to share a snippet of the script.

Intro

The city of Kyiv has a long and glorious history. Throughout the ages many figures have risen in defense of its people, but few loom quite as large as Queen Olga. This special documentary on St. Olga of Kyiv explores her life as the patron saint of Kyiv who towered above the men of her era.

Land of the Rus

To contextualize this story, I wanted to provide you with an overview of the region and period we will be focusing on. In a sentence, it is the land of the 10th century Kievan-Rus. But there is much more to unpack.

We can begin by looking at geography. This area of Eastern Europe is bounded to the North by the Baltic Sea and to the South by the Black Sea. To the west lie the Carpathian Mountains and to the Far East lie the Urals. Within these natural borders extends the Great Sarmatic Plain whose roughly 4 million square kilometers are filled with vast prairies and forests. Its relatively flat features are given character by several upland regions as well as numerous river valleys and basins which gradually drain to the north or south. In terms of natural resources, it is rich with wild game, fish, timber, peat, copper, iron, and silver.

Inhabiting these lands were a variety of people who lived largely nomadic lives. For instance, during antiquity, many of the inland regions were dominated by steppe tribes such as the Cimmerians, Scythians, and Sarmatians. In fact, so ancient was their way of life that it is believed that some of the first horses were domesticated in these lands. Neighboring the horse lords were others who lived more sedentary lives along the rivers and shores. Over the centuries they would be mixed by migration, inter-marriage, and conflict. From this union would arise various proto-Slavic tribes whom the ancient Greeks and Romans referred to as the Veneti and Spori. Unfortunately, little of their history is recorded as they existed on the fringes of civilizations with written records. But they were by no means disconnected. The steppe tribes routinely raided beyond their homeland while merchants shuffled goods back and forth across the vast waterways connecting far flung regions. The Greeks even set up shop on the shores of the Black Sea while the Achaemenids and later Romans launched military expeditions into the interior. Beyond this there was certainly much more activity taking place, but we have neither the time nor the records to go over this in much detail at the moment.

Fast forward several hundred years to the period of Great Migrations. It is during this era, stretching from around the 4th to the 8th centuries, that the region experienced a more pronounced movement of people. The reasons are complex and poorly understood but are generally traced back to pressures stemming from climate change, weather, crop yields, population increases, political instability, and invasion. Together these resulted in waves and eddies that swirled the human landscape with great volatility. Among the first groups to spill into the so called “civilized world” were the various Germanic tribes such as the goths, the vandals, the Anglo-Saxons, and countless others with overly prescriptive names which cover up the sheer variety of folks which existed under such labels. Behind them came others such as the Avars, the Bulgars, and the Slavs. It is this last group which largely came to rest in our area of interest. By the 7th century their various tribes had split into multiple linguistic branches and each regional group began to consolidate its own power within the context of their ecosystem.

For the most part, the various population centers were quite spread out with a common model of development involving walled cities being built atop defensive terrain from which the local elite and their followers could establish control over the surrounding regions. This influence could be further extended by tapping into the major rivers through which men and goods could flow more readily. But they were not the only ones to recognize this. Many Northmen from the Baltic and Scandinavian regions made their way south across the great rivers to trade, raid, and seek fortune. These would slowly mix with the local Slavic and steppe tribes of the region. According to the 12th century records of the “Primary Chronicle” the foreign Varangians were even invited to become overlords. Much academic debate surrounds this topic, and the issue is far from settled. However, what is clear is that either by conquest, diplomacy, or gradual integration the two would merge around the 9th century AD to become the group we now refer to as the Rus. But again, we must remember that such labels are modern conveniences which would have meant little to the people at the time.

According to the “Primary Chronicle” Rurik was the chieftain who founded the first ruling dynasty which led the Rus from Novgorod. Upon his death in 879, his successor Oleg would move the capital to Kyiv which he declared as the "mother of Rus' cities." It was ideally situated upon a series of hills overlooking the Dnieper River. From here its rulers could control the valuable trade routes which ran north to the Baltic Sea, south to the Black Sea, west to the Germanic lands, and east to the steppe. Riches in turn allowed its people to build fortifications and raise armies with which to expand even more quickly. However, given the great distances involved, control was only ever loosely established. The Kievan-Rus territories were ultimately ruled by each of the local princes which constantly jockeyed with one another and only united temporarily to fight common enemies such as the Pechenegs or the Byzantines.

It is amidst this world of feuding Great Princes and warlords that Olga’s story would unfold.