Queen Olha - The Sainted Shield of Kyiv

Today is St Olha's Feast Day.

An animated history documentary on Queen Olga of the Kievan Rus who served as the sainted shield of her people. This history documentary explores the land of the Kyivan Rus. The video begins by exploring the geography and broad history of Eastern Europe from the ancient tribes of antiquity to the shakeup of the period of Great Migrations at the dawn of the Middle Ages. We cover the origins of the Slavic tribes, the Rus' and the rise of the Kyivan Rus' starting from the legendary King Rurik. With the stage set, we finally turn to the story of Queen Olha of Kyiv. Olha was likely born at the end of the 9th century AD and was married to Ihor, the son of the legendary King Rurik. However, at the time, Oleh reined as monarch and would spearhead many of the Kyivan Rus' campaigns against the Drevlyans, the Pechenegs, and the Byzantines. He even is reported to have besieged the city of Constantinople. When he died, Ihor would ascend to the throne and carry on these expansionist policies. Such was the might of the Rus' that they would assemble 1,000 ships and 40,000 men to besiege Constantinople once more. Only with the help of fireships were they repelled. But Ihor was keen to continue his conquests and now sought to raise funds by cracking down on his subjects. The Drevlians would respond by ambushing and killing the Kyivan Rus' Prince. In the aftermath, they would make a play to take over his kingdom. However, Queen Olha would stand in their way. Here the story of revenge is captured in the Primary Chronicle of the Rus' and will be the main narrative for our documentary. We conclude with the broader achievements of her reign and its lasting impact.