Oleg was a
Rurikid
The Rurik dynasty ( be, Ру́рыкавічы, Rúrykavichy; russian: Рю́риковичи, Ryúrikovichi, ; uk, Рю́риковичі, Riúrykovychi, ; literally "sons/scions of Rurik"), also known as the Rurikid dynasty or Rurikids, was ...
ruler of the
Drevlians
The Drevlians ( uk, Древляни, Drevliany, russian: Древля́не, Drevlyane) were a tribe of Early East Slavs between the 6th and the 10th centuries, which inhabited the territories of Polesia and right-bank Ukraine, west of the ea ...
from 969 to his death in 977. He was the second son of
Sviatoslav I of Kiev
; (943 – 26 March 972), also spelled Svyatoslav, was Grand Prince of Kiev famous for his persistent campaigns in the east and south, which precipitated the collapse of two great powers of Eastern Europe, Khazars, Khazaria and the First Bulgarian E ...
.
Date of birth is not known, but is probably before 957. Sviatoslav split up his domains, and gave the Drevlyan lands to Oleg. Oleg and his brother
Yaropolk went to war after their father's death. According to
Primary chronicle
The ''Tale of Bygone Years'' ( orv, Повѣсть времѧньныхъ лѣтъ, translit=Pověstĭ vremęnĭnyxŭ lětŭ; ; ; ; ), often known in English as the ''Rus' Primary Chronicle'', the ''Russian Primary Chronicle'', or simply the ...
, Oleg killed Lyut, the son of Yaropolk's chief adviser and military commander
Sveneld, when he hunted in the Drevlyan lands which Oleg regarded as his own. In an act of revenge and at the insistence of Sveneld, Yaropolk went to war against his brother Oleg and killed him in
Ovruch
Ovruch ( uk, Овруч, pl, Owrucz, yi, , russian: О́вруч) is a city in Korosten Raion, in the Zhytomyr Oblast (province) of northern Ukraine. Prior to 2020, it was the administrative center of the former Ovruch Raion (district). It has ...
. Oleg was killed incidentally on the run in moat, and Yaropolk did regret this. Then, Yaropolk sent his men to
Novgorod
Veliky Novgorod ( rus, links=no, Великий Новгород, t=Great Newtown, p=vʲɪˈlʲikʲɪj ˈnovɡərət), also known as just Novgorod (), is the largest city and administrative centre of Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It is one of the ol ...
, from which his other brother
Vladimir
Vladimir may refer to:
Names
* Vladimir (name) for the Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Macedonian, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak and Slovenian spellings of a Slavic name
* Uladzimir for the Belarusian version of the name
* Volodymyr for the Ukr ...
had fled on receiving the news about Oleg's death. Yaropolk became the sole ruler of
Rus'.
In 1044
Yaroslav I the Wise
Yaroslav the Wise or Yaroslav I Vladimirovich; russian: Ярослав Мудрый, ; uk, Ярослав Мудрий; non, Jarizleifr Valdamarsson; la, Iaroslaus Sapiens () was the Grand Prince of Kiev from 1019 until his death. He was al ...
had Oleg's bones exhumed, christened, and reburied in the
Church of the Tithes
The Church of the Tithes or Church of the Dormition of the Virgin ( uk, Десятинна Церква, ) was the first stone church in Kyiv.Mariya Lesiv, ''The Return of Ancestral Gods: Modern Ukrainian Paganism as an Alternative Vision for a ...
.
[''The Notion of "Uncorrupted Relics" in Early Russian Culture'', Gail Lenhoff, Christianity and the Eastern Slavs: Slavic cultures in the Middle Ages, Vol. I, ed. B. Gasparov, Olga Raevsky-Hughes, (University of California Press, 1993), 264.]
Possible descendants
There is a Czech legend (mentioned by
Jan Amos Komenský
John Amos Comenius (; cs, Jan Amos Komenský; pl, Jan Amos Komeński; german: Johann Amos Comenius; Latinized: ''Ioannes Amos Comenius''; 28 March 1592 – 15 November 1670) was a Czech philosopher, pedagogue and theologian who is considere ...
(in ''Spis o rodu Žerotínů''),
Bartosz Paprocki
Bartosz Paprocki (also ''Bartholomeus Paprocky'' or ''Bartholomew Paprocki'', pl, Bartłomiej (Bartosz) Paprocki, cs, Bartoloměj Paprocký z Hlahol a Paprocké Vůle; ca. 1540/43 in Paprocka Wola near Sierpc – 27 December 1614 in Lviv, P ...
and
Bohuslav Balbín, among others), that the noble
House of Zierotin
The House of Žerotín or House of Zierotin was a Czech noble family in the Lands of the Bohemian Crown, one of the oldest and most illustrious noble families from Bohemia and Moravia. The family was first mentioned around the year 1200 as ''Bl ...
descends from a certain Oleg of Rus (see
:ru:Олег Моравский for details).
References
Year of birth missing
Rurik dynasty
10th-century princes in Kievan Rus'
977 deaths
Burials at the Church of the Tithes
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