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 e ...

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, Khazaria and the First Bulgarian Empire. He ...

. 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 Sveneld (Old Norse: ''Sveinaldr'', Cyrillic: Свенельд) is a semi-legendary 10th-century Varangian warlord in the service of Svyatoslav I of Kiev and his family. Although he seems to have been the richest and the most influential Rus' lead ...

, 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 h ...

. 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 o ...

, from which his other brother Vladimir 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 als ...

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 ...

.''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, Po ...

and Bohuslav Balbín, among others), that the noble House of Zierotin 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 {{Europe-royal-stub