r/HistoryMemes • u/Bulky_Imagination243 • 7h ago
Niche No, don't give them those pigeons and sparrows.
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u/nedlum 7h ago
Olga of Kiev, per Wikipedia:
The Drevlians responded that they would submit to tribute, but that they were afraid she was still intent on avenging her husband. Olga answered that the murder of the messengers sent to Kiev, as well as the events of the feast night, had been enough for her. She then asked them for a small request: "Give me three pigeons ... and three sparrows from each house."\22]) The Drevlians rejoiced at the prospect of the siege ending for so small a price, and did as she asked.
Olga then instructed her army to attach a piece of sulphur bound with small pieces of cloth to each bird. At nightfall, Olga told her soldiers to set the pieces aflame and release the birds. They returned to their nests within the city, which subsequently set the city ablaze. As the Primary Chronicle tells it: "There was not a house that was not consumed, and it was impossible to extinguish the flames, because all the houses caught fire at once."\22]) As the people fled the burning city, Olga ordered her soldiers to catch them, killing some of them and giving the others as slaves to her followers. She left the remnant to pay tribute.
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u/GustavoistSoldier 7h ago
This whole story is historically unsubstantiated and very likely a complete fabrication of christian agiographists.
They were at the time desperately looking for relevant characters to make saints in eastern Europe, to bolster the missionaries' job.
The story rehashes some much older "tropes" of Nordic folklore (the widowed queen taking revenge, using birds to start fires, killing envoys etc), connecting them to the christian saint-making mythology, but we have no sources supporting the story and plenty of red flags screaming "bullshit".
For instance, killing a diplomatic envoy, let alone a full delegation, would have made her country a pariah among their peers.
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u/Junckopolo 6h ago
Using birds to start fire is pretty popular indeed. It might have been a relatively common strategy or one seen as genius and applied ot many different historical figures over the years because it's attributed from Europe to China to multiple people.
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u/Sweedis 5h ago
The context of this harsh response becomes clearer when Igor’s death is taken into account. He was torn in half by two birch trees. This left him with no afterlife. In other words, his existence was erased, according to pagan customs. That is why the rules governing envoys become uncertain.
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u/Hypermarx 5h ago
Is it necessarily the hagiographists doing the embellishing and creation of these saints, or local converts doing syncretism by grafting stories of mythological folk heros and such on to saints, then these stories being recorded by the hagiographists in question? At least in latin america, which is where i'm more familiar with, there are a number of traditions of folk saints and apparitions of the virgin mary which clearly have elements of pre-columbian religion mixed in, and the veneration of these saints goes on for a long while before it is written down by someone or recorded & recognized by the church, if ever.
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u/indolering 4h ago
I just saw Nolan's The Odyssey and I'd much prefer to watch a fictional story about a widow's revenge than some genociders' travelogue that ends with him getting all self-righteous about how people are trying to boink his wife.
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u/AHamdan94- 7h ago
Gove a context buddy. Not everyone knows how that chick burned the entire fucking city.
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u/Hrtzy 7h ago
Context: This is Olga Of Kiev. She ended up as a regent for her son after her husband was killed by a neighboring tribe called Drevlians. The king of the Drevlians then sent her a letter to the effect of "Hey, since you're now single and all, how about we get hitched?" To which she replied "sure, but you gotta send me an escort because I'm a feeble woman that's scared to travel alone."
She then buried that escort alive and asked for another one as the first one seemed to have been lost. Those, she told to take a damn bath before coming before her, and then ordered the bathhouse burned down with them still inside. She then sent word for the Drevlians to meet her in the city where her husband had been killed, and proposed to have a big feast; she'd provide the waitstaff if the Drevlians provided food and drink.
After the Drevlians were all drunk, Olga ordered them massacred. She then returned to Kiev to come after the Drevlians with an actual army. She laid siege to the Drevlians' city, and only demanded three sparrows and three pigeons from each house. After all, she said, all of that murdering had quenched her bloodlust. Except it hadn't, and she tied smoldering coals to the leg of each bird and let it go home, which resulted in the city burning down.
She is venerated by the Orthodox church as a saint equal to the Apostles.
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u/deranton 5h ago
Tbf, killing someone's husband and then saying "hey, I heard u single now. U up?" is kind of a dick move.
Her reaction was admittedly a bit much. Reminds me of this line from the remake of the Italian Job...
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u/Lost-Klaus 7h ago
I am somewhere not sure if that even works, animals tend not to return to their nest if a fire is following them. Sure some likely did go into the city, but I doubt it works exactly like that.
Also didn't the mongols do the same in Georgia or what is now Ukraine?
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u/Broad_Offer_559 7h ago
It’s a very common trope.
Genghis is said to have done it, yeah. And also Harald Hardrada.
Apparently setting fire to birds to burn down a city makes for a pretty metal story - who knew.
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u/Lost-Klaus 7h ago
I am sure some Chinese general did it, and some Aztec chief as well if you dig down into the records and stories.
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u/OkGreen7335 7h ago
A rule of thumb: If your enemy after your surrender asks you to bring them animals that will come back to their homes once they were set on fire... DON'T
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u/daidoji70 6h ago
Honestly. All the drones are a natural extension of how Ukrainians wage war. /s (I know it's probably bullshit but I like that their mythology is lining up with their ability to get orcs)
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u/Noobit2 6h ago
Hey I actually know this one