Sviatoslav I, Grand Prince of Kiev

Notes:

"Svyatoslav remained a pagan, saying that if he converted, 'My men would laugh at that.' He is the first Kievan ruler of the line to have a purely Slavic name and be given a proper history in the chronicle, yet much of this must have come from oral tradition. He set out to expand his realm by conquest and thought of moving his capital to Pereyaslavets on the Danube, but after a lengthy campaign against the Byzantines he was ambushed and killed in 972 by the Pechenegs, who are said to have made a drinking up out of his skull." ["Ryurik and the First Ryurikids", citation details below.]

Family/Spouse: Malusha. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. St. Vladimir of Kiev, Grand Prince of Kiev died on 15 Jul 1015 in Berestovo, west of Kiev; was buried in Church of the Holy Mother of God, Kiev.

Notes:

Perhaps slightly less legendary than his supposed father Rurik, his actual existence is still hazy at best. His supposed spouse Olga and her son Sviatoslav are much more clearly real and non-legendary.

Igor married St. Olga of Kiev. Olga was born about 890 in Pskov, Russia; died on 11 Jul 969 in Kiev, Ukraine. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

"Her name Ol'ga derives from Old Scandinavian Helga, and she is called Helga in Byzantine sources. Her christening name was Helen. She was the first of the princely family to accept Christianity and much later she was made a saint as 'precursor' of the faith in Rus. As the widow of Igor, she served as regent during the minority of her son Svyatoslav. Her official visit to Constantinople circa 955 is related in the Primary Chronicle and also by the Emperor Constantine, the differences between the two sources illustrating nicely the folk character of the early Rus annals. In her, the chronicle dramatizes the change from paganism to Christianity: a treacherous and vengeful Olga becomes Olga the saint, through still a trickster." ["Ryurik and the First Ryurikids", citation details below.]

Notes:

More-or-less legendary founder of the Rus.