Olga of Kiev was the wife of Igor who ruled the city in 945 AD. Igor went to collect tribute from the Drevlians, a tribe of Slavs. The Drevlians thought he asked too much so they killed him, some say by tying his legs to a pair of birch trees bent to the ground then releasing the trees tearing him asunder.
So Olga becomes Kiev’s ruler and she holds a grudge. Being as how she is a widow, Prince Mal, the Drevlian ruler who killed her husband, proposes to her. She says sure. Come on over.
When Mal and his entourage arrive she has them buried alive.
She sends word to the Drevilians to send their best men to be with their prince. Unaware of where the prince was, the tribe’s leading members come. She has them burned to death in a bath house.
She then wars on the Drevlians finally reaching their capital, Iskorosten, where her husband was slain. She says she will end the siege if the residents give her three pigeons and three sparrows from each house. The Drevelians figure they are getting a good deal and agree.
She has her army attach a piece of sulphur bound with small pieces of cloth to each bird. At nightfall, she tells her troops to set the pieces aflame and release the birds.
The birds flew back to their nests and the city burned down.
Olga is considered a saint by the Russian Orthodox Church. She appears to have mellowed a bit after her hissy fit with the Drevlians and was actually a pretty good ruler.
