Oleg of Drelinia

Oleg Sviatoslavich (Олег Святославич; died 977)^[1] was the prince of the Drevlians from 970 until his death in 977.^[2][3] He was the second son of Sviatoslav I of Kiev of the Rurik dynasty.

Oleg Sviatoslavich
Prince of the Drevlians
The murder of Lyut Sveneldich, son of the Kiev voivode Sveneld, by Oleg. Miniature from the Radziwiłł Chronicle (15th century)
Reign	970–977
Died	977 Ovruch
Burial	Church of the Tithes
House	Rurik
Father	Sviatoslav I of Kiev

Biography

Death of Oleg in Ovruch

Oleg's date of birth is not known, but it is probably before 957. Sviatoslav split up his domains, and gave the Drevlian lands to Oleg in 970.^[2] Oleg and his brother Yaropolk went to war after their father's death. According to the Primary Chronicle, Oleg killed Lyut, the son of Yaropolk's chief adviser and military commander Sveneld, when he hunted in the Drevlian lands which Oleg regarded as his own.^[4] In an act of revenge and at the insistence of Sveneld, Yaropolk went to war against his brother Oleg and killed him in Ovruch. Oleg was killed incidentally on the run in moat, and Yaropolk did regret this.^{[citation needed]} Then, Yaropolk sent his men to Novgorod, from which his other brother Vladimir had fled on receiving the news about Oleg's death. Yaropolk became the sole ruler of Kievan Rus'.

In 1044, Yaroslav I the Wise had Oleg's bones exhumed, christened, and reburied in the Church of the Tithes.^[5]

Possible descendants

There is a Czech legend (mentioned by Jan Amos Komenský (in Spis o rodu Žerotínů), Bartosz Paprocki and Bohuslav Balbín, among others), that the noble House of Zierotin descends from Oleg (see ru:Олег Моравский for details).^{[citation needed]}

References

1. Kohn, George Childs (31 October 2013). Dictionary of Wars. Routledge. p. 411. ISBN 978-1-135-95494-9.
2. Feldbrugge, Ferdinand J. M. (2 October 2017). A History of Russian Law: From Ancient Times to the Council Code (Ulozhenie) of Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovich of 1649. BRILL. p. 340. ISBN 978-90-04-35214-8.
3. W. Dworzaczek, Genealogia, Warszawa 1959, tabl. 21.
4. Alexander Nazarenko. Древняя Русь на международных путях. Moscow, 2001. ISBN 5-7859-0085-8. Page 361.
5. 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.

Oleg of Drelinia Rurikovich Born:  ?  Died: 977
Regnal titles
Preceded by ?	Prince of the Drevlians 969–977	Succeeded by ?
Titles in pretence
Preceded by Yaropolk I	Prince of Kiev 975–977	Succeeded by Vladimir the Great