Saint Olga — The Vengeful Beauty Who Converted Russia to Christianity
Extraordinary Women, Part 4
My mother, Helen Isabella Estes Seltzer, died Dec. 28, 2010, at the age of 90. She had a life-long interest in family history. In her memory, I compiled profiles of powerful and strong-willed women among her ancestors, thinking those women might inspire her descendants. These brief biographies are grouped by the lines of descent, which are shown afterwards, leading down to the present.
Saint Olga — the Vengeful Beauty Who Converted Russia to Christianity
Olga “the Beauty” married Igor, Prince of Kiev; and when he died, she sought to avenge her husband’s death at the hands of the Drevlians and (according to Wikipedia) “succeeded in slaughtering many of them and interring some in a ship burial, while still alive. She is reputed to have scalded captives to death.” She also destroyed an entire town hostile to her, asking that each household present her with a dove as a gift, then tying burning papers to the legs of each dove, which she released to fly back to their homes, setting fire to the thatched rooves of those homes.
She ruled the kingdom for 18 years as regent for her son Svyatoslav. She then ruled again when Svyatoslav was away on his many military campaigns.
She changed the system of tribute gathering or taxation in her kingdom, which Wikipedia says was “the first legal reform recorded in Eastern Europe.” And she was the first Russian ruler to convert to Christianity, for which she earned sainthood. At her baptism, in Constantinople, she took the name of “Helena”
She was unable to convert her husband, but her grandson and pupil Saint Vladimir I “the Great” made Christianity the state religion.
Line of Descent
1) Saint Olga (890–969) (md. Igor, Prince of Kiev)
2) Sviatoslav, I Prince of Kiev (935–972) (md. Malusha)
3) Saint Vladimir I “the Great”, Prince of Kiev (958–1015)
4) Yaroslav “the Wise”, Prince of Kiev (978–1054) (md. Ingegerd Olafsdottir)
(we are descended from his daughter Anne of Kiev, his son Izaslav I of Kiev, and his daughter Anastasia, as well as his son Vsevolod, as shown below)
5) Vsevolod I, Prince of Kiev (1030–1093) (md. Anastasia)
6) Vladimir II Monomakh, Prince of Kiev (1053–1125) (md. Gytha of Wessex)
7) Mstislav I, “the Great”, Prince of Kiev (1076–1132) (md. Christina Ingesdotter)
8) Ingeborg of Kiev (md. Canute Lavard)
9) Valdemar I, “the Great”, King of Denmark (1131–1182) (md. Sofia of Minsk)
10) Helen of Denmark (1177–1233) (md. William of Winchester, AKA William Longsword, Lord of Luneburg)
11) Otto, “the Child, First Duke of Brunswick-Luneberg (1204–1252)
12) Albert I, “the Tall”, Duke of Brunswick-Lunebuerg (1236–1279) (md. Adelheide)
13) Albert II, “the Fat”, Duke of Brunswick-Luneberg) (1268–1318) (md. Rixa)
14) Magnus I, “the Pious”, Duke of Brunswick-Luneberg) (d. 1369) (md. Sophie Brandenburg)
15) Magnus II, Duke of Brunswick-Luneberg) (1324–1373) (md. Catherine Anhalt-Bernburg)
16) Katharina Elisabeth of Brunswick (1385–1423) (md. Gerhard VI, Count of Holstein)
17) Hedvig of Schuaenburg, Duchess of Schleswig and Countess of Holstein (1398–1436) (md. Dietrich AKA Theodoric the Lucky, Count of Delmenhorst and Oldenburg)
18) Christian I, King of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, also Count of Oldenburg and Delmenhorst (1426–1481) (md. Dorothea of Brandenburg AKA Dorothea of Hohenzollern)
19) Margaret of Denmark (1456–1486) (md. James III, King of Scotland)
20) James IV, King of Scotland (1473–1513) (md. Agnes Stewart)
21) Janet Stewart, “Lady Janet” (1505–1563) (md. Malcolm Fleming, 3rd Lord Fleming)
22) John Fleming, 5th Lord Fleming (1537–1572) (md. Elizabeth Ross)
23) John Fleming, 6th Lord Fleming and 1st Earl of Wigton (1567–1619) (md. Lilias Graham)
24) John Fleming (1589–1650) (md. Margaret Livingston)
25) Alexander Fleming, emigrated from Scotland to Virginia (1612–1668) (md. Elizabeth Anderson)
26) John Fleming, emigrated with his father from Scotland to Virginia) (1627–1686) (md. Mary)
27) Charles Fleming (1659–1717) (md. Susannah Tarleton)
28) Susannah Tarleton Fleming (md. John Bates)
29) James Bates (1721–1786) (md. Winnifred Grymes)
30) Daniel Bates (1756–1801) (md. Elizabeth Cary Bell)
31) Sarah Langhorne Bates, moved from Virginia to Tennessee (1781–1825) (md. Joel Estes)
32) Albert Monroe Estes (1804–1863) (md. Mildred Colman)
33) Louis Powhatan Estest (1849–1902) (md. Lily Yates Moore)
34) Smith William Estes, moved from Tennessee to Philadelphia (1881–1943) (md. Mae Griffith)
35) Helen Isabella Estes (1920–2010) (md. Richard Warren Seltzer, Sr.)
