A saint in both the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church, Olga of Kiev seems as unsaintly as one could possibly be. Here  All about history explores why this fierce leader was no angel.

Olga of Kiev was one of the most vicious and vengeful rulers in the history of the Kievan Rus’ – the principality that would eventually give birth to modern Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, stretching at its height from the Baltic Sea in the North to the Black Sea in the South.

Born sometime around 903 CE in Pskov, Russia, history gives Olga scarcely a glance for much of her life – including her marriage to Igor, Prince of Kiev and the birth of her son.