130. Sviatopolk I of Kyiv Murders His Brothers (Or Not): Kyivan Rus, 1015-1019

When Vladimir the Great of Kyivan Rus died in 1015, he left several sons by various mothers, and, as we might expect if we have been listening to this podcast for a while, a few of them wanted to be his successor, so they had battles.  This being the usual state of affairs amongst the ruling families of the early middle ages, it would not be a good True Crime Medieval topic, except for the story that Sviatopolk murdered his brothers Boris and Gleb, and that both Boris and Gleb died very saintly deaths, refusing to fight against their brother, and were canonized very quickly, the first saints of the Kyivan Rus to be canonized. Well, there you are. A True Crime. Well, a true crime according to the Primary Russian Chronicles. According to the chronicles written in other countries, Sviatopolk didn't murder his brothers, being in prison at the time. It's the story of Sviatopolk the Accursed and His Saintly Brothers that is still the accepted version in Russian movies, which Michelle explains to us. She actually likes some of them. She's reminded of Robert the Bruce films. So we talk about that, along with noticing that history is really worth studying and being careful about, because otherwise when you go off to slaughter your neighbors you might be doing it for the wrong reasons. The right reasons being the ones that kept you staying home and not being murderous. According to us.