Shortly after this, and before the war was over, Elfrida died at Tamworth, in Staffordshire, leaving an unmarried daughter named Elswina. She was buried at Gloucester, in the porch of St. Peter's monastery, a building erected at her own expense.
This heroine has been praised by all the old historians for her prudence, courage, and talent for governing. Ingulphus says that considering the great actions of her life, the cities she built, the castles she fortified, and the armies she raised, Elfrida "might have been thought a man." She was generally styled queen by the Mercians, who regarded themselves as her subjects.
According to tradition it was the same wild Vikings, the terror of our land, who founded the mighty Russian empire; and their successors, the Grand Dukes and Czars, have ever since retained that thirst for conquest which distinguished the roving Normans. The Grand Duke Igor was one of the first among the successors of Rurik who caused the Russian standard to be feared by surrounding states. After subduing most of the neighbouring towns, his victorious career was suddenly brought to a close in 945, during an expedition against the Drevlians, by whom he was surrounded, and put to the sword with all his troops.
Igor was succeeded by his son Sviatoslaf, the first Christian sovereign of Russia. The prince being too young to conduct the government, his mother, Olga, undertook the regency. The Drevlians, fancying the royal widow would be easily intimidated, sent to demand her in marriage for their prince. But Olga, after causing their ambassadors to be slain (by various quaint stratagems which Nestor has preserved) called out her troops, placed herself at their head, and marched against the Drevlians, taking her son with her to teach him the art of war. After destroying all the towns and villages of the enemy, she laid siege to Karosten, their capital, which was built entirely of wood—the very name signifying "wall of bark." Finding the city too strong and too well defended, she made proposals of peace to the inhabitants, declaring that she would be satisfied with three sparrows and a pigeon from each house, as tribute. The people joyfully complied, and sent the birds to the Russian camp. Olga caused the birds to be let loose, with lighted torches tied to their tails; they, of course, flew back to their nests in the house-eaves of Karosten. The town was soon in a blaze from end to end. The terrified inhabitants, flying to escape the flames, were met by the swords and lances of the Russians. The Drevlian prince and his court perished in the massacre, as indeed, did nearly every one in the city, save the dregs of the population.
Having glutted her thirst for revenge, Olga made a progress through Russia, taking Sviatoslaf with her. Towns and villages arose at her command, taxation was regulated on a better footing; and by various measures highly beneficial to the prosperity of the country, the Grand Duchess proved herself a most able ruler. In 955 she went to Constantinople to be baptised a Christian, and in the course of a few years the Greek faith spread through the land, and paganism was abolished.
When Sviatoslaf grew old enough to rule his own dominions, Olga resigned the reins of government. She lived in retirement for several years, and died in 968 at an advanced age.
In the Middle Ages, chemistry and mathematics were things known to few people except the monks; any man who studied the sciences was styled an alchemist, and suspected of being in league with the Evil One. When it was a woman who gave herself up to learned studies, the people could scarcely be withheld from tearing "the sorceress" to pieces. Occasionally, however, despite what the world said, noble ladies, especially on the Continent, did apply their minds to what in those days went by the name of the Black Art. Amongst these was Richilda, Countess of Hainault, who married Baldwin the Good, eldest son of Baldwin, Marquis of Flanders, one of whose daughters, Matilda, became the wife of William the Conqueror, and another of Tosti Godwinsson, son of the powerful Earl Godwin. The fame of Richilda as a wicked sorceress caused her to be anything but a favourite in the country; and when her husband died, Robert le Frison, Count of Friesland, and brother of the deceased, endeavoured to wrest Flanders from her young son Arnulf, or Arnoul, who was little more than a boy. William the Conqueror espoused the cause of Richilda, and sent over Fitz-Osbern, Earl of Hereford, the tyrant of the Welsh, to her aid. The Countess also implored the assistance of her liege lord, the king of France.
A battle took place on St. Peter's Day, 1071, at Bavinchorum, near Cassel; Richilda and Fitz-Osbern commanded their troops in person. The left wing of the foe was routed, and Robert le Frison made prisoner and sent to St. Omer. But this success was counterbalanced by the death of Fitz-Osbern and young Arnoul. Richilda's forces fled in confusion, and the heroine was made prisoner.