Editing Olga of Kiev (section)

=== Relations with the Holy Roman Emperor ===
Seven Latin sources{{which?|date=July 2024|Interesting, which ones?}} document Olga's embassy to Holy Roman Emperor [[Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor|Otto I]] in 959. The continuation of [[Regino of Prüm]] mentions that the envoys requested the emperor to appoint a bishop and priests for their nation. The chronicler accuses the envoys of lies, commenting that their trick was not exposed until later. [[Thietmar of Merseburg]] says that the first [[archbishop of Magdeburg]], [[Adalbert (Archbishop of Magdeburg)|Adalbert of Magdeburg]], before being promoted to this high rank, was sent by Emperor Otto to the country of the Rus' (''Rusciae'') as a simple bishop but was expelled by pagan allies of [[Sviatoslav I, Prince of Kiev|Sviatoslav I]]. The same data is repeated in the annals of [[Quedlinburg]] and [[Hildesheim]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Obolensky |first=Dimitri |date=1984 |title=The baptism of Princess Olga of Kiev |url=https://books.openedition.org/psorbonne/2159 |work=Philadelphie et autres études |at=§19 |isbn=978-2-85944-079-4}}</ref>

In 2018, Russian historian and writer [[Boris Akunin]] pointed out the importance of a 2-year gap between invitation and arrival of bishops: "The failure of Olga's Byzantine trip has inflicted a severe blow to her party. The Grand Knyaginya made a second attempt to find a Christian patron, now in the West. But it seems, in the period between the sending of the embassy to Emperor Otto in 959 and the arrival of Adalbert in Kiev in 961, a bloodless coup took place. Pagan party prevailed, the young Sviatoslav pushed  his mother into the background, and that's why the German bishops had to return empty-handed."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Akunin |first1=Boris |author-link=Boris Akunin|title=История Российского государства. Книга 1. От истоков до монгольского нашествия. Часть Европы|trans-title=History of the Russian state. Book 1. From the origins to the Mongol invasion. Part of Europe|date=2018 |isbn=9785457497665 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hN0YAgAAQBAJ |publisher=[[AST (publisher)|AST]]|access-date=8 June 2020 |language=ru |quote={{langx|ru|Неудача византийской поездки Ольги должна была нанести сильный удар по её партии{{nbsp}}...|Neudacha vizantiyskoy poyezdki Ol'gi dolzhna byla nanesti sil'nyy udar po yeyo partii}}}}</ref>

According to Russian historian [[Vladimir Petrukhin]], Olga invited the Roman rite bishops because she wanted to motivate Byzantine priests to [[Catechesis|catechize]] the Rus' people more enthusiastically, by introducing competition.<ref>{{cite web |title=Испытание верой: мифы о крещении Руси |trans-title=Test by faith: myths about the baptism of Rus|url=https://tass.ru/opinions/4443603 |publisher=[[TASS]] |access-date=8 June 2020|date=26 July 2019|language=ru}}</ref>