Oleg Ingvarevich the Red and Batu Khan

Russian prince Oleg I Ingvarevich the Red (the Fair or the Handsome, the Prince of Ryazan from 1252 to 1258) and Mongolian conqueror Batu Khan.

According to the legend, in winter of 1237/1238 Tatars captured the Prince Oleg Ingvarevich, whose beauty and bravery impressed Batu. But when mongol ruler Batu offers to heal his wounds and take him into his service, Oleg curses the Tatar as a “godless enemy of Christianity.” Batu has him dismembered.  Although this was a fiction. In fact, Oleg was not killed, but was spared by the Great Khan “for the sake of his rare beauty” and then was held captive by Mongols for 14 years. Only in 1252 he returned from the Horde to his throne after the death of his brother. He ruled 6 years and in 1258, feeling the approach of death, the prince became a monk by the name of Kosma. Oleg gave the throne to his son Roman and peacefully died on March 8, 1258. He is buried in the Church of the Holy Savior and on Ryazan land and is revered as a local saint.  

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