The Heaðobards (

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

: ''Heaðubeardan'',

Old Saxon Old Saxon (), also known as Old Low German (), was a Germanic language and the earliest recorded form of Low German (spoken nowadays in Northern Germany, the northeastern Netherlands, southern Denmark, the Americas and parts of Eastern Eur ...

: ''Headubarden'', "war-beards") were possibly a branch of the Langobards,The article ''Hadubarder'' in ''Nordisk familjebok'' (1909).
/ref> and their name may be preserved in toponym Bardengau, in

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Re ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. They are mentioned in both ''

Beowulf ''Beowulf'' (; ) is an Old English poetry, Old English poem, an Epic poetry, epic in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 Alliterative verse, alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and List of translat ...

'' and in '' Widsith'', where they are in conflict with the

Danes Danes (, ), or Danish people, are an ethnic group and nationality native to Denmark and a modern nation identified with the country of Denmark. This connection may be ancestral, legal, historical, or cultural. History Early history Denmark ...

. However, in the Norse tradition the Heaðobards, also called ''Hadubards'', had apparently been forgotten and the conflict is instead rendered as a family feud,''The Relation of the Hrolfs Saga Kraka and the Bjarkarimur to Beowulf'' by Olson, 1916, at Project Gutenberg
/ref> or as a conflict with the

Saxons The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

, where the Danes take the place of the Heaðobards.The article ''Starkad'' in ''Nordisk familjebok'' (1909).
/ref>

''Beowulf''

In ''

'', the Heaðobards are involved in a war with the Danes. When Beowulf reports on his adventure in

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

to his king

Hygelac Hygelac (; ; ; or ''Hugilaicus''; died 516 or 521) was a king of the Geats according to the poem ''Beowulf''. It is Hygelac's presence in the poem which has allowed scholars to tentatively date the setting of the poem as well as to infer tha ...

, he mentions that Hroðgar had a daughter, Freawaru. Since Froda had been killed by the Danes, Hroðgar sent Freawaru to marry Ingeld, in an unsuccessful attempt to end the feud. An old warrior urged the Heaðobards to revenge, and Beowulf predicts to Hygelac that Ingeld will turn against his father-in-law Hroðgar. In a version given in the Danish chronicle '' Gesta Danorum'', the old warrior appears as Starkad, and he succeeded in making Ingeld divorce his bride and in turning him against her family. Earlier in the ''Beowulf'' poem, the poet tells us that the hall Heorot was eventually destroyed by fire, see quote (Gummere's translation): Most scholars, including Sophus Bugge, interpret the new war with Ingeld as leading to the burning of the hall of Heorot.

''Widsith''

Whereas ''Beowulf'' never dwells on the outcome of the battle with Ingeld, the possibly older poem '' Widsith'' refers to Hroðgar and Hroðulf defeating the Heaðobards at Heorot:Lines 45–49.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Headobard Early Germanic peoples English heroic legends Migration Period