Heaðobards

The Heaðobards (Old English: Heaðubeardan, Old Saxon: Headubarden, "war-beards") were possibly a branch of the Langobards,[1] and their name may be preserved in toponym Bardengau, in Lower Saxony, Germany.

[4] Since Froda had been killed by the Danes, Hroðgar sent Freawaru to marry Ingeld, in an unsuccessful attempt to end the feud.

[7] 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.

[3] Earlier in the Beowulf poem, the poet tells us that the hall Heorot was eventually destroyed by fire,[8] see quote (Gummere's translation[9]): It is tempting to interpret the new war with Ingeld as leading to the burning of the hall of Heorot, as Sophus Bugge did,[1] but the poem separates the two events (by a ne wæs hit lenge þā meaning "nor far way was that day when", in Gummere's translation).

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:[10]