The Heaðobards (Old English: Heaðubeardan, Old Saxon: Headubarden, "war-beards") were possibly a branch of the Langobards,The article Hadubarder in Nordisk familjebok (1909). and their name may be preserved in toponym Bardengau, in Lower Saxony, Germany.
They are mentioned in both Beowulf and in Widsith, where they are in conflict with the Danes. 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 or as a conflict with the Saxons, where the Danes take the place of the Heaðobards.The article Starkad in Nordisk familjebok (1909). They are remembered in Norse sources in the names of Hothbrodus and Hǫðbroddr (in Gesta Danorum and Helgakviða Hundingsbana I respectively).Clive Tolley, Grottasõngr: The Song of Grotti, Viking Society for Northern Research, 2008, pages 5 and 9
Beowulf In Beowulf, the Heaðobards are involved in a war with the Danes. When Beowulf reports on his adventure in Denmark to his king Hygelac, he mentions that Hroðgar had a daughter, Freawaru.Lines 2000-2069. Since Froda had been killed by the Danes, Hroðgar sent Freawaru to marry Ingeld, in an unsuccessful attempt to end the feud.Lines 2027-2028. An old warrior urged the Heaðobards to revenge,Lines 2042-2067. and Beowulf predicts to Hygelac that Ingeld will turn against his father-in-law Hroðgar.Lines 2067-2069. 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,Lines 80-85. see quote (Gummere's translationModern English translation by Francis Barton Gummere):
Sele hlīfade hēah and horn-gēap: heaðo-wylma bād, lāðan līges; ne wæs hit lenge þā gēn þæt se ecg-hete āðum-swerian æfter wæl-nīðe wæcnan scolde. ....there towered the hall, high, gabled wide, the hot surge waiting of furious flame. Nor far was that day when father and son-in-law stood in feud for warfare and hatred that woke again.
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.
Hroþwulf ond Hroðgar heoldon lengest sibbe ætsomne suhtorfædran, siþþan hy forwræcon wicinga cynn ond Ingeldes ord forbigdan, forheowan æt Heorote Heaðobeardna þrym.Hroðulf and Hroðgar held the longest peace together, uncle and nephew, since they repulsed the Viking-kin hewn at Heorot Heaðobards' fame. and Ingeld to the spear-point made bow,
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