The Charudes or Harudes were a Germanic group first mentioned by

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...

as one of the tribes who had followed

Ariovistus Ariovistus was a leader of the Suebi and other allied Germanic peoples in the second quarter of the 1st century BC, who name appears prominently in Julius Caesar's '' Commentarii de Bello Gallico''. Before their conflict with the Romans, Ariovis ...

across the Rhine. While

Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. Tacitus’ two major historical works, ''Annals'' ( ...

' ''Germania'' makes no mention of them,

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...

's ''Geographia'' locates the Charudes (Χαροῦδες) on the east coast of the Cimbrian peninsula (see

Hardsyssel Hardsyssel or Harsyssel is a traditional district and an ancient syssel in Denmark, forming the western part of central Jutland. Hardsyssel is roughly identical with the former Ringkjøbing County. Today it forms the western half of Region Midtjy ...

People of classical times

Sometime before 60 BC, the "rex Germanorum" Ariovistus had been petitioned by the Celtic

Sequani The Sequani were a Gallic tribe dwelling in the upper river basin of the Arar river (Saône), the valley of the Doubs and the Jura Mountains during the Iron Age and the Roman period. Name They are mentioned as ''Sequanos'' by Caesar (mid-1 ...

for assistance in their war against the

Aedui The Aedui or Haedui (Gaulish language, Gaulish: *''Aiduoi'', 'the Ardent'; ) were a Gauls, Gallic tribe dwelling in what is now the region of Burgundy during the La Tène culture, Iron Age and the Roman Empire, Roman period. The Aedui had an ambi ...

. In return, Ariovistus was promised land grants in Gaul, although exactly where is not certain. Gathering forces from a wide area of Germany, Ariovistus crossed the

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

with large numbers and defeated the Aedui at the

Battle of Magetobriga The Battle of Magetobriga (Amagetobria, Magetobria, Mageto'Bria, Admageto'Bria) was fought in 63 BC between rival tribes in Gaul. The Aedui tribe was defeated and massacred by the combined forces of their hereditary rivals, the Sequani ...

. It is in the context of Ariovistus' subsequent land claims that the Harudes are first mentioned by Caesar:

"But a worse thing had befallen the victorious Sequani than the vanquished Aedui, for Ariovistus, the king of the Germans, had settled in their territories, and had seized upon a third of their land, which was the best in the whole of Gaul, and was now ordering them to depart from another third part, because a few months previously 24,000 men of the Harudes had come to him, for whom room and settlements must be provided." (''Commentaries on the Gallic War'', I.31)

In the following battle against Caesar near Vesontio (

Besançon Besançon (, ; , ; archaic ; ) is the capital of the Departments of France, department of Doubs in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. The city is located in Eastern France, close to the Jura Mountains and the border with Switzerland. Capi ...

), the Harudes formed one of the seven tribal divisions of Ariovistus' host. After suffering a crushing defeat at the hands of the Romans, the Germans fled back over the Rhine. The Harudes (in the graecized form "Charydes") are next mentioned in the ''

Res Gestae Divi Augusti ''Res Gestae Divi Augusti'' (Eng. ''The Deeds of the Divine Augustus'') is a monumental inscription composed by the first Roman emperor, Augustus, giving a first-person record of his life and accomplishments. The ''Res Gestae'' is especially sig ...

'', in which Augustus claims that his fleet had "sailed from the mouth of the Rhine eastward as far as the lands of the Cimbri to which, up to that time, no Roman had ever penetrated either by land or by sea, and the

Cimbri The Cimbri (, ; ) were an ancient tribe in Europe. Ancient authors described them variously as a Celtic, Gaulish, Germanic, or even Cimmerian people. Several ancient sources indicate that they lived in Jutland, which in some classical texts was ...

and Charydes and

Semnones The Semnones were a Germanic and specifically a Suebi people, located between the Elbe and the Oder in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. They were described in the late 1st century by Tacitus in his ''Germania'': "The Semnones give themselves out t ...

and other peoples of the Germans of that same region through their envoys sought my friendship and that of the Roman people". The naval expedition in question took place in 5 AD under the generalship of

Tiberius Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus ( ; 16 November 42 BC – 16 March AD 37) was Roman emperor from AD 14 until 37. He succeeded his stepfather Augustus, the first Roman emperor. Tiberius was born in Rome in 42 BC to Roman politician Tiberius Cl ...

and is also attested by

Velleius Paterculus Marcus Velleius Paterculus (; ) was a Roman historian, soldier and senator. His Roman history, written in a highly rhetorical style, covered the period from the end of the Trojan War to AD 30, but is most useful for the period from the death of ...

Norway and beyond

The Angles were probably occupying territory abandoned at least in part by the Harudes, as the latter migrated into Norway. There they are believed to be the Hǫrðar people who settled in

Hordaland Hordaland () was a county in Norway, bordering Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Telemark, and Rogaland counties. Hordaland was the third largest county, after Akershus and Oslo, by population. The county government was the Hordaland County Munici ...

and gave name to the fjord

Hardanger Hardanger is a traditional district in the western part of Norway, dominated by the Hardangerfjord and its inner branches of the Sørfjorden and the Eid Fjord. It consists of the municipalities of Ullensvang, Eidfjord, Ulvik and Kvam, and is ...

. In a second theory, the Hǫrðar are identical to the Arochi dwelling in the

Scandza Scandza was described as a "great island" by Gothic-Byzantine historian Jordanes in his work ''Getica''. The island was located in the Arctic regions of the sea that surrounded the world. The location is usually identified with Scandinavia. Jor ...

mentioned in the ''

Getica ''De origine actibusque Getarum'' (''The Origin and Deeds of the Getae''), commonly abbreviated ''Getica'' (), written in Late Latin by Jordanes in or shortly after 551 AD, claims to be a summary of a voluminous account by Cassiodorus of the ori ...

'' of

Jordanes Jordanes (; Greek language, Greek: Ιορδάνης), also written as Jordanis or Jornandes, was a 6th-century Eastern Roman bureaucrat, claimed to be of Goths, Gothic descent, who became a historian later in life. He wrote two works, one on R ...

, which dates to the 6th century, but might refer to any time prior to then. The ch in that case would be a corruption of th, with the initial t not expressed. Jordanes had read Ptolemy, but he claimed to be writing of times before those of Ptolemy. A comparison of Germanic geography in the works of the two men has raised some questions concerning the direction in which some Germanics migrated. On the whole, based on Jordanes, the direction has been taken to be southward from Scandinavia, and it is possible that the Charudes of Ptolemy's Jutland arrived there in prehistory from a more ancient Hordaland. On the other hand, the Hǫrðar could have intruded locally and late into Norway. Some have expanded this idea into a theory that the

Goths The Goths were a Germanic people who played a major role in the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the emergence of medieval Europe. They were first reported by Graeco-Roman authors in the 3rd century AD, living north of the Danube in what is ...

originated in

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 ...

and entered Scandinavia in the age of Germanic migration. As this hypothesis discounts Jordanes' judgement but accepts his tribal picture, it is not generally accepted.

Etymology

Latin ''Harudes'' is also attested in

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 ...

as ''Hæredas'' and related to

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

''hǫrðar'' "a tribe inhabiting

in Norway". This name is considered to be an extension of Germanic *''haruþaz'' "forest" (cf. OE , OHG "mountain forest, wooded hills", MHG ), making the Harudes the "forest-dwellers".Orel, Vladimir. ''A Handbook of Germanic Etymology''. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 2003: 164. It may be related to Proto-Celtic *''karut-'', the source of

Old Irish Old Irish, also called Old Gaelic (, Ogham, Ogham script: ᚌᚑᚔᚇᚓᚂᚉ; ; ; or ), is the oldest form of the Goidelic languages, Goidelic/Gaelic language for which there are extensive written texts. It was used from 600 to 900. The ...

"hero, champion". However, it has also been suggested that OE and OHG go back to

PIE A pie is a baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough casing that contains a filling of various sweet or savoury ingredients. Sweet pies may be filled with fruit (as in an apple pie), nuts ( pecan pie), fruit preserves ( jam tart ...

*''ḱosdho-'',Mallory, J.P. and D.Q. Adams. ''The Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture''. London: Fitzroy and Dearborn, 1997: 428. . It is derived from

*''ḱóss'' "pine, conifer", akin to

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

''sosná'' "pine", Ancient Greek ''kônos'' "pinecone, pine-seed, cone", ''kôna'' "pitch", ''kṓneion'' "hemlock; giant fennel", Oroshori "post" making this word impossible as a basis for the ethnonym Charudes.

Notes

References

*Cleasby, Vigfusson, Craigie, ''Icelandic-English Dictionary'', Oxford, 2nd edition, 1957, {{Germanic peoples Early Germanic peoples North Germanic peoples

People of classical times

Norway and beyond

Etymology

See also

Notes

References