TheCharudes orHarudes were aGermanic group first mentioned byJulius Caesar as one of the tribes who had followedAriovistus across the Rhine. WhileTacitus'Germania makes no mention of them,Ptolemy'sGeographia locates the Charudes (Χαροῦδες) on the east coast of theCimbrian peninsula[1] (seeHardsyssel).
Sometime before 60 BC, the "rex Germanorum" (king of theGermani). Ariovistus had been petitioned by the CelticSequani for assistance in their war against theAedui. 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 theRhine with large numbers and defeated the Aedui at theBattle of Magetobriga. 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 theHarudes had come to him, for whom room and settlements must be provided." (Commentaries on the Gallic War, I.31)
In the followingbattle against Caesar near Vesontio (Besançon), 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.[2]
The Harudes (in the graecized form "Charydes") are next mentioned in theRes Gestae Divi Augusti, 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 theCimbri andCharydes andSemnones and other peoples of the Germans of that same region through their envoys sought my friendship and that of the Roman people".[3] The naval expedition in question took place in 5 AD under the generalship ofTiberius and is also attested byVelleius Paterculus.[4]
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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 theHǫrðar people who settled inHordaland and gave name to the fjordHardanger.[citation needed]
In a second theory, the Hǫrðar are identical to theArochi dwelling in theScandza mentioned in theGetica ofJordanes, 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.[citation needed]
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 Germans 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 theGoths originated inGermany 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.
LatinHarudes is also attested inOld English asHæredas and related toOld Norsehǫrðar "a tribe inhabitingHordaland in Norway". This name is considered to be an extension of Germanic *haruþaz "forest" (cf. OEharað,OHGhard "mountain forest, wooded hills",MHGhart), making the Harudes the "forest-dwellers".[5] It may be related to Proto-Celtic *karut-, the source ofOld Irishcaur "hero, champion".[6] However, it has also been suggested that OEharað andOHGhard go back toPIE *ḱosdho-,[7] making this word impossible as a basis for the ethnonym Charudes.
