Chud or Chude (Slavic: чудь, in Finnic languages: tshuudi, tšuudi, čuđit) is a term historically applied in the early Russian annals to several Finnic peoples in the area of what is now Finland, Estonia and Northwestern Russia.
Perhaps the earliest use of the term 'Chudes' to describe proto-Estonians was ca. 1100, by the monk Nestor, in the earliest Russian chronicles. According to Nestor, Yaroslav I the Wise invaded the country of the Chuds in 1030 and laid the foundations of Yuryev, (the historical Russian name of Tartu, Estonia). Then Chud was used to describe other Baltic Finns called volok which is thought to refer to the Karelians.
According to Old East Slavic chronicles the Chudes were one of the founders of the Rus' state.
The Northern Chudes were also a mythical people in folklore among Northern Russians and their neighbours. In Komi mythology, the Northern Chudes represent the mythic ancestors of the Komi people.
Read more about Chud: Chudes in Chronicles, Chudes in Folklore, Use of Term in Historical Times