The New World in the North : 119 



lands, Scotland and Ireland. When they arrived in due course in Ice- 

 land, they found the Irish had been there before them but it was they 

 who colonized it and built there an independent nation. The Ice- 

 landers in turn colonized Greenland and proceeded to the continen- 

 tal shores of America, It is true that Eric the Red, when he closed 

 with the American continent, said he did so because he overran his 

 course to Greenland. It is, however, very misleading to say that Amer- 

 ica was discovered by accident. His statement may have been an ex- 

 cuse and his passing Greenland deliberate. At most, the "accident" 

 would apply only to Eric as an individual and not to the Norse cap- 

 tains as a whole for they continually sailed beyond the known 

 ranges and if it had not been Eric's ship it would have been some 

 other Norse captain's. Certainly Lief's voyage and the colonizing voy- 

 ages of Karlsefni and the others were deliberate. 



The attempts at colonization were neither brief nor haphazard. 

 They lasted some years and involved careful preparation of many 

 men and ships. Why did they fail.? Because they lacked guns and 

 powder; the Spaniards succeeded because they had both — a point to 

 be discussed later. 



There was at the time neither mystery nor secrecy about the exist- 

 ence of a large New World in the north and west. Who knew about 

 this New World? The Roman Catholic Church knew about it for 

 centuries, punctuated by periods of neglect or lapses of memory such 

 as afflict many administrations. So many educated men having access 

 to church records would know. 



At the time of the discoveries the Archbishop of Hamburg was 

 responsible for ecclesiastical administration in Iceland. A history of 

 the Church of Hamburg was written in 1070 by Adam of Bremen. 

 Adam is, therefore, interested in Iceland and Greenland; he is, in 

 fact, well informed about these territories. He also specifically refers 

 to the voyages to Vineland. So far as the Church is concerned, there 

 appears to have been a continuing interest in Greenland and Vineland. 

 The annals of Iceland show that Bishop Eric Knupsson of Greenland 

 made a visit to Vineland in 1121. In 1126, the bishopric of Iceland 

 was transferred to Nidaros, the city which was later called 

 Trondhjem in Norway. 



As late as 1381 there was a resident bishop in Greenland but none 

 is known after this date and contact with the western world seems 

 to have diminished. However, at least two Popes became distressed 

 about the alleged lapses of the colony in Greenland. 



The Church in Greenland was becoming a problem to Rome. Pope 



