CHAPTER VI 
THE NORSEMEN IN GREENLAND 
The enthralling story of the discovery of Greenland 
and America, as the actual beginning of great Arctic 
enterprises, must be introduced by some account of the 
authorities on which it rests, for parts of it have been the 
subjects of much criticism and dispute. 
The earliest writer who mentions the deeds of the 
Norsemen in Greenland was Adam of Bremen, a Canon 
of the cathedral of that city and master of the cathedral 
school, a.d. 1070. In those days Svend Estridsen, a 
nephew (sister's son) of England's King Canute, was King 
of Denmark, whose memory was a storehouse of facts 
concerning the history of the Scandinavian races. Adam 
of Bremen accordingly made a journey to his court and 
spent some time there, and the King was his authority on 
all he was able to write relating to Greenland. Adam's 
testimony is, therefore, earlier than, and quite independent 
of Icelandic manuscripts, and becomes a test for the truth 
of the sagas and traditions. In this lies its great im- 
portance as an authority. 
The detailed Icelandic narratives are two or three 
centuries later. The first is the Hauksbok, composed not 
later than 1334. Its name is derived from Hauk who 
was Lagman of Iceland in 1295, and in whose handwriting 
a portion is written. It contains the Saga of Erik the 
Red. The second manuscript is the Flatey book or 
Codex Flateyensis, so called from having belonged to 
one Finsson who lived on Flat Island, near the Breidi- 
fjord in Iceland. It is now in the Royal library at 
Copenhagen, having been brought from Iceland by 
Thormod Torfason (Torfceus) as a present to King 
Frederick III of Denmark. It was written about the 
year 1387 and contains the Saga of Olaf Tryggvason, 
