Email me


FINDING ALL THOSE SOURCES


Part 1: The Mosaic Goths, to about A.D.800 (FIRST PAGE)
Part 2: The Atlantic Colonies, 9th to 15th centuries (this page)
Part 3: The age of rediscovery, from about A.D.1450 (LAST PAGE)

PART 2: THE ATLANTIC COLONIES (to c1450)

#01 Magnússon, F. & Rafn, C.C. (eds.), "Grönlands historiske Mindesmærker", (Copenhagen, 1838-45)
A vast compendium of material about Greenland- but more modern editions of the texts it quotes should be checked where possible.
#02 Rimbert, "Life of Anskar"
The oldest manuscript of this biography of the first Archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen is the 10th-century Codex Stuttgardiensis G.32; later manuscripts have numerous interpolations. For example, where the early version has (in translation) "he appointed him as his legate for the time being amongst all the neighbouring races of the Swedes and Danes, also the Slavs and the other races that inhabited the regions of the north", the latest major manuscript, from the 12th century (Codex archivipublici Monasteriensis, 1 228) adds between the Danes and Slavs "Farriae, Gronlondon, Islondon, Siridevindum". These added names reflect the wording of a letter written by Pope Leo IX to Archbishop Adalbert of Hamburg Bremen, c1050 "...in omnibus gentibus Sueonum seu Danorum, Norunechorum, Islant, Scrideuinnum, Gronlant et universarum septentrionalum racionum".
#75 Anskar's charter of 834 and Papal confirmation
Inger has quoted Finnur Jonsson's "Historia Ecclesiastica Islandiae" (vol. 1, 1772) as offering two more references to Greenland in connection with the foundation of the Archbishopric of Hamburg-Bremen: the charter of Emperor Louis the Pious, AD 834, ..."in qvo Grönlandae nomen"... and the confirmation of that charter by Pope Gregory IV, "in qva tam Islandiae qvam Grönlandiae ante Islandos". The problem here, however, is exactly the same as the problem with different manuscripts of Rimbert. The full text of both documents referred to by Jonsson is given in "Lebensbeschreibung des Erzbischofs Ansgar" by Georg Heinrich Klippel (1845), beginning on page 201. In these transcripts, Greenland is not mentioned in Louis' charter, but it is in the Papal confirmation. However, on turning to the original Vatican copy of the Papal confirmation (transcribed in the "Patrologia Latina" by Jacques-Paul Migne) we find again that Greenland is omitted. For the record, Greenland is also omitted from Gregory's letter concerning Anskar's mission, and from the re-confirmation of Pope Gregory's bulla by his successor, Pope Sergius II, in AD 846.
#03 Document 1 in Weibull, L. (ed.) "Diplomatarium Danicum" Series 1 Vol. 2 (Copenhagen, 1963)
also in the parallel series of modern Danish translations: Christensen, C.A. et al. (eds.) "Danmarks Riges Breve" Series 1 Vol. 2 (Copenhagen, 1975)
Privileges of the See of Hamburg, dated 1053- as in Pope Leo's letter above, specifically including Greenland.
#04 Adam of Bremen, "Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum", book 4, chapters 37-39
Book 4 of the "Gesta" is a semi-independent work called the "Descriptio Insularum Aquilonis". See here for an analysis of the relevant sections.
#05 Ordericus Vitalis, "Historiske beretninger om Normanner og Angelsaxere fra Orderik Vitals kirkehistorie" I-III. (1889)
This edition is not easily available outside Scandinavia, as far as I can tell, and there's no guarantee that the rather vague reference can be applied to the full French edition of the original work (written 1121-41) or to the English translation.

#06 Bull of Pope Anastasius IV
This Pope issued more than one bull, despite his very short time in office; however, the reference here is to one shortly before his death, dated 28th November 1154 (following negotiations in Norway by English-born Cardinal Nicholas, Bishop of Albano, who succeeded Anastasius as Pope) making Trondheim/ Nidaros the seat of an Archbishop,with control over the bishops of Oslo, Hamar, Bergen, Stavanger, the Orkneys, the Sudreys, Iceland, the Faeroe Islands, and Greenland. [Amusing note- no mention of Vinland]. See Manx Society, vol 22 "Chronicle of Man and the Sudreys" (1874) (Appendix 5).
#07 Nicholas of Thingeyre's documents to the Papal See
Inger's claim is that a 12th century geographer, whom she quotes as writing a well-known description of the northern lands, was on the 1121 Vinland expedition, and made a report and a map, or rather a chart (one copy of which was in the Villa Medici near Rome up to 1939, then transferred to the Vatican, while another was reported some years ago to be bound into a book in a church near the Norway/Sweden border, not far from Fredrikstad, although there seems to be some confusion with "a map from around 900-1000 AD hidden in the covers of a Chruch book from the old Medieval times in Norway (the book is in Trondheim, I have seen a photo taken around 1960 by the Scholar who worked for the resistance in Norway under the name "the Falcon)". "I have talked to two people [*] being able during the midth 90th to control that the map still lies inside a hard cover of an Medival Churchbook (the map lies together with some other early parchements used to make the cover hard)".
  [*]"working for the Norwegian Church".
She states that Nicholas' map later formed the basis for Yale University's famous "Vinland Map") and others (see item #86 below). We have one or two slight problems here: this way for details.
[PS: My book on the aforesaid Vinland Map, which is actually a hoax, is excellent value...]
#85 The Arabic Vinland Map
Exciting anouncement, 18 Dec 1998: "There exist today at least two maps older than the Vinland Map (if that is authentic) showing the American coast. One is made by an Arabic Carthograph, I don't remember the name." [the other is described in item item #07 above] ... "I do know that one copy exist among other papers being transported to London during the late 20th from Turkey. I also know that there is one person in this group that might have access to an other copy remaining in one of Christianities older monastry (well there have been Muslims there a short while during history I have been told by an Archaeolog from the area) on the border between Turkey and Iraq - I hope that this person when reading this tries to contact the monkpriest who during some years lived in Stockholm before returning to the Monastry in question" [you might want to read item #08 on my "Earlier" page before getting too excited].
#86 The real Vinland Map?
Exciting announcement, 28 July 2004: "I take it that you aren't familiar with the latest in regard of the Vinland map. No matter when it was drawn we now know that there were an alike map existing in mid 1400's and which monestry it was in."
This naturally aroused interest, so Inger supplied more details: "what I have here and now is a ref to Populär Arkeologi nr 2 2004. Unfortunatly written in Swedish. Somewhere in all the files I have downloaded in this question I have a ref to an English url with much more information. Until I find this you have to do with the ref I given above or you will have to look it up in earlier threads - mind you it wasn't me who presented it"
The magazine reference turns out to be a sloppy article by Per Lillieström, based on a pro-Vinland-Map PR exercise a few months earlier, which he had mistaken for new evidence of the Map's authenticity (see here for an explanation). The web URL is harder to trace- well, impossible actually. My best guess is that Inger is remembering this message announcing the discovery of another copy of the "Tartar Relation" and "Speculum Historiale" which may be the source of the text copied into the volume with which the Vinland Map was bound- but which does not appear ever to have contained a map itself.
#08 Pope Urban's map of the Atlantic
A decorated portolan chart of the Mediterranean and the eastern Atlantic, made by the Pizzigano brothers in 1367, is sometimes referred to as "Pope Urban's map". It is interesting because it rather tentatively shows some very large islands far out in the Atlantic (shown much more clearly, but closer to Europe & Africa, on Zuane Pizzigano's revised version of 1424). Inger, however, follows the ideas of Kåre Prytz, whose book "Vestover før Columbus" (Oslo, 1990) develops the theory that these islands represent quite accurate mapping of parts of the North American coast- as Inger claims, "from east Hudson Bay and Newfoundland, down to Florida and the route down to Lake Ontario". This rather begs the question of why they are shown so far south, particularly if they are, as Inger alleges, based on the cartography of Nicholas, voyaging from Iceland (which is too far north to be shown by the Pizzigani).
#09 Smart, T.H. (ed.), "The Flatey Book and Recently Discovered Vatican Manuscripts", (London, New York etc., 1906)
Includes texts & translations of some of the most important saga material on Norse America, plus the Papal letters discovered in 1902 (among them, texts & translations of items #10, #11, #13 and #42 below)
#10 Diplomatarium Norvegicum bind 6 nr 36 [from document in the Vatican Archive (Johann. XXI. an. I. fol. 23. ep. 93).]:
Pope John XXI, at Viterbo, to the Archbishop of Nidaros, 4 Dec 1276: Concerning the difficulties of communication with the diocese of Gardar on Greenland, and consequent problems with tithe collection. Online text with translation.
Diplomatarium Norwegicum bind 1. Nr 66 and 67 [from document in the Vatican Archive (Nic.III An.II. ep.39).]:
Pope Nicholas III in Rome, to the bishop of Nidaros, both 31 Jan 1279:
#11 66- Acknowledges the infreqency of ships to Greenland, and agrees that some trustworthy man ("discretum virum") should be appointed to bring the tithes from Gardar diocese when such ships do sail. Online text with translation.
#12 67- Also concerning problems of tithe collection, but no specific reference to Greenland.
#13 Diplomatarium Norvegicum bind 1 nr 71 [from document in the Vatican Archive (Mart.IV. ann. I. ep. 119.) ]:
Pope Martin IV in Rome, to the bishop of Nidaros, 4 Mar 1282: Asks for the tithe payments from Greenland etc. to be converted from local produce ("bovinis et focarum coriis ac dentibus et funibus balenarum") to silver & gold, like other tithes from Norway, for delivery to the Vatican ("decimas predictarum in argentum vel aurum, prout melius et utilius fieri poterit, convertere studeas, illud una cum illa alia decima in ipso regno collecta pro ipsius terre subsidio ad apostolicam sedem quamcito poteris transmissurus"). Online text with translation.
#14 Diplomatarium Norvegicum, bind 10, no 9 [edited in Grönlands hist. Mindesmærker, III S. 96]:
Bishop Arne of Bergen to Bishop Thord of Greenland, 12 Jun 1308: Informing him about recent developments among the Norwegian clergy
#15 Diplomatarium Norvegicum bind 9 nr 84:
From Bishop Thord of Gardar and Abbot Einar of St. Michael's monastery in Bergen, to Pope Gregory IX, 9 May 1311: Concerning a Papal bull about contributions to a hospital.
#16 Diplomatarium Norvegicum bind 4 nr 128:
Date c1312-19: concerning the management of the four Royal chapels: St. Mary in Oslo, The Twelve Apostles in Bergen, St. Olaf in Avaldsnes, & St. Michael's at Tonsberghus. Crown revenues from the Shetlands and the Faeroes are to be used for the upkeep of the Bergen chapel ("ad edificacionem et structuram ejusdem ecclesie Apostolorum Bergis omnes redditus nostros regales Hiætlandie et in jnsulis Farensibus")
#17 Diplomatarium Norvegicum bind 7 nr 103:
Bishop of Bergen to Archbishop of Nidaros, 24 Jul 1325: Concerning tithes on goods from Greenland imported through Bergen.
#18 Diplomatarium Norvegicum bind 21 nr 66:
From Bergen, 6 Oct 1342: reference to "Pali knuttr syni"
#19 Diplomatarium Norvegicum bind 21 nr 69:
From Bergen 24 Mar 1343: reference to "paal knuts son mik ok marga adra goda menn"
#20 Diplomatarium Norvegicum bind 5 nr 183:
From Bergen, 20 Aug 1345: Reference to "Paall Knutz son vmboðsmaðr"
#21 Diplomatarium Norwegicum bind 6 nr 187:
From Bergen, 13 Oct 1347: Reference to "Paal Knutzsson"
#22 Diplomatarium Norvegicum bind 12 nr 98:
From Bergen, 3 Aug 1348: reference to "Pall Knutzson Gulažings logmadhir"
#23 Diplomatarium Norvegicum bind 2 nr 295:
From Bergen, 7 Aug 1348: reference to "Paale Knutz syni Gulažings loghmanne"
#24 Diplomatarium Norvegicum bind 5 nr 152:
From the Bishop of Bergen, 8 Aug 1341: Asking for a passport for Ivar Baardsön ("Jvarum Barderi nostre dyocesis sacerdotem") to sail to Greenland ("ad Gr/oe/nlandiam per mare non minus tempestuosissimum quam longissimum destinamus")
#25 Diplomatarium Norvegicum bind 6 nr 171 [from document in the Vatican archive (Reg. suppl. Clem. VI. an. II. p. 2. fol. 161 vs)]:
From Pope Clement VI at Villeneuve, 18 Mar 1344: Asking whether a job is available in Bergen diocese for the priest Ivar Baardssön ("Juarus Barderi presbiter")
#26 Diplomatarium Norvegicum bind 17 nr 59 [from document in the Vatican archive (Clem. VI t. 20 an. II p. 5 - fol. 467)]:
Pope Clement VI at Villeneuve to Ivar Baardssøn, 18 Mar 1344: 2 letters
a) Informing Ivar ("Iuaro Barderi presbytero Bergensis diocesis") of the efforts being made to find him a post.
b) Request, similar to 6/171 above, to other church dignitaries.
#27 Diplomatarium Norvegicum bind 21 nr 83 [Edited in Grønlands Historiske Mindesmærker III page 121-122.]:
Letter from King Magnus, at Bergen, 3 Nov 1354: Appoints Pål Knutsson as commander of an official expedition to Greenland: ("Powell knudszøn paa Anarm giffuitt att Seigle till Grønland" ... "med Som Powell knudszen som høffuitzmand skall Vere paa kaaren"), with a particular brief to uphold Christianity there, as it was in his ancestors' time ("Wi giøre dett i heder thill gud Och for Vor Siells och forelldre skyld Som Vdi grønland haffuer Christendom och Ophold thill denne dag oc Vill end ey lade nederfalle om Vore dage")
#28 Diplomatarium Norwegicum Bind 4 nr 442 [original in Dipl. Arn. Magn. fasc. 35. No. 13] + translation
From Stavanger, 25 Jun 1364: Ivar Bardarson, canon of the church of the Twelve Apostles in Bergen, was involved with the collection of the "Peter's pence" levy for the completely different diocese of Stavanger (i.e. as an external invigilator). He was almost certainly the Ivar Bardarson who had spent numerous years in Greenland, but this document has nothing to do with Greenland.
#30 AM 777 a 4to (Ívar Bárðarson's description of Greenland)
extracts online
For full text, see: Bardarson, I. (ed. Jónsson, F.) "Det gamle Grønlands beskrivelse af Ívar Bárðarson (Ivar Bårdssön)", (Copenhagen, 1930).
also in "Grönlands historiske Mindesmærker", vol. III (pages 248-264)
#31 Isländska annaler
Numerous texts of Icelandic annals are available. Most information concerning Greenland is summarised here, and there's also a handy newsgroup message with short summaries of relevant entries.
#32 Icelandic Annal for 1342, written down in 1637 by Bishop Gisli Oddsson of Skalholt, Iceland [quoted in "Grönlands Historiske Mindesmærker", vol. III, pages 459f, 887; presumably from Oddsson's "Annalium in Islandia farrago", which is available in an edition by Halldór Hermannsson, 1917]
"1342. Groenlandiae incolae a vera vide et religione Christiana sponta sua defecerunt et repudiatis omnibus honestis moribus et veris virtutibus ad Americae populos se converterunt; existimant enim quidam Groenlandiam adeo vicinam esse occidentalibus orbis regionibus. Ac inde factum quod Christiani a Groenlandicis navigationibus abstinerent . . . "
Translation: 1342. The inhabitants of Greenland fell voluntarily from the true faith and the religion of the Christians, and having abandoned all good manners and true virtues, they turned to the peoples of America. Some are of opinion that Greenland is quite close to the western regions of the world. This was the reason why the Christians began to refrain from the Greenlandic navigation. . .
The big problem with the above is the word "Americae". No such word existed in 1342, so Oddsson is clearly translating an old Icelandic word with what he considers an appropriate equivalent. None of the several surviving texts of Icelandic annals from the 1340s contains any word or phrase which could so be translated, so what was Oddsson's source?
#33 The "Inventio Fortunatae" etc.
  • Briefly: on 20 April 1577, geographer Gerard Mercator wrote a letter to the English scholar John Dee, containing information from
  • "The historie of the voyage of Jacobus Cnoyen Buschoducensis" (a traveller from Bois-le-Duc in Belgium), who claimed to have met at Bergen in Norway, in 1364 (OR PERHAPS...
  • ...merely to have obtained, some years after the event, information from Norway about):
  • "a priest with an astrolabe", who had just returned, with 7 other people, from a voyage to the Atlantic islands [note that this is exactly the time the geographically-minded priest Ivar Bardarson emerges in records at Bergen after his long service in Greenland] and who reported on
  • "an English Minorite from Oxford" [i.e. a Franciscan friar] whom they met in 1360 while he was exploring the Atlantic islands, who later wrote a book of his travels in the far North, called "Inventio Fortunatae", which he gave to the King of England.
Unfortunately, "Inventio Fortunatae" was lost by 1577, and Jacob Cnoyen's narrative, which Mercator had borrowed, was missing when he tried to get hold of it again. Kensington Runestone investigator Michael Zalar has posted a couple of interesting articles about the 1577 letter, here and here.
Inger thought she had found a reference to a copy of Cnoyen's narrative in a Dutch archive, under the title "Verslag van een reis naar Noorwegen"- but geographical historian Peter van der Krogt regretfully informed her that this referred simply to a copy of the Cnoyen information in Mercator's letter!
The Mercator letter is the most detailed source of information on the "Inventio" but it is not by any means the only one. Numerous 16th century maps used its ideas about Arctic geography, and another letter (translated here) reporting on the activities of John Cabot about the beginning of 1498, mentions an apparent unsuccessful attempt to find a copy of the "Inventio".
#35 The Kensington Runestone
Allegedly, the Kensington Runestone, found in Douglas County, Minnesota, USA, in 1898, was carved in 1362 by members of the same expedition referred to by Jacob Cnoyen. I've had to make a separate page to give some idea of the arguments about its authenticity.
#36 A runic stone mentioned by the Yorkshire Archaeological Society
I had assumed that this was the Hackness Cross, which has inscriptions in the ordinary Latin alphabet, in runes, and in Ogham-style code. I therefore thought that
Sermon, Richard "The Hackness Cross Cryptic Inscriptions", in the Yorkshire Archaeological Journal, vol 68 (1996) pp 101-112, an attempt to decipher the Ogham-style inscription, may well be the article referred to by Inger. However, apart from the fact that it features text in different scripts, it has nothing at all in common with the Kensington Rune Stone- no abbreviation resembling "AVM", not even the same sort of runes.
There used to be some tantalisingly low-resolution photos of the faces of the Cross online but the link now seems to be broken.
Inger has also provided a reference to an apparent use of "AV" on a graveyard monument in Greenland:
Jónsson, Finnur, "Interpretation of the Runic inscriptions from Herjolfsnes", in Meddelelser om Grųnland vol 67, no.2 (Copenhagen, 1924) p283
.
Correspondence about fishing disputes etc. between King Henry V of England and King Erik of Norway: no specific references given; most apparently in English collections.
#40 One available online is Diplomatarium Norwegicum Bind 20 nr 742 [from the Rolls of Parliament, IV, 79]
Order from King Henry V, 1415, concerning fishing along the coasts of Iceland "ou en autres lieux deinz lour parties". No specific mention of Greenland.
#41 Diplomatarium Norwegicum Bind 20 nr 794 [quoted, but mis-referenced by Inger as nr 795]
1431: Concerning abuses of fishing agreements by English fishermen in the waters of Norway & its territories. Includes Greenland in its initial list of "Norgis Lande oc Indsler", but does not mention it in the details of fishing grounds.
#92 More on Greenland from the Diplomatarium Norwegicum
If you're really keen, the above link takes you to a page full of post-1364 references to Greenland (or more usually to the Bishop of Gardar, whose connection with Greenland after the 1360s was purely nominal) from the Diplomatarium Norwegicum. Enjoy...
#42 Letters about Greenland by Popes Nicholas V and Alexander VI, 15th century
Translations of these letters were published in Bourne, E & Olson, J. "The Northmen, Columbus and Cabot" (1906). Letters online here, full book here. Also Online text with translation.
#93 Claudius Clavus, Map of Scandinavia
Clavus (aka Claus Claussön Swart, aka Claudius Niger) visited Rome in the 1420s and was encouraged to make an extension of the existing Ptolemaic mapping, showing his Scandinavan homeland. His first attempt was so successful that he was asked to make a more detailed version. As he didn't actually know many more details, he added "place-names" based on the names of runic letters for Iceland, and taken from the words of a poem for Greenland. As well as the above link to a manuscript copy, you may also be interested to see the first printed map of Scandinavia, by Nicolaus Germanus (aka Donis) in the 1482 Ulm update of Ptolemy's 'Geographia', which is partly based on Clavus' work [at any given moment there should also be quite a few pretty coloured versions of this and its 1486 reprint on antique book dealers' websites].
#43 Curtis, William Eleroy "Recent Disclosures Concerning Pre-Columbian Voyages to America in the Archives of the Vatican"- article reprint from the National Geographic Magazine, 31 Jan 1894 (that issue contains numerous items about early voyages from Europe to America).
#44 Shipley, Marie A. [Brown]. "The Norse Colonization in America by the Light of the Vatican Finds". (Lucerne, 1899)
A scanned version of this book is available from the "Old studies of Vinland" section of Doug's Archaeology Site as a 1.55MB pdf file.
Doug also provides pdf scans of some other works written around the same time, including "L'Évangelisation de l'Amérique avant Christophe Colomb", by Luka Jelic (1891) [pdf 1.58MB, in French & Latin] reporting the documentary research (and rather over-enthusiastic interpretation) on which much of Shipley's work is based.
#45 Reeves, A.M. et al. "The Norse Discovery of America" (London & New York, 1906)
A handy overview of the major written sources for Norse America. Online text at Northvegr and at Sacred texts
#46 Fischer, Josef, "Pre-Columbian Discovery of America", in The Catholic Encyclopaedia (New York, 1907)
The online text of this article contains some useful, level-headed, commentary on the sources for the history of Norse America (including the above-mentioned Vatican records) but it is itself inadvertently the source for some modern myths.
#59 Greenland annals (c1100-1435) and lawbook
In 1524, as part of the campaign by Hans Brask, Bishop of Linköping in Sweden, to save documents of the Roman Catholic church in the face of the Protestant reformation under King Gustavus Vasa, one of the Bishop's staff copied old documents containing a lawbook and a collection of annals from about 1100 up to 1435, relating to Greenland. According to Inger, these were brought from a Birgittine monastery in a fjord between the Eastern and Western settlements of Greenland, on the Pothorst/Pining voyage in 1477-8, by a Dutch aristocrat (one of two on the expedition) from Flanders, who later became a member of the Swedish nobility and settled near Linköping. They were delivered by him to the Birgittine monastery of Munkaliv at Bergen, from whence they were later taken to the mother house of the Order at Vadstena. Only fragments of the original lawbook now survive, but it can be seen that many different hands have contributed to it. It appears to be based on the Norwegian Gulathing laws, but has additional material such as a passage datable to the 1230s, relating to "forsfarare" (a word usually thought of as modern Swedish, indicating navigation through rapids). Both originals and copy remained in one library up till 1905, following which most of the old documents from this library were transferred to another, larger library.
The 1524 copy remains today in a library at Linköping- probably the Bishop's (or possibly the original fragments are in Linköping, at least one in possession of a descendant of the Dutchman, and the copy in Copenhagen). Apart from a vague reference to a quotation in a work published in 1783, Inger implies that the only scholar known to have made a serious study of the documents until very recent years was Gustav Storm, apparently in 1898 (i.e. it is probably mentioned in his "Regesta Norvegica" published that year). Since about 2002, Inger and an unnamed scholar "of linguistic and archieve science" have studied the documents; in August 2005 she reported that neither of them had time to publish anything about them; and by November 2007 that was still the case.
Following Inger's refusal (over a 5-year period) to give any proper references for these documents, fellow Newsgroup contributor Alan Crozier checked and found that she was referring to a collection of old Norwegian laws described in Storm's "Norges gamle love indtil 1387", vol. 4 (1885) pages 706-8, first featured in the preface to his "Monumenta Historica Norvegiae" (1880), pages LVI -LVIII. Storm had found it in the Linköpings Gymnnasii Bibliothek, ref. B 72 (since moved to ref. J 7).
#81 Vatican archives on Greenland tithes, 1364- and coconuts
According to Inger, the Vatican "archieves" contain documents supplementary to #28 above, stating explicitly that Ivar Bardsson brought back the tithes from Greenland & Vinland in 1364. She gives no specific references, but does mention one fascinating detail- the goods he brought included a bowl made from a coconut, with silver feet.
This is remarkable, because one of the most famous early claims about Vinland references in the Vatican documents concerned the delivery in tithe payments of a "ciphus de nuce ultramarina" ("a bowl made of a nut from overseas") with silver feet, in 1327. Fr. Fischer (ref. #46) noted that this was nothing to do with Vinland, and it has been added in recent discussion of the subject that coconuts were unknown in North America and the West Indies before the Spanish and Portuguese colonisation (much more information, including other references to such bowls, in the Coconut Timeline).
However, Inger's claim (8 Jun 2004, 4.04am Swedish time) is that "It's not one coconut bowl but two known"; in other words, whatever may have been proven about the 1327 bowl, it does not apply to the alleged 1364 bowl.

PS: A newsgroup contributor has reminded readers that Greenland [properly Grönland or Groenland] should never be confused with Grenland, which is a district of Norway, frequently mentioned in tithe records.
#95 Reynolds, Hans "Grųnland: Vestre bygdi" (1926)
This online book in Norwegian, though hardly the latest scholarship, does contain many useful quotations from primary sources, for example on:
Sailing routes to Greenland, and (near the bottom of the page) the captured skin boats which were hung in Norwegian cathedrals;
Greenland bishops and tithes
#96 Vinland on Hans Rust's world map, 1480
In a newsgroup message dated 13 Nov 2006, Inger referred readers to the claim by Gunnar Thompson, Ph.D., that Hanns Rüst's cheap-but-very-cheerful printed world map (made at Augsburg, c1480) "shows 'Vinland' as an European colony to the far northwest". She also, helpfully, gave the address of the relevant page on the website of the Morgan Library (if your web browser or firewall blocks ActiveX objects, you'll have to make an exception for this site to see its lovely zoomable images), owners of the only known surviving copy of an item that was probably printed in large quantities, but never bought by anybody requiring serious geographical information- its main aim was entertainment, and most owners would soon throw it away.
Sure enough, at centre left, next to the energetic North Wind (or Wind Norden in the original German- i.e. not really "north-west", but it seems to be the best we can do) appears an island called Vin'terre. However, if this is the location referred to, Dr. Thompson (who is, putting it charitably, not the world's most skilful interpreter of documentary sources) should have paid more attention to the surroundings of this oh-so-significant place. It is within a semi-enclosed sea, not out in the encircling Ocean as one would expect of the trans-Atlantic Vinland. Furthermore, it shares that sea with "Bithinia", "Pontoniaa", and "Galiciarmenia"; all of which happen to be, in slightly eccentric form, the names of countries bordering the Black Sea in Roman times. And to the north-west of that sea then lived a people known as the Veneti or Venedi, whose later migrations to escape invaders from the east would bring some of them to the southern shore of the Baltic by the early Middle Ages, under the name of Wends. 11th-century geographer and historian Adam of Bremen created another apparent Vinland, or rather "Winland" with his attempt to name their territory; and the same has happened on this map referring back to their ancient homeland.
#82 Martin Alonso Pinzón and the Vinland Tithes
See next page
#83 Maps by Agnese and Zeno
See next page
#50 Bugge, Alexander, "Handelen mellem England og Norge indtil Begyndelsen af 15. Aarh.", in "Norsk hist. Tidsskr.", R. 3, Bd. 4 (1898)
#51 Arneborg, J. "Nordboerne i Grønland", in Hikuin 14 (pages 297-312) (1988)
#52 Jansen, Henrik M., "A critical account of the written and archaeological sources' evidence concerning the Norse settlements in Greenland", in Meddelelser om Grönland, vol 182, no. 4 (Copenhagen, 1972)
#53 Rousell, A, "Farms and churches in the Medieval Norse settlement of Greenland", in Meddelelser om Grönland, vol. 89, no. 1 (Copenhagen, 1941)
#54 Bigelow, G.F. (ed). Acta Archaeologica 61: a special issue on "The Norse of the North Atlantic" (Copenhagen, 1991)
This includes: Arneborg, J. "The Roman Church in Norse Greenland" (pages 142-150)
#55 Mason, Ronald, "Great Lakes Archaeology", (New York, 1981)
#56 McGovern, Thomas H., "Bones, Buildings, and Boundaries: Palaeoeconomic Approaches to Norse Greenland" in Morris, C.D. & Rackham, D.J. (eds.) "Norse and Later Settlement and Subsistence in the North Atlantic" (Glasgow, 1992)
#80 "Ora Mensura"
See the early sources page for more on this chimera.

EARLIERLATER