There is a central theme to the Norse sagas which describe the voyages of Leif Erickson to the lands far to the west. That theme is that land was reached that was rather pretty, and that wild grapes grew in profusion. Vinland! Probably Newfoundland. Allegedly, some grand adventures were had, according to Lars Almvig. The broads were comely and the booze plentiful, and there were a lot of good brawls with the natives; that kind of stuff. One must put the embellishments aside and look only to the central reality, however. A new world had been discovered! Again, Vinland! Most probably New Foundland!
So far, we have been speculating, sort of. But, there is a clincher. You have to go to the Yale University Library to see it in the original. It is a map of the world that has been studied for years along with accompanying documents and it has been authenticated as having been made in the mid 13th century. I hold a copy aloft. It is called ''The Vinland Map'' although it shows the geography of the world as it was known in the 13th Century. It appears in a hand written history of the Western world on fine and sturdy vellum that an English cleric, one Vincent of Beauvois, wrote under the tide of ''Spectrum Historial'' in the 13th Century. The Vinland Map was the manuscript's principal illustration.
Now, may I seemingly digress for a moment. Around 1250 A. D., Pope Innocent the Fourth sent a lively Italian fellow named Carpini on a mission to the Tartars. The Tartars were a wild, nomadic people who were just then invading Eastern Europe. Carpini was a hell of a guy; an adventurer in the tradition of the later Marco Polo. Carpini, incidentally, was 63 years of age when he set out on his expedition to the east. Not bad, eh?
Carpini got there in one piece and had a damned good time hanging around with the head Tartar, who told him all about the history and traditions of the Tartars. En route home, Carpini wrote a history and description of the Tartars. Why is this footnote to history important to our discussion? We shall see.
Somebody in a monastery thereupon took a copy of Carpini's history of the Tartars, copied it on fine vellum and then bound it into the manuscript of Vincent of Beauvois ''Spectrum Historial,'' which manuscript contained, as noted, the Vinland Map. The binding job is magnificent. The entire manuscript survives. It is at the Yale University Library, having passed through various hands over the centuries.
Yale thinks enough of the manuscript to have published a large book in 1965 called ''The Vinland Map and the Tartar relation'' which verifies the whole business and gives the Vinland Map credibility among scholars as being a 13th Century document. And, what do we see on the I3th Century Vinland Map? Aha, we see all of Western Europe in pretty good scale and description. We do see England and Ireland, as well as Iceland in considerable detail. We see Greenland rather grandly depicted and on a scale better than Mercator's and to the west of Greenland we see Newfoundland! North America! It appears exactly where it actually is at the present time and the scale is pretty good as is the configuration of the coastline. Remember that we are talking about a 13th Century map. That means twelve something or other. And, what do we find in the upper left corner of the map, just above Newfoundland? We find a legend in Latin that says ''Vinland, discovered by Bjarne and Leif in company.'' Bjarne? Who the hell was Bjarne? I did some research. Bjarne was Bjarne Herjolfson. He was the guy who owned the boat Leif borrowed. He did not go on the voyage but got first dibs on the wine Leif brought back! And, apparently wiggled himself into the act somehow.
The Vinland Map plus the boiled down Norse sagas make the case for the discovery of America by Leif Erickson late in the 10th Century on any fair view of the matter. Parenthetically, there are numerous other circumstantial proofs, such as the foundations of a pre-Columbian Norse town at L'anse Aux Meadow in Newfoundland, and Runic stones are found all over that area. A Runic stone is a stone inscribed with Norse Runic writing, commemorating an event. I hold aloft a sample Runic stone. But, since you do not have all night, nor do I, I desist from other profuse and miscellaneous proofs and will not digress. I rest my case. ''Hogwash'' you say. Go ahead and say it. Hogwash, Hogwash, Hogwash! Hogwash, like evil is, of course, in the eye of the beholder, and a willing suspension of disbelief in the presence of puzzling facts contrary to the conventional wisdom is a necessary ingredient to any search for truth. Did Columbus know of the voyages of Leif Erickson?
Some say yes, but that may be of a coarse, libel. Remember that about five hundred years elapsed between the respective voyages. What do any of you highly literate and well read folks gathered here tonight know of minor events of five hundred years ago in remote parts of the world. Nothing!
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