VINLAND (Old Norse, Vinland, i.e.

See also:

• VINELAND

Vineland or Wineland)  , some region on the eastern coast of -North America, visited and named by the Norsemen in the beginning of the 1th century . The word first appeared in print in Adam of Bremen's Descriptio Insularum Aquilonis, an appendix to his Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum, published by Lindenbrog in 1595 . In pursuit of historical study, Adam visited the Danish court during the reign of the well-informed monarch Svend Estridsson (1047-1076), and writes that the king " spoke of an island (or country) in that ocean discovered by many, which is called Vinland, because of the wild grapes [rites] that grow there, out of which a very good wine can be made . Moreover, *hat grain unsown grows there abundantly [fruges ibi non seminatas abundare] is not a fabulous fancy, but is based on trustworthy accounts of the Danes." This passage offers important corroboration of the Icelandic accounts of the Vinland voyages, and is, furthermore, interesting " as the only undoubted reference to Vinland in a medieval book written beyond the limits of the Scandinavian world " (Flake) .