Note 4 — Chapter XII · The Discovery of America

Accounts of these journeys to Vinland are contained in the Flateyar-bok, or Flatey Codex, an Icelandic manuscript, which takes its name from the island Flatey, Iceland, where it was preserved. It was written by two priests between the years 1387 and 1395. The work is a collection of sagas transcribed from older manuscripts and arranged chronologically. The book is written on parchment, and is one of the most beautiful works of penmanship from that time in Europe. It is known that Christopher Columbus came to Iceland in 1477, on purpose to gain nautical information, and it would seem next to impossible that he should not have heard of the written accounts of the discoveries recorded in the Flatey Codex.