Note 67-1 — FROM ADAM OF BREMEN’S67-1 DESCRIPTIO INSULARUM AQUILONIS

Adam of Bremen was a prebendary and writer on ecclesiastical history. The Descriptio Insularum Aquilonis is an appendix to his Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum. For the preparation of his work on the “Northern Islands,” Adam spent some time at the Danish court, where he obtained much information from the king, Svend Estridson (1047-1076), an unusually well informed monarch. Adam’s work was undoubtedly completed before the king’s death, which occurred in 1076. The Descriptio was first printed in Lindenbrog’s edition of Adam’s work, published in 1595, which thus contains the first printed allusions to Vinland. Rafn gives a facsimile of one of the manuscripts, for part of the passage.